New Zealand Box Office continues to Impress in 2019
by Motion Pictures Distributors' AssociationFRIDAY 31ST JANUARY 2020
New Zealand Box Office continues to Impress in 2019.
The 2019 New Zealand motion picture industry recorded a slight uplift over the prior year, generating $204,174,000 at the Box Office (2018: $203,418,000). This improvement over 2018, makes 2019 the second highest ever Box Office take in New Zealand history, coming in only 1.17% behind 2016’s record year of $206,605,000.
Delivering 2019’s highest overall box office result was AVENGERS: ENDGAME, grossing $14,480,054 - making it the 4th highest grossing film in history at the New Zealand Box Office. It produced the highest grossing four-day and seven-day box office takes of all time with $6,016,285 and $7,387,420 respectively. Furthermore, it was the highest grossing opening day of all time, with $1,782,941 on April 24, 2019.
THE LION KING came in second at just over $13 million, and CAPTAIN MARVEL in third with $6,389,837. AQUAMAN and SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME round out the top five with takes of $6,118,177 and $5,728,651 respectively. The top ten was completed by TOY STORY 4, JOKER, FROZEN 2, ROCKETMAN and ALADDIN (Live Action). Each of these titles took in excess of $4.8 million.
‘The New Zealand Box Office continues to impress in 2019 despite much speculation around the continued growth and popularity of streaming services and their threat to the cinematic experience’ said Chairman of the NZ Motion Picture Distributor’s Association and General Manager of Sony Pictures NZ Ltd, Jacinda Ryan. ‘Cinema in New Zealand - and globally - continues to maintain its strong position as it has in recent years. This sustained result can be attributed to a range of factors, including cinemas investing heavily in improving their facilities, studios bringing stronger stories and bigger blockbusters to the big screen, and a more diverse range of foreign content getting theatrical releases locally - which has a broader appeal to the multicultural mix of New Zealand’.
The total number of films released in 2019 was 518, up 6.37% on the prior year and underscores the variety of film choices that were available to film goers last year.
The highest grossing New Zealand film in 2019 was DAFFODILS with $1,235,518.
Jacinda Ryan also added: ‘With a strong and diverse slate of films for 2020 that will play to audiences in upgraded and new state of the art cinemas across the country, the year ahead looks to be another great year at the movies for New Zealand.’
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