Quebecers are back at the cinema, but we are still far from pre-pandemic attendance levels, according to the publication Cinema attendance in 2022: a partial post-pandemic recoverypublished by the Quebec Institute of Statistics.
In 2022, Quebec theaters welcomed 11.3 million viewers, an increase of 61% compared to 2021. Attendance in 2022, however, remains well below the 18.7 million viewers in 2019, the last full year of activity. before the pandemic.
In defense of moviegoers, they had fewer new releases to eat in 2022 (485 compared to 583 in 2019) and the very beginning of 2022 was marked by the complete closure of cinemas in Quebec. .
The increase in attendance in 2022 is “mostly attributable” to American hit films, such as Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of the Water And Thor: Love and Thunder. As for Quebec films, these are December 23 (178,000 entries) and confessions (139,000 entries) which occupy the top of the pavement.