Investment in content and the cinema-going experience has led to an 11th consecutive year where $1bn has been delivered at the box office in Australia – marking it out as the country’s favourite cultural activity.
Village’s V Junior cinemas, a raft of new cinema builds, and the HOYTS recliner experience has helped shape a successful year for the silver screen.
2017 boasted strong diversity of content that in turn helped drive mass audiences: It became the highest MA15+ horror movie of all-time, taking home the largest September opening ever and drew mass appeal amongst the traditionally hard to reach 14-24 age group; Lion enjoyed a mammoth 31 week run and went on to make $28.4m; Wonder Woman – the truly unique female-focussed superhero film - grossed $31m, while Beauty and The Beast has so far been this year’s winner at the box office taking $46m.
Asian audiences in Australia hit an all-time high with a record-breaking two million admits over the past 12 months. Films received well by this audience included Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, the highest grossing Indian title of all-time and Wolf Warrior 2, the highest grossing East Asian title with $1.7m at the Australian box office.
More brands jumped on board and in a bigger way (Telstra, Google, Amazon, IAG and Horticulture Australia to name a few). Current forecasts have 2017 delivering 90m admissions by the years end with an average growth of 2.5% on 2016’s record year.
Val Morgan Marketing & Strategy Director Cally Scivetti says, "The cinema environment has never been more favourable for advertisers. It is one of the only remaining channels that can deliver across a range of media metrics in the one campaign - mass audiences, proven engagement, quality content, brand safety and transparency."
550 films are scheduled for release in 2018, and some of the highest-anticipated include The Incredibles; Deadpool 2 (the original Deadpool is the highest grossing MA15+ title of all-time), Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – the well-known family blockbuster.
And on top of these will also be another Star Wars with Solo: A Star Wars Story, Avengers Infinity War and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. For multicultural and multicultural-loving audiences the highlights will be Race 3 and The Monkey King 3.
Cinema was recently voted by the industry in the Media I survey as ‘the channel best at engaging consumers’ and as ‘a channel that will experience growth in 2018’.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.