The summer holidays have delivered a strong performance for cinemas, with total admissions rising to 10.55 million from December 15 to January 29, with 45% falling within the P14-39 demographic.
The main contributor to the school holiday success was James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which has topped the chart for its seventh week straight and delivered 4.44M admissions in Australia since its release, with 50% of all admissions delivered within 3D sessions.
Avatar: The Way of Water now holds the position of the fourth highest-grossing film of all time in Australia.
Family titles Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Lyle Lyle Crocodile, both of which were released on Boxing Day, collectively delivered over 2.35M admissions during their school holiday stint.
Guy Burbidge, MD of Val Morgan Cinema, said: “We’re so pleased to see these solid results from the school holiday period with Avatar: The Way of Water an absolute stand out, overdelivering on our holiday forecasts, particularly with 3D admissions. The performance of summer really sets us up for a strong year and at +27% STLY, 2023 we couldn’t have got off to a better start.”
Looking ahead, a number of titles including Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (February 16) Shazam! Fury of the Gods (March 16) and Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (March 30) set to release within the next eight weeks.
The feature film adaption of the video game, The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 6), will be released in time for the next school holidays in April, and Disney’s live- action adaption of the 1989 animated musical, The Little Mermaid, will be in cinemas only a few weeks later (May 25). The third and final instalment in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3, will premier on May 4.
“This year has a really exciting mix of high-reaching cultural moments, quality youth-focused performers, juggernaut family franchises and a high level of discerning quality AB titles," said Burbidge.
"These audience numbers and the future slate only demonstrate the strength and depth of Cinema in Australia and puts us firmly back on the radar of brands wanting to deliver guaranteed audience’s and blockbuster brand results."
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