82% Growth in Movie Theaters Over a Decade

In 2006-7, there was one cinema hall for 69,325 people whereas 10 years later, the ratio improved by one to 61,308 residents. 

The number of moviegoers has also risen by 61% over the decade, from 15.8 million in 2006-7 to 25.44 million in 2016-17. 

According to the Statistical Yearbook for 2016-17, there was one movie theater chair per 620 Iranians in 2016-17, nearly 4% fewer than a decade earlier when the ratio was one chair per 594 people, Financial Tribune reported.

There was one chair in movie theaters per 4,712 residents of Hormozgan Province in 2016-17—the smallest ratio of chairs to population available in movie theaters—followed by Zanjan (1 per 4,598), Sistan-Baluchestan (1 per 3,828), Ilam (1 per 2,763) and Qazvin (1 per 1,550). 

In Semnan, however, chair-population ratio was the biggest among all provinces in 2016-17: There was one chair in Semnan’s cinema halls per 310 locals. The ratio stood at 1 per 312 in Tehran, 1 per 346 in Yazd, 1 per 380 in Bushehr and 1 per 435 in South Khorasan. 

Iran exported 3.18 times more movies overseas in 2016-17 (35 movies), which indicates a 218% rise compared with 10 years before when 11 movies were exported.