by Thinus Ferreira
In 2020 South Africa's total box office revenue plunged by a massive R1.2 billion to a measly R214 million compared to 2019 - the lowest in over a decade - according to a shocking new industry report laying bare the devastation that the economic shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic has wrought on cinemas as part of the country's struggling TV and film industry.
The report's research is further evidence as to why cinema chains like Cine Centre, Nu Metro and Ster-Kinekor are struggling and have shed jobs and why Ster-Kinekor entered voluntary business rescue at the beginning of 2021, while the number of remaining independent cinemas in the country struggling to keep head above water.
According to the just-released South African box office 2020 report by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), South Africa in 2020 released just 96 films at the box office, 6 of which were locally produced films.
These 6 films earned a total of R7,6 million in box office revenues and had a market share of just 3.5%.
The highest-grossing films in South Africa during 2020 were Bad Boys for Life (grossing over R51,5 million), The Croods: A New Age (R12,5 million) and Dolittle (R10,6 million).
Action, comedy and crime were the highest-earning genres, followed by animation, and then action/adventure films.
Due to South Africa's national lockdown that was announced on 23 March 2020, all cinemas had to close between 26 March to 27 August 2020, meaning that the data used to compile the shocking report stretches from January to March 2020, and then again from August to December 2020.
"The year started strongly, with January 2020 recording R86,9 million compared to R32,2 million in 2019," the NFVF report notes.
"In February and March 2020, figures began to decline as the news about the pandemic was spreading.
For the entirety of April to June 2020, there were no figures recorded as cinemas were closed at that time."
"Again, there were zero revenues in July 2020 as all cinemas remained closed. Cinemas started operating towards the end of August, enabling cinemas to re-open if they implemented new health and safety guidelines, including reduced seating capacity in most cinemas to comply with social distancing measures."
"Between October to December 2020, cinemas were able to operate. However, that did not result in more revenues as the restrictions only permitted a limited number of people at cinemas."
A total of 96 films were released in South Africa in 2020 - a massive drop from the 190 titles released in 2019. The total gross box office for 2020 amounted to R214 million, a shocking decline from R1.225 billion generated in 2019.
Out of the 6 local films, Afrikaans films did best. Vergeet My Nie (Afrikaans/English) with a cinema-run of 6 weeks (53 screens) made the most money in first place and earned a cumulative R3.71 million at the South African box office.
In the overall top 20 highest-grossing films in South Africa for the year, Vergeet My Nie also ranks 16th - the only local film to make the top 20.
In the local films group, Vergeet My Nie was followed by Toorbos (Afrikaans) in second place with a run of 9 weeks (34 screens) earning R1.48 million.
Poppie Nongena (Afrikaans/English) was third with a 4-week cinema run (42 screens) earning a cumulative R1.71 million from cinema-goers, followed by Bhai's Cafe (English) in 4th place that was available for 6 weeks (27 screens), earning R617 920.
Knuckle City (isiXhosa) in 5th place had a 4-week run (45 screens) and earned R558 936. In 6th place was Flatland (Afrikaans/English) that ran for 2 weeks on 19 screens and earned R26 835.
In 2020 many films planned for release were rescheduled for 2021, while others were released on subscription video-on-demand platforms like MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice, for instance Moffie, Griekwastad, Seriously Single, Toorbos, Riding with Sugar, The Tree and New Material.
