site.btaBulgarians' Movie Theater Attendance Up by 15% in 2023, Y/Y

Bulgarians' movie theater attendance has gone up by 15% in 2023 compared to 2022, with 4,464,478 moviegoers recorded, Bulgarian film distribution data show.

There are more than 230 cinemas in this country. The revenue from ticket sales in 2023 stood at BGN 53,152,478, an increase of more than 20% compared to 2022. A contributing factor has been the rise in ticket prices, which took place in the autumn of last year.

Meanwhile, statistics show that the viewership of Bulgarian films is decreasing. While a record number of over 644,000 viewers was registered in 2022, a total of 410,785 people went to see Bulgarian cinema in 2023. At the same time, the number of Bulgarian titles on offer has noticeably increased. Twenty-eight out of 48 films screened in 2023 were premieres. Ticket revenues from Bulgarian films decreased from nearly BGN 6 million in 2022 to BGN 4,347,252 in 2023. To put this into perspective, 25 Bulgarian films premiered in movie theatres out of 45 screened in 2022.

The most popular film of 2023 was Chalga, which was filmed entirely by cellphone. It attracted 112,782 viewers and generated a revenue of BGN 1,260,764. The top 5 also includes Yana Titova's Diada with 55,048 viewers and BGN 649,087 in revenue, followed by Martin Makariev's Game of Trust with 37,355 viewers and BGN 422,750 in revenue, Zornitsa Sofia's Mother with 23,636 viewers and BGN 206,172 in revenue, and Andrey Hadjivasilev’s The Tesla Case with 20,473 viewers and BGN 204,572 in revenue.