These are the cinemas in Malaga and on the Costa del Sol experiencing a boom by showing films in their original version languages

Cinemas that show films in their original language are booming in Malaga and on the Costa del sol due to a higher number of foreigners living in the province.

The Albéniz cinema in Malaga city kickstarted the trend where now more than half of the cinemas on the Costa del Sol offer original version (OV) screening. It comes as the number of foreigners living in Malaga province rises - to 220,000 to be precise - and, along with it, more demand for films in their original language (most usually English and French).

"At the Albéniz we saw that there was an audience that demanded the original version and, although we had a couple of years that were not easy [due to the pandemic], we now only do OV and that is what the audience expect from us," said Juan Luis Artacho, head of programming at Málaga Procultura, the municipal body that manages the cinema on Calle Alcazabilla street which reopened in 2010 with four screens.

Since Albéniz cinema started showing OV films, eight of the 14 cinemas in Malaga province followed suit. Malaga city accounts for most of them, together with the municipal cinema, Vialia, Plaza Mayor and Málaga Nostrum and Rincón de la Victoria. Fuengirola (Miramar) and Marbella (Red Dog Banús and La Cañada) also show films in their original languages at their box offices.

Which films to see?

According to the map of which cinemas in Malaga province show films in their original versions, almost all of them are along the coast and the city centre, while no such demand exists inland.

The Puerto Banús cinema has a website completely in English and more than half of its titles exclusively in OV. This cinema in Marbella and the Albéniz in Malaga city are the ones that offer the greatest number of different films without dubbing and with subtitles in Spanish.

In the rest of Malaga province's cinemas the offer is reduced to one or two screenings in its original version, which usually includes the blockbuster of the week. During the Christmas holidays, the latest superhero film Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom are being shown, as well as the documentary about Beyonce: Renaissance. Red Dog Banús is also expanding its line-up with OV showings for other Hollywood films such as The Hunger Games, Napoleon, Wonka, Migration and Dunki.

English is the main language in Malaga's cinemas, other than Albéniz, where more independent European and Asian films are shown. Currently showing is the French La passion de Dodin Bouffant, La Tresse, Le Livre des solutions and Anatomie d'une Chute; the British Dance First about the life of the literary genius Samuel Beckett, and the American biopic Napoleon. The Master Who Promised the Sea is also showing in its original language: Spanish.

What price to expect

The Albéniz is the cheapest cinema in the province, with a general admission ticket costing around six euros. The commercial cinema chains charge between 7.40 euros in Rincón de la Victoria to the nine euros or more in Miramar, La Cañada, Vialia and Plaza Mayor.