Dwindling audiences push Malaga cinema tickets below ten euros

It's getting hard to find a box office when you go to the cinema these days. Film theatres encourage you to bring a pre-purchased online ticket or to buy one on an interactive screen. Cinema companies had not expected the public, like box offices, to abandon cinemas after three years of optimism and audience increases - some 30% year-on-year. This optimism had been a pleasant surprise after the setback of the pandemic in 2020 that forced temporary closures and capacity reductions.

The latest figures for 2024 are a remake of the horror movie already experienced with Covid-19, and Malaga province has not escaped the downward trend across Spain, losing over 100,000 spectators. In Andalucía the province has also lost its leadership in earnings to Seville - it had already lost the number one spot in attendance years ago. Although the positive side is that ticket prices have changed in 2025 and even the most expensive showings have fallen below the 10-euro barrier.

Looking at the figures, from the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, they show that Malaga province cinemas brought in 2.7 million spectators last year, spending a total of 17.1 million euros at the box office. These figures are still relevant, but represent a loss of more than 100,000 spectators and 900,000 euros, compared to the spectacular growth experienced in 2023. In percentage terms, cinemas in the province lost 3.6% of their audience and 5% of their revenue. Exhibitors are particularly concerned about the latter figure, as it is much higher than the national figure, which saw a loss in takings of a more moderate 1.7%.

Spanish film has been spared from this debacle. In Malaga - home to the most important festival of Spanish production - national films did not lose audience in 2024 and retained the same numbers of spectators as in 2023. Therefore, those 100,000 fewer tickets sold in the province are attributable to Hollywood films and foreign premieres. In total, Spanish films led by Santiago Segura's comedy Padre No Hay Más Que Uno 4 and Goya winner La Infiltrada grossed 2.7 million euros at Malaga box offices last year.

In the analysis, comparison with 2019 must also be taken into account, as it sets the standard prior to the pandemic and the expansion of platforms such as Netflix and home cinema. And in this case, the loss of viewers is close to 29% or, in other words, more than a million fewer people went to the cinema last year than in 2019. All sources agree that the figures six years ago are now unattainable, but they are also convinced that attendance in Malaga can pick up again - they hope the declines of 2024 were temporary and don't become a trend.

However, the conditions for 2025 in the province do not point to an improvement in cinema audiences, as last Monday the Mk2 Málaga Nostrum complex closed to move and open 11 new cinemas in 2026, when the Neoalbéniz is also scheduled to open its two new screens in the centre of the city.

Experts hope that new viewers will be attracted by the decrease in ticket prices, discounted offers and these renovation projects (which are committed to a premium experience with their new projection and sound equipment and reclining seats). The province has multiplexes more than two decades old with gigantic cinemas that do not correlate to the current times that are committed to improving the experience of the spectator.

As far as ticket prices are concerned, there are statistics that range from resignation to optimism. As has been the case for more than a decade, cinemas in Malaga are the most expensive in southern Spain, not only in Andalucía. Going to see a premiere in the province in 2024 cost an average of 6.33 euros, while people in Seville paid slightly less, 6.18 euros. This is one of the reasons for the better attendance figures in Seville province, alongside a wider range of cinemas with 148 screens, while Malaga has fewer screens, 127.

The 2024 price increase was affected by inflation and the breaking of a psychological barrier: ten euros per ticket. The Yelmo chain was the first to raise its prices with seats at 10.40 euros in Plaza Mayor and Vialia, but after last year's poor economic results, this operator has decided to prioritise the viewers' pockets and has cut the price of general seating by one euro to set it at 9.40 euros.

This bumped Kinépolis La Cañada in Marbella up to the most expensive cinema in the province, which charges 9.50 euros at weekends. However weekdays see the normal ticket price lowered below average: in La Verónica in Antequera (4.50 euros); Rosaleda (5.20 euros); and Albéniz and Ronda (6). There are also discounts and promotions, as well as spectator's day (día del espectador) with prices starting at 3.50 euros.

Saturday remains the most popular day for a cinema trip, followed by Wednesday - usually coinciding with the cheapest screenings. The highest box office figures are recorded at weekends, after Friday premieres and if it coincides with a blockbuster arrival.

In short, 2024 was a year to forget in the cinema industry in Malaga but experts hope cinema is on the rise this year with moderated prices. 2025 faces the challenge of modernisation with renovation works and the 2026 arrival of the province's first premium cinemas with reclining seats. Sit back, relax and enjoy the film.