In 2018, cinemas in Malta and Gozo projected 450 different film titles and registered a total of 839,931 admissions, the NSO said today.

In 2018, there were eight cinema establishments with a total of 35 screens and a seating capacity of 6,716. Of these eight cinemas, two were located in Gozo.

In total 450 fi lm titles were exhibited in 2018, while the total screenings amounted to 45,011, with an average of 100 screenings per film. Last year, cinemas registered a total of 839,931 admissions. Maltese productions had 17,911 admissions with a total gross box office of € 97,000 in 756 screenings. On the other hand, foreign productions had 822,020 admissions with a total gross box office of € 5.4 million in 44,255 screenings. The majority of cinemagoers, 91.5 per cent, have watched films originating from the United States. On their part, Maltese productions attracted 2.1 per cent of the total number of admissions (Table 5).

Admissions to 3D movies accounted for 11.8 per cent of the total, while 87.2 per cent of admissions were for digital non-3D films. A total of 973 fi lm shows were projected in 2018, of which 78.3 per cent or 762 fi lm shows were first-time releases. Last year, 292 fiction films were screened in cinemas across Malta and Gozo. Films falling under this category attracted 77.3 per cent of total admissions. On their part, animation films amounted to 49 and attracted 19.8 per cent of total admissions.

In 2018, the most popular movies were ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again’ and ‘Johnny English Strikes Again’. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ attracted 8.2 per cent of the total admissions, ‘Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again’ attracted 5.8 per cent of the total admissions and ‘Johnny English Strikes Again’ attracting 5.0 per cent each of the total admissions.

In terms of age classification, most films shown in Maltese cinemas were rated as ‘15’ and ‘12A’. Of the films projected in 2018, 33.8 per cent were rated as ‘15’, while 18.9 per cent were rated as ‘12A’. On the other hand just 2.2 per cent were rated as ‘18’ (Table 9).

The running time of 62.4 per cent of the films projected in 2018 fell within the 76 to 120 minutes bracket. These were followed by films with a duration of 121 to 180 minutes, amounting to 27.3 per cent. The ‘Live/Encore’ type of screenings, including operas, ballets, and theatre, had the longest running time with an average of 165 minutes. On the other hand, animation fi lms were the shortest with an average running time of 91 minutes (Chart 6). With reference to the number of staff members, last year, cinemas employed an average of 174 persons, 83.5 per cent of which were on a part-time basis