Cinema visits down in 2024, but Maltese film viewership on the rise

Cinema attendance in Malta dipped in 2024, but the year also marked a notable upswing in interest for locally produced films, according to new data released on Monday by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The statistics reveal that just under 556,000 cinema admissions were recorded last year—a drop of 40,000 compared to the previous year. Despite the decline, several films managed to draw substantial audiences, with Inside Out 2, Gladiator 2, and Despicable Me 4 topping the box office charts in Malta.

Animation dominated the year, with five out of the top 10 most-watched films falling into the animated genre. Titles such as Moana 2, Paddington in Peru, and Mufasa: The Lion King all performed strongly, reflecting global trends in family-friendly entertainment.

Other crowd-pleasers included Deadpool and Wolverine, the musical adaptation Wicked, and Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. Romance drama It Ends With Us, based on the best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover, also attracted considerable local interest.

Local films see boost in audience and revenue

Amidst a challenging year for overall cinema traffic, Maltese productions made significant gains. More than 8,000 people attended screenings of the 35 local films shown in 2024, a sharp increase from the just under 5,000 attendees for the 18 local films screened the year before.

Box office earnings from local productions also more than tripled, rising from just under €20,500 in 2023 to over €66,000 in 2024. An additional 3,000 admissions were registered for Maltese short films, generating a further €12,500 in ticket sales.

However, the figures highlight ongoing disparities in visibility and screen time. While foreign films were shown in cinemas for an average of 32 days, Maltese films were screened for just three days on average.

The data also confirmed the continued dominance of American productions at the local box office. Of the 391 films screened in 2024, 150 were US-made, accounting for nearly 93% of all cinema revenue.