Laura Carollo
Research expert covering cinema and film
Cinema in Canada - statistics & facts
Canada and the United States form a key region in the worldwide cinema sector – the North American film market. However, the northernmost country in the Americas is struggling to overcome the deep impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2023, Canada's box office revenue added up to almost a 600 million Canadian dollars. While this represents a sharp increase compared to the previous year, it still remains below the result recorded in 2019. How is the Canadian market faring in a post-pandemic world?
Although the Canadian market is not yet fully back on its feet, it is showing signs of recovery both internationally and regionally. While watching movies at home is a more attractive (and less expensive) alternative according to more than half of consumers, the Canadian audience is more than eager to go back to the movies. During a 2024 survey, around three quarters of Canadians said they went to the movies at least once during the previous 12 months.
The show must go on
The annual production of theatrical films in Canada remained stable amidst the pandemic. During the 2022/2023 season, the country produced 149 movies, about the same number recorded three seasons before. This indicates that – despite being overshadowed by the American film industry – Canada is home to a resilient movie segment. The amount allocated to filmmaking further proves that. In the 2022/2023 season, production budgets for Canadian feature films collectively added up to 458 million Canadian dollars, up from about 390 million Canadian dollars one season earlier.The accents in moviemaking
Ontario is the Canadian province with the biggest budgets for movie and TV productions. Throughout the 2022/23 season, Ontario's production volume amounted to 4.36 billion Canadian dollars, whereas British Columbia's and Quebec's added up to 3.75 billion dollars, respectively. The figures are not proportional to the population of each Canadian province, however. In 2024, there were almost twice as many Quebecers as British Columbians. Still, BC's production volume was bigger than Quebec's. Contrasts are also present in the languages spoken in Canadian cinema. During the 2022/23 season, more than two thirds of domestic films were in English, while the rest was in French or other languages.Although the Canadian market is not yet fully back on its feet, it is showing signs of recovery both internationally and regionally. While watching movies at home is a more attractive (and less expensive) alternative according to more than half of consumers, the Canadian audience is more than eager to go back to the movies. During a 2024 survey, around three quarters of Canadians said they went to the movies at least once during the previous 12 months.
