Number of movie halls, audiences falling in Turkey

ANKARA 

The number of movie halls has decreased by 11.1 percent, while the number of cinema audiences decreasing by 27.9 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has said.

According to the country’s official data institute, the number of cinema halls dropped from some 2,698 to some 2,398 in a year across Turkey.

“During this period, the number of seats in the movie halls decreased by 10.3 percent and was some 285,130,” TÜİK said on June 14 in a “Cinema and Performing Arts Statistics” report.

The number of movie audiences was around 12.4 million in 2021, with 9.2 million watching foreign productions.

The number of those watching Turkish movies had a sharp decline from 13.3 million to 3.3 million in a year.

The data showed how the coronavirus pandemic impacted the Turkish movie sector.

“The number of films shown in 2021 increased by 2 percent compared to 2020 and was some 26,483,” the institute said. “In the same period, the number of national films shown decreased by 9.1 percent and was 9,981, while the number of foreign films shown increased by 10.1 percent and was 16,502.”

The sharp decline is also seen in the number of theater halls and the audiences.

“In the 2020/21 season, the number of theater halls decreased by 44.4 percent compared to the previous season and the number of seats decreased by 41.8 percent,” it said.

“In the same season, the number of theater halls was 400 and the number of seats was 156,009. In the 2020/21 season, the number of theater audiences decreased by 84.1 percent and was 714,864,” it added.

The data showed that the number of shows performed in theater halls decreased, too, by 73.3 percent and was 1,665 in 2021.

“The number of original [national] shows decreased by 74.4 percent and the number of translated [foreign] shows decreased by 66.6 percent.”

Both numbers of performances for adult and children shows performed in theater halls decreased in 2021, adults by 73.5 percent and children by 86.1 percent.

In Turkey, the opera and ballet shows affiliated with the General Directorate of Opera and Ballet were performed in six provinces in the 2020-21 season.

There were six orchestras, 13 choirs and nine groups affiliated with the General Directorate of Fine Arts in 2021.

The number of opera and ballet audiences was 14,032 in 2021, with a decrease of 94.5 percent compared to the previous season.

The number of audiences in the orchestra, choir and groups was some 72,277, with a decrease of 54.8 percent.

“The number of orchestra audiences decreased by 86.1 percent to some 13,907 compared to last season, while the number of choir audiences decreased by 12.7 percent to some 22,792 and the number of groups’ audiences increased by 5.8 percent to some 35,578,” it said.

“The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic process experienced in 2020-2021 was seen in the Cinema and Performing Arts Statistics,” summarized the institute.