According to Roy Morgan research Cinema attendance in Australia increased during the final quarter of 2021 compared to a year ago but was still at less than half of pre-pandemic levels in the final quarter of 2019.
“Australia’s cinemas have been amongst the hardest hit businesses by the COVID-19 pandemic with attendance plummeting during the first half of 2020 as the country went into a nation-wide lockdown and still yet to recover to anything like pre-pandemic levels.” Michele Levine CEO, Roy Morgan Research commented “Over a quarter of Australians, 28.7%, attended a cinema in an average four weeks in the March quarter of 2020 – just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and forced a nationwide closure for around six weeks. During the next few months attendance plummeted and in the three months to July 2020 only 3.2% had recently been to a cinema.”
Levine point out that 2.2 million Australians 14+ (10.4%) went to the cinema in an average four weeks in the October-December quarter of 2021 as Australia opened up and lockdowns ended in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. This was up from the 1.9 million (9.1%) that attended the cinema in the final quarter of 2020 during the midst of the pandemic, but fewer than half the 4.9 million (23.3%) who attended in the final quarter of 2019. Levine added that cinema attendance in the final quarter of 2021 was directly correlated to age with younger Australians in Generation Z (13.6%) the most likely to attend ahead of Millennials (12.5%) and Generation X (10.1%). In contrast, only 6.2% of Baby Boomers and just 4.3% of Pre-Boomers attended the cinema. Levine said that nevertheless, despite being the most likely to attend the cinema in the final quarter of 2021, Generation Z are still down more on cinema attendance compared to pre-pandemic than any other generation, down 18.2% points from the final quarter of 2019. This reflects the fact that pre-pandemic Generation Z were easily the largest cinema going generation with around a third (31.8%) attending in an average four weeks.

Cinema attendance in an average four weeks: Dec qtr. 2019 vs. Dec qtr. 2020 vs. Dec qtr. 2021

“As Australia opened up during 2020 cinema attendance gradually recovered to as high as 15.9% in mid-2021 before plunging again as the Delta wave caused renewed lockdowns in Australia’s largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne.” Levine commented “By the December quarter of 2021 just over one-in-ten Australians (10.4%) were reporting having attended a cinema recently. New movies including Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond, ‘Die Another Day’, and blockbusters ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ helped attract people back to the cinemas in the closing months of 2021 although attendance remained well below half of the level prior to the pandemic. Younger Australians are the keenest cinema goers led by Generation Z. Although only 13.6% of this generation attended a cinema in the final quarter of 2021 – this was up 2.8% points on a year earlier and higher cinema attendance than any other generation. Despite this, it was still less than half of the 31.8% that attended a cinema in the final quarter of 2019 prior to the pandemic.”
Levine said that cinema attendance plunged during the COVID=19 pandemic as cinemas were forced to close for long periods starting with the initial nationwide lockdown in late March 2020. During the first quarter of 2020 over a quarter of Australians, 28.7%, were attending a cinema in an average four weeks. Levine added that the nation-wide lockdown which began in late March 2020, and continued for around six weeks until early May 2020, forced the closure of Australian cinemas. In the three months to July 2020 only 3.2% of Australians were attending cinemas in an average four weeks – the lowest level of the entire pandemic. Levine went on to explain that Attendance at cinemas gradually increased from the low point of mid-2020 and reached a mid-pandemic high of 15.9% in the three months to May 2021 when most of the country was out of lockdown and just before the Delta-wave forced extended lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT from June 2021.
“These results indicate that even for Generation Z, the generation least directly at risk from a potential COVID-19 infection, there is still a long way to go for cinema attendance to return to pre-pandemic levels – and there is no guarantee it will happen this year.” Levine commented “Earlier this year we experienced the first ‘Omicron wave’ which put an additional dampener on the recovery for businesses that rely on catering to a personal experience such as cinemas. Even now as the Omicron “BA1” variant has receded during February there are signs that a new, even more contagious, Omicron “BA2” variant is now emerging as we exit summer. Although we now have plenty of vaccine doses and vaccine ‘booster shots’ available for anyone who wants to take it there remains the possibility that a vaccine resistant variant of COVID-19 could emerge over the next few months that will cause further havoc for businesses.”