Maltese film productions made €99,000 at the box office last year, having had 650 screenings and attracting an audience of 13,942, according to the National Statistics Office.

In contrast, the 28,534 screenings of foreign productions attracted 734,626 cinemagoers and registered a total gross box office of €4.952 million. The big majority of cinemagoers, 91.2 per cent, watched films originating from the United States while Maltese productions attracted 1.9 per cent of the total 748,568 admissions.

The top three most popular films were The Lion King, Aladdin and Joker. No Maltese production made it to the top 10 films ranked in terms of admissions.

A total of 409 films were screened in 2019, when the number of screenings totalled 29,184, that is, an average of 71 screenings per film.

The six cinema establishments operating in Malta (four) and Gozo (two) had 28 screens and a seating capacity of 5,762. Throughout the year, the cinema establishments employed an average of 134 people, the bulk (104) on a part-time basis. Four individuals served on a voluntary basis in quarters 1, 2 and four of the year.