Turkish cinema audience shrinks due to pandemic

ISTANBUL

Turkish movie theaters lost more than half of their audience in 2020 because of the closure of venues as a result of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The loss in audience numbers in 2020, a year that people had to stay at home, stood at 69.5 percent, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

There were 13.2 million local film audiences with a decrease of 59 percent and 3.9 million foreign film audiences with a decrease of 83.6 percent.

The number of movie theaters across the country decreased by 4.5 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year and became 2,698.

During this period, the number of seats in movie theaters decreased by 6.0 percent.

The number of movies shown in Turkish movie theaters was 25,960 with a decrease of 59 percent.

In the same period, the number of domestically produced movies shown decreased by 62.2 percent to 10,978, while the number of foreign films shown decreased by 61.9 percent to 14,982.

The massive drop observed in 2020 mainly stemmed from the closure of movie theaters due to pandemic restrictions.

Movie theaters throughout the country were shut down in March, 2020 through a circular note issued by the Interior Ministry as part of measures against the spread of the coronavirus.

Many movie theaters that served locals for decades had announced that they were terminating their operations due to a halt in all cultural activities and social gatherings.

The report shows that theaters have also suffered from the pandemic.

The number of theatergoers dropped 43.1 percent in the 2019-20 season year-on-year, only reaching 4.5 million viewers.

The capacity of Turkish theaters declined 24.5 percent.