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Box office: Admissions and gross box office

Number of Australian cinema admissions and gross box office, 1976−2009

Next update February 2011

In 2009, the Australian box office broke the billion dollar barrier for the first time with an annual gross of $1,087.5 million. These earnings mark a rise of 15 per cent on the previous year. Admissions also rose, up more than 7 per cent to 90.7 million ticket sales.

Graph: Number of Australian cinema admissions and gross box office, 1976-2009. The tables following provide the data.

1970s

	1976	1977	1978	1979
No. admissions (millions)	28.9	24.6	34.1	33.6
Gross box office ($m)	95.3	86.4	119.4	124.4

1980s

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
No. admissions (millions)	38.5	38.7	42.0	37.1	28.9	29.7	35.5	30.8	37.4	39.0
Gross box office ($m)	154.2	174.3	210.0	208.0	156.0	160.6	188.6	182.1	223.8	257.6

1990s

	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
No. admissions (millions)	43.0	46.9	47.2	55.5	68.1	69.9	73.9	76.0	80.0	88.0
Gross box office ($m)	284.6	325.0	334.3	388.7	476.4	501.4	536.8	583.9	629.3	704.1

2000s

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
No. admissions (millions)	82.2	92.5	92.5	89.8	91.5	82.2	83.6	84.7	84.6	90.7
Gross box office ($m)	689.5	812.4	844.8	865.8	907.2	817.5	866.6	895.4	945.4	1,087.5

Source: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA). May include some estimates.

Notes:
Figures are in current dollars (i.e. not adjusted for inflation) and per calendar year. Each year is based on annual data released the following January in the MPDAA box office admissions report and box office by area report and does not reflect any subsequent updates by the MPDAA.

History and background:: Cinema admissions and key events: Overview