Iran's box office earnings in the last Iranian year (ended March 19) stood at 2.96 trillion rials ($17.96 million) to register an increase of 544.01 billion rials ($3.29 million) or 22.48% compared with the year before.
A total of 74 movie titles were released in Iranian theaters during the 12-month period under review and over 25.89 million people went to the movies, according to data published in www.panel.cinemashahr.ir--the official Iranian cinema box office 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 6.53% during the year.
The average cinema ticket prices stood at 114,488 ($0.69), noticeably up by 27,115 ($0.16) or 31.03% year-on-year.
The above figures indicate that the rise in box office earnings stems from the increase in ticket prices and not in the number of moviegoers.
Close to half of the box office earnings came from only six movie titles, namely the comedy “Motreb” directed by Mostafa Kiaei with 385.45 billion rials ($2.33 million), "6.5 Per Meter" directed by Saeed Roustayi with 271.98 billion rials ($1.64 million), "Texas 2" directed by Masoud Atyabi with 250.88 billion rials ($1.52 million), "Rahman 1400" directed by Manouchehr Hadi with 218.91 billion rials ($1.32 million), “When the Moon Became Full” directed by Narges Abyar with 190.12 billion rials ($1.15 million), and “The Warden” directed by Nima Javidi with 149.81 billion rials ($907,959).
The six titles earned a total of 1.46 trillion rials ($8.89 million) combined.
Notably, the film "Motreb" emerged as the highest grossing movie in the history of the Iranian cinema.
Box office earnings during the first Iranian month (March 21-April 20, 2019) stood at 573.73 billion rials ($3.47 million) registering an increase of 34.74% compared with last year’s similar month.
The earnings amounted to 266.81 billion rials ($1.61 million) during the second Iranian month (April 21-May 21), indicating a decrease of 1.82% year-on-year and a fall of 53.5% month-on-month.
Sales during the third Iranian month (May 22-June 21) stood at 295.93 billion rials ($1.79 million), up by 134.5% YOY and by 10.91% MOM.
As for the fourth Iranian month (June 22-July 22), earnings rose by 36.27% YOY and declined by 0.31% MOM to reach 295.01 billion rials ($1.78 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 239.5 billion rials ($1.45 million) during the month to register a 14.95% and 18.81% decrease YOY and MOM respectively.
The downward trend continued during the sixth Iranian month (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) as box office earnings amounted to 115.95 billion rials ($702,772) during the month, indicating a 9.26% and 51.58% fall YOY and MOM respectively.
Sales during the seventh Iranian month (June 22-Oct. 22) stood at 139.2 billion rials ($843,681), down by 32.95% YOY and by 20.05% MOM.
During the eighth Iranian month (Oct. 22-Nov. 21), earnings rose by 57.14% YOY and by 75% MOM to reach 243.6 billion rials ($1.47 million).
Ticket sales in the ninth Iranian month (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) saw a noticeable rise both in terms of YOY and MOM by 88% and 41.15% respectively, amounting to 343.84 billion rials ($2.08 million).
Box office earnings totaled 247.78 billion rials ($1.5 million) in the 10th Iranian month (Dec. 21, 2019-Jan. 20) to register a 31.75% rise YOY and a downturn of 27.94% MOM.
As for the 11th Iranian month (Jan. 21-Feb. 19), earnings amounted to 182.74 billion rials ($1.1 million) to go up by 31.5% YOY and down by 26.25% MOM.
Earnings witnessed huge falls both from year-on-year as well as month-on-month perspectives, by 79.32% and 88.88% respectively, during the 12th Iranian month (Feb. 20-March 19) to reach 20.31 billion rials ($123,104). The fall in ticket sales during the last month of the fiscal 2019-20 was due to the spread of the new coronavirus across the country, after which the government ordered the shutdown of public gatherings and venues, including cinemas.
Iranian box offices earned close to 2.4 trillion rials ($14.54 million) in the fiscal 2018-19 to register an increase of about 25% compared with earnings of the year before.
According to a report by the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, 79 movies were released in that year.
The movie "Centipede" directed by Abolhassan Davoudi was the highest grossing movie of the year, earning over 370 billion rials ($2.24 million) and attracting 4.21 million viewers. In fact, the title is the all-time highest-grossing film of Iranian cinema.
According to Panel.cinemashahr.ir, Iranian cinemas attracted more than 28 million people in the fiscal 2018-19 that 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.
