2008 was a record year for the Australian Box Office however the first 6 months of 2009 has already smashed records. Over half a billion dollars was spent at the Australian box office during the first six months of the year which is 15% up on the same time last year!

Some of the big guns in 09 which have helped drive the increase include Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Monsters vs. Aliens, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Angels & Demons & Ice Age: Dawn of The Dinosaurs. I would also assume that the heavily discounted ticket offers early in the year may have played a role.

Interestingly it would also seem the increase at the Box Office has impacted on FTA audiences. Research shows a dramatic increase in light free to air viewing amongst frequent cinema-goers with 50% of frequent moviegoers now light or non FTA viewers.

So can we continue to see cinema attendance grow? I’d suggest the back half of the year is already off to a strong start with the launch of Bruno last week which to date has taken over $7.5m. Whilst this is only marginally up on the Borat opening week of $6.08m, the launch of Harry Potter & the half-blood prince this week has seen the record set for the biggest opening Wednesday ever. Harry took a massive $4.4m Australia wide & broke the existing record set in 2007 by Harry Potter & the order of phoenix.

Source: Val Morgan July 2009