Construction Insights for Global Occupiers
Bucharest, June 2025: Romanians spent €59 million in cinemas last year, an amount 5% lower compared with 2023, as ticket prices recorded a 10% y-o-y increase and the total number of tickets sold declined by 14%, according to the data offered by the Romanian Film Center and analyzed by the Cushman & Wakefield Echinox real estate consultancy company.
The total number of tickets sold reached 11.2 million in 2024, compared to 13.1 million in 2023, while in terms of box office, cinema operators reported a 5% decrease compared with 2023, reaching 292,9 million lei (~€59 million). It must also be mentioned that the average ticket price surged from 23.7 lei to 26.1 lei in the 2023 – 2024 period.
Romania had 108 cinemas across the country at the end of last year, compared with 103 in 2023. The data includes both single-screen cinemas and multiplexes, with the latter accounting for over 96% of the box office and for 93% of the number of spectators.
to 0.59 from 0.68 in 2023. The number of cinemas visits per capita also recorded a slowdown in 2024 to 0.59 from 0.68 in 2023.
The largest cinematographic markets in Romania are Bucharest (3,496,225 spectators in 2024, -13% vs 2023), Constanţa (633,300, -14%) Cluj-Napoca (626,188, -18%), Timisoara (611,548, -19%) and Brasov (541,478, -13%) cities which have a combined attendance share of 55% at national level, making the impact significant at the industry level.
These markets have seen double-digit declines in the number of spectators, indicating a possible shift in urban cultural consumption behavior. However, there are notable exception: the counties of Iasi and Prahova reported an increase in the number of visitors, signaling a potential regional redistribution of interest in cinema.
Dana Radoveneanu, Head of Retail Agency, Cushman & Wakefield Echinox: “The evolution of the cinema market in 2024 is a reflection of a broader shift in consumer preferences. In a landscape increasingly shaped by digital content and personalized experiences, traditional cinemas are being challenged to rethink their role in the entertainment ecosystem. This trend has direct implications for the development of shopping malls, where cinemas have long served as key anchors for overall traffic. Today’s developers are being pushed to design multifunctional spaces that mix retail with cultural, social, and tech-driven experiences tailored to evolving consumer expectations. Developers that invest in such hybrid formats may attract more consumers.”
In terms of the Romanian counties with the highest number of visits per capita are Brasov (2.05 visite per capita in 2023), Bucharest (1.54), Braila (1.18) and Iasi (1,06). The counties with the highest use and occupancy of existing cinema infrastructure are Iasi (1.26 spectators/ seat/ day), Vrancea (0.88 spectators/ seat/ day), Ialomita (0.84 spectators/ seat/ day), followed by, Covasna (0.82 spectators/ seat/day) and Brasov (0.58 spectators/ seat/ day). The corresponding number in Bucharest was of 0.46 spectators/ seat/ day.
