Developing theatrical markets to become more dominant
Theatrical market revenues are dominated by the USA and increasingly by China. However, other markets are moving to the fore. Within the top 10 theatrical markets, South Korea and India are beginning to make their shift into more dominant positions and over the next few years will likely displace Japan, which will be pushed into fifth place. South Korea has higher ticket prices (US$7.72) than much of the rest of the Asia Pacific region, but also a high and stable average cinema attendance per capita, in contrast to many established markets like the USA, which is in slow decline. India has the lowest ticket prices of any of the top ten (at just US$0.95 per admission), but a very large population and the greatest volume of ticket sales globally, at 2.0bn in 2018. In recent years Russia has displaced Canada in the top ten and by 2023 Germany and Australia will have been pushed out of the top ten by Mexico and Brazil.
These shifts in the theatrical market rankings favour populous, developing countries over well-established developed theatrical markets. The changes are driven by programmes of digital multiplex cinema building, made possible by improvements in infrastructure, bringing the modern cinema experience to a wider global audience.
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