The film industry didn’t fare too well during 2008, with the number of cinema goers down by 3.4 million compared to 2007, translating to lost revenue of €14.2 million.
Málaga and Sevilla rank 5th and 6th as far as cinema-going public is concerned, behind Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante, but both lost out during 2008.Málaga has 174 cinemas, Sevilla 168, and their visitor numbers were 3,667,090 and 3,300,088 respectively. Total receipts for Málaga were €20.9 million, €4 million less than the previous year. The situation in Sevilla was pretty similar, revenue from ticket sales at €17.3 million, €3.4 million down on last year.
A surprising trend, or maybe not, is the fact that American films now command greater audiences than local products. The most popular film last year was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, with Hancock, Kung Fu Panda and Mama Mia also scoring highly with Spanish audiences.
The top ranked Spanish film was Los crímenes de Oxford in eleventh place and the Goya winning Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the Woody Allen film, was down in eighteenth place.