Attendance figures for Norwegian cinemas October

-I think it’s a bit expensive. Going to the movies is something I do less often. So I hope the price goes down a little.

This is what Gabriel Ebbesen, one of the people NRK met at the University of Oslo on Wednesday, said.

New figures show that cinema visits in the country fell last month.

“Unfortunately, there was a 20 percent drop in visitor numbers to Norwegian cinemas in October compared to the same period last year,” managing director Espen Pedersen of industry organization Film & Kino tells NRK.

Thelma Tilley Sandaker and Christine Revesti chose one of this summer’s hit movies, “Barbie,” as the last good movie they saw at the theater.

– It was the movie I wanted to see. Some films are also more fun to watch in a theater, Sandaker says.

She says going to the movies is something she tries to do whenever possible. Meanwhile, she believes the price level may have played a role in the October decline in Norwegian cinemas.

– Going to the movies costs a lot of money, Sandaker says.

– People can also watch movies online instead, Rivesti interjects.

Higher threshold

On October 20, Martin Scorsese’s new film Killers of the Flower Moon premiered in Norwegian cinemas. The film won Good reviewsThe cast includes movie stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

But since the premiere a week and a half ago, only 40,000 Norwegians have bought tickets to see the film.

In Blindern, Beate Hop tells Håvarstein that it’s been a long time since she’s been to the movies. She thinks it might have become too easy to stay at home on the couch.

– Maybe the threshold for going to the cinema is higher. She says maybe there should be more information about what’s coming to the cinema.

No major Norwegian titles

Pedersen at Film & Kino believes the decline in cinema visitors is because Norwegian cinemas have lacked major Norwegian titles on screens recently.

– Last year we had the Krigsseileren, among others. “We missed major Norwegian titles this fall,” he says.

Pedersen also believes that audiences are becoming more aware of what they see in cinema.

– Big titles are what attract people to the cinema. He says that in recent months, we have not had the biggest films to be shown in Norwegian cinemas.

Great summer

This year’s movie summer was also great, according to Pedersen. Major films such as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” ensured cinemas were full and Norwegian cinemas sold more than a million tickets during July.

Additionally, films like “Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” premiered over the summer.

The hope was that cinema numbers would continue to rise, but unfortunately that has not happened so far this fall, but we have great confidence in the rest of the year, says Pedersen.

Late blockbuster movies

Due in part to the strike in Hollywood, which is still ongoing, many blockbuster films have been postponed. Among other things, the strike led to the postponement of the screening of the movie “Dune 2”, which was originally supposed to be shown these days. The film has now premiered in Norway on March 15.

Moreover, films like “Napoleon,” “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” and “Convoy” will be shown before the 2024 calendar comes out.

– Some blockbuster films were postponed due to the strike. However, the vast majority of them will come in the future. Therefore, we believe that cinema visits in November and December will be at the same level as last year, says Pedersen and adds:

– We believe that the upcoming films are films that the audience wants to see.