A total of 51 movies were screened in Iranian theaters during the eight months, which were viewed by 18.7 million people, according to data published on www.panel.cinemashahr.ir--the official Iranian cinema website providing 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 9.47% during the period under review.
The average cinema ticket prices stood at 115,854 rials ($0.97), noticeably up by 28,146 rials ($0.23) or 32.09% year-on-year, according to Financial Tribune.
The solid rise in box office earnings during the period stems from the increase in ticket prices and not the number of moviegoers.
More than half of the box office earnings came from only five movies, namely "6.5 Per Meter" directed by Saeed Roustayi with 271.82 billion rials ($2.29 million), "Texas 2" directed by Masoud Atyabi with 250.74 billion rials ($2.11 million), "Rahman 1400" directed by Manouchehr Hadi with 218.91 billion rials ($1.84 million), “When the Moon Was Full” directed by Narges Abyar with 190.11 billion rials ($1.6 million), and “The Warden” directed by Nima Javidi with 149.77 billion rials ($1.26 million). The five titles earned a total of 1.08 trillion rials ($9.12 million) combined.
Box office earnings during the first Iranian month (March 21-April 20) stood at 573.57 billion rials ($4.84 million), registering an increase of 34.7% compared with last year’s similar month.
The earnings amounted to 266.63 billion rials ($2.25 million) during the second Iranian month (April 21-May 21), indicating a decrease of 1.88% year-on-year and a fall of 53.51% month-on-month.
Sales during the third Iranian month (May 22- June 21) stood at 293.79 billion rials ($2.49 million), up by 132.81% YOY and by 10.19% MOM.
As for the fourth Iranian month (June 22-July 22), earnings rose by 36.23% YOY and declined by 0.25% MOM to reach 294.91 billion rials ($2.48 million).
The 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 ($2.02 million) during the month to register a 15.11% and 18.94% decline YOY and MOM respectively.
The downward trend also continued during the sixth Iranian month (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) as box office earnings amounted to 114.54 billion rials ($977,715) during the month, indicating a 10.36% and 52.1% fall YOY and MOM respectively.
Sales during the seventh Iranian month (June 22-Oct. 22) stood at 138.98 billion rials ($1.17 million), down by 33.06% YOY and by 20.01% MOM.
During the eighth Iranian month (Oct. 22-Nov. 21), the earnings rose by 55.95% YOY and by 73.73% MOM to reach 241.76 billion rials ($2.04 million).
Iranian box offices earned close to 2.4 trillion rials ($20.25 million) during the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2019), to register an increase of about 25% compared with earnings in the year before. As a report by the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture shows, 79 movies were released in theaters last year.
Iranian movie theaters sold more than 810 billion rials ($6.83 million) in spring, 610 billion rials ($5.14 million) in summer, 530 billion rials ($4.47 million) in fall and 360 billion rials ($3.03 million) in winter.
The movie "Centipede" directed by Abolhassan Davoudi was the highest grossing movie of the year, earning 370 billion rials ($3.12 million) and attracting 4.21 million viewers. In fact, the title is the all-time highest-grossing film of the Iranian cinema.
Iranian cinemas attracted more than 28 million people last year, which shows more than a 22% increase compared to the year before.
Each Iranian goes to the movies 0.3 times per year on average, according to a report by the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad.