A total of 29 films were released during the period while 14.58 million people went to the movies, data published in www.panel.cinemashahr.ir, the official Iranian cinema’s box office website, provided detailed information on box office earnings to the public. The outlet became operational on Feb. 25, 2019.
The number of moviegoers witnessed a year-on-year decrease of 4.1% during the period.
The average cinema ticket prices stood at 114,510 rials ($1), up by 27,570 rials ($0.24) or 31.71% year-on-year, according to Financial Tribune.
It is understood that the solid rise in box office earnings during the period stems from the increase in ticket prices and not in the number of moviegoers.
More than half of the box office earnings came from only four movies, namely "6.5 Per Meter" directed by Saeed Roustaei with 271.19 billion rials ($2.36 million), "Texas 2" directed by Masoud Atyabi with 243.58 billion rials ($2.12 million), "Rahman 1400" directed by Manouchehr Hadi with 218.91 billion rials ($1.91 million) and “When the Moon Became Full” directed by Narges Abyar with 176.62 billion rials ($1.54 million). The four titles earned a combined total of 910.3 billion rials ($7.95 million).
Box office earnings during the first Iranian month (March 21-April 20) stood at 573.57 billion rials ($5 million), registering an increase of 34.7% compared to last year’s similar month.
The earnings amounted to 266.63 billion rials ($2.32 million) during the second Iranian month (April 21-May 21), indicating a decline of 1.88% year-on-year and a fall of 53.51% month-on-month.
Box office sales during the third Iranian month (May 22-June 21) stood at 293.79 billion rials ($2.56 million), up by 132.81% YOY and 10.19% MOM.
As for the fourth Iranian month (June 22-July 22), the earnings rose by 36.23% YOY and declined by 0.25% MOM to reach 294.91 billion rials ($2.57 million).
However, box office earnings witnessed noticeable declines in the fifth Iranian month (July 23-Aug. 22) both from YOY and MOM perspectives, as Iranian cinemas earned 239.07 billion rials ($2.08 million) during the month to register a 15.11% and 18.94% decline YOY and MOM respectively.
Iranian box offices earned close to 2.4 trillion rials ($21 million) during the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2019), to register an increase of about 25% compared with earnings of the year before.
According to a report by Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, 79 movies were released in theaters last year.
Iranian movie theaters sold tickets worth 810 billion rials ($7 million) in spring, 610 billion rials ($5.32 million) in summer, 530 billion rials ($4.62 million) in fall and 360 billion rials ($3.147 million) in winter.
The movie "Centipede" directed by Abolhassan Davoudi was the highest grossing movie of the year, earning 370 billion rials ($3.23 million) and attracting 4.21 million viewers. In fact, it became the all-time highest-grosser of the Iranian cinema.
According to Panel.cinemashahr.ir, Iranian cinemas attracted 28 million people last year, which shows a 22% increase compared with the year before.
Each Iranian on average goes to the movies only 0.3 times per year, according to a report by the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad.