While Argentina struggles with another endless economic crisis, moviegoers filled movie theaters in 2023. And it wasn’t just because Barbie. 43,062,279 tickets were sold, 10,000,000 more than in 2022.
Twelve films passed the million-viewer barrier. And that the four most viewed films were suitable for all audiences is also an unprecedented fact, which is explained by the success of animated productions.
Because the film with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling was followed in the public’s preference by three cartoons: Super Mario Bros.: The Movie, Elements y Puss in Boots: The Last Wishwhich exceeded 2,400,000 tickets sold each.
Before moving on to other curiosities, the Top 20 of 2023, from January 1 to December 30 inclusive.
1° Barbie
Premiere: July 20, 2023
2nd Super Mario Bros. The Movie
Premiere: April 6, 2023
3rd Elements
Premiere: June 15, 2023
4° Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Premieres January 5, 2023
5° Fast and Furious X
Premiere May 18, 2023
6th Avatar: The path of water
Premiere: December 15, 2022
7° Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Premiere: May 4, 2023
8° The Little Mermaid
Premiere: May 25, 2023
9° The Nun 2
Premiere: September 7, 2023
10° Five Nights at Freddy’s
Premiere: October 26, 2023
11° Oppenheimer
Premiere: July 20, 2023
12th Sound of freedom
Premiere: August 31, 2023
13th Spider-Man: Through the Spider-verse
Premiere: July 1, 2023
14th Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Premiere: June 8, 2023
15° Boys, the people’s movie
Premiere: December 7, 2023
16° Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Premiere: February 16, 2023
17° The night of the demon: The red door
Premiere: July 6, 2023
18th Megalodon 2: The Great Abyss
Premiere: August 3, 2023
19° Flash
Premiere: June 15, 2023
20° Extortion
Premiere: April 6, 2023
Terror scares
The horror genre was once again extremely popular in the year that just ended. Almost every Thursday, the day the billboard is renewed, there is usually one or two horror films.
In 2023, those that brought the most viewers were The nun 2 (1,275,395 tickets sold), which was ninth, Five Nights at Freddy’s (1,176,124 spectators, tenth) and The Night of the Demon: The Red Door (743,638 tickets, was 17th). And if you want to tell Megalodon 2: The Great Abysswith Jason Statham, was 18th with 715,402.
On the other hand, Disney along with Marvel suffered more at the box office in the rest of the world than in Argentina, where they put five titles in the Top Ten. OK, it was not like previous years in which they led the collections, but until the questioned Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was 16th…
Argentine cinema, on the comeback
It was only thanks to the premiere at the beginning of December of Guys, the people’s movie – which was not only the most watched Argentine documentary of the year, but also the highest-grossing documentary since 1997 to date – Argentine cinema rebounded at the box office. It released almost half of all the films, but in terms of viewers (3,100,000) it barely reached 7% of the total.
With its 891,959 tickets sold, one of the two documentaries about the success of the Scaloneta in Qatar 2022, with the voice-over of Guillermo Francella, was 15th (it was not 14th for less than 4,000 viewers). I choose to believethe film with the story by Ricardo Darín, had 430,847 entries and was ranked 26th, just below Indiana Jones and the dial of destinycon Harrison Ford, y Mission: Impossible, Deadly Sentence Part 1con Tom Cruise.
But I choose to believe It was not the second most viewed Argentine, since that position was obtained extortionthe thriller with Guillermo Francella, which with its 528,762 tickets entered the Top 20: it was 20th. Wonkain one more week, I would have passed it.
And the fourth Argentine that brought the most audience was a surprise: When evil lurksa horror film that became the most watched Argentine film of the genre, from 1997 – since precise and reliable figures have been available – to the present, with 262,066 spectators.
The busiest rooms of 2023
Only two complexes in the City of Buenos Aires entered the Top Ten, in terms of tickets sold. Hoyts Abasto took first place from Hoyts Unicenter only on Saturday.
Third was the Rosario Showcase. In the Top Ten, 7 complexes are from Greater Buenos Aires.
1st Hoyts Abasto 12 1,603,704 spectators
2nd Hoyts Unicenter 14 1,579,086 spectators
3° Showcase Rosario 14 1,150,613 spectators
4th Cinemark Malvinas Argentinas 10 1,071,462 spectators
5th Hoyts Morón 8 929,036 spectators
6° Cinemark Avellaneda 8 878,057 spectators
7° Cinemark San Justo 6 873,053 spectators
8° Hoyts Quilmes 12 872,433 spectators
9° Hoyts Temperley 9 871,985 spectators
10° Cinemark Palermo 10 809,767 viewers
In which provinces were there more spectators?
The difference that the cinemas in Greater Buenos Aires made compared to those in the City of Buenos Aires was notable.
1st Greater Buenos Aires 14,658,934 spectators.
2nd Autonomous City of Buenos Aires 8,128,135 spectators.
3rd Buenos Aires 3,774,952 spectators.
Córdoba 3,497,789 spectators.
Santa Fe 2,886,384 14,658,934 spectators.
Mendoza 1,836,081 spectators.
Neuquén 1,243,718 spectators.
Jumps 1,166,754 spectators.
Tucumán 756,865 spectators.
San Juan 516,815 spectators.
And, at the other extreme, the three provinces with the lowest attendance in the rooms:
The Rioja 238,456 spectators.
The Pampa 181,506 spectators.
Formosa 122,510 spectators.
It was 2023 with 10 million more viewers than 2022. In these times, it is not exactly small.