A. Guttmann
Research Lead covering media
Cinema in Brazil - statistics & facts
Brazil is the largest country in Latin America, but its box office revenue is not quite there yet. In 2023, it amounted to about 454 million U.S. dollars, a little over half of the result recorded in Mexico that same year. The Portuguese-speaking country holds the silver medal in the region's film industry by many measures, but it also has the potential to thrive in that field. In 2023, the average cinema ticket price in Brazil was just slightly higher than in Mexico. Pricing, however, is always a double-edged sword that may also cut off the part of the audience that lives on a budget. The average cost for a single movie ticket added up to just slightly less than the monthly price of a Netflix basic plan in Brazil as of mid-2024.
All in all, the cinema industry in Brazil is seeing growth, with ticket sales and revenues growing, albeit slowly. Investments into domestic movies are likely to pay off in the near future based on the current audiences interest.
Domestic productions as a beacon of hope for theaters
In 2024, one of the most-viewed films in theaters in Brazil was the country's own production "I'm Still Here" "("Ainda Estou Aqui"). The fact that the lead actress of the production, Fernanda Torres, won a best actress in motion picture award at the Golden Globes was a big push for audiences to storm the cinemas. In 15 days of January 2025 theaters in Brazil saw growth in attendance at 75 percent, year-on-year. After somewhat of a hiatus, the domestic movie exhibition is seeing growth again. Viewers are slowly turning to national productions and their ticket sales are increasing. This suggests that the quest to expand the overall cinema audience is also a quest to release more appealing pictures made in Brazil.Sponsors behind the big screen
Around 20 percent of Brazilian consumers go to the cinema. After hitting fairly low results during the coronavirus pandemic, the audiences started showing signs of returning to the theaters. In fact, more than 120 million movie tickets were sold in 2024, showing an increase of 9.5 percent year-on-year. And so, cinema advertising spending is also seeing growth, with the latest figures from 2023 surpassing 110 million Brazilian reals. A year earlier, cinema ad spending in Brazil amounted to approximately half of that. Out of the 2023 figure, almost 31 percent came from the top cinema advertiser in Brazil, Unimed Seguradora, an insurance company.All in all, the cinema industry in Brazil is seeing growth, with ticket sales and revenues growing, albeit slowly. Investments into domestic movies are likely to pay off in the near future based on the current audiences interest.
