Of these, foreign films attracted the lion’s share, with 734,626 admissions earning a total gross box office of 4.952 million EUR with 28,534 screenings. The majority share of audiences attendance (91.2 per cent) went to American mainstream titles.

In 2019 the most popular films were The Lion King, which attracted 10.4 per cent of the total admissions, Aladdin (7.2 per cent) and Joker (5.5 per cent).

Maltese productions – of which there were 14, including short films – recorded 13,942 admissions with a total gross box office of 99,000 EUR for 650 screenings.

The popularity of local titles remains strong when compared to other European films: the average number of admissions per a Maltese film reached almost 1,000, ahead of its EU counterparts which averaged 250 admissions. US titles averaged almost 4,000 admissions per film.

Most films screened in the island’s six cinema establishments, with 28 screens and a seating capacity of 5,762, skewed toward teen or family audiences, with ‘15’ and ‘12A’ ratings at 26.9% and 25.9% respectively, while only 3.4% were rated ‘18’.