Turkish cinema, theater attendance soar in 2023: Official data

ANKARA

As Türkiye's cinematic landscape continues to flourish, the number of movie theaters has reached 2,618 with a collective seating capacity of 286,603, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown, marked by the release of 371 films, comprising 147 domestic and 224 foreign productions, in 2023 alone.

According to the cinema statistics for 2023 published by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, cinema audiences totaled 31,005,844 people. Of these, 13,716,005 watched domestic films, while 17,289,839 viewed foreign films. Theater statistics for the 2023 season showed an increase in theater audiences by 15.2 percent, reaching 6,279,512.

The number of theater halls was 808, with 326,713 seats. However, the number of plays performed decreased by 1.7 percent, totaling 8,223. The audience attendance for translated works in theaters increased by 37.5 percent to 1,726,003, while audiences for copyrighted works grew by 8.5 percent to 4,553,509.

Children's theater performances saw a 20.2 percent rise, totaling 11,551, while adult performances increased by 2.2 percent to 15,848. Children's performance attendance grew by 25.1 percent, and adult performance attendance rose by 9.8 percent.