“Flow calle”, “La trapa”, “El brujo”, “Jupia”, are some of the films that moviegoers enjoyed in 2022. In fact, some people go to the cinema to live the experience, taste a bowl of popcorn accompanied refreshments and see an audiovisual premiere on the big screen.
Given this, the Directorate General of Cinema (DGCine) registers 3,062,374 visits to movie theaters in 2022, that is, 28.4% of the 10,760,028 Dominicans. This assistance witnessed the premiere of 29 national feature films.
In the last five years, the highest attendance is evident in 2018, when 5,047,901 Creoles enjoyed the screening of 25 local films. In 2019, the visit of 4,643,242 was reported, 8% less than the previous year, but a variation of 68.8% compared to the 1,447,056 people in 2020. Meanwhile, the cultural entity recorded 1,550,391 people who attended movie theaters in 2021 to enjoy 107 international and national productions.
But, in addition, the cultural and creative industry represents 1.5% of the Dominican gross domestic product (GDP), which shows its opportunity to develop businesses, ventures and strengthen the arts to diversify the traditional job market.
Although the cinema is synonymous with entertainment for the global population, it is also a way to generate income with the release of hundreds of films each year. Productions like “lottoman” (RD$96.4 million), “Tuberculo gourmet” (RD$99.1 million) and “Que león” (RD$102.1 million), were some of the most lucrative Dominican films by box office sales.
45% of Dominicans over the age of 15 have attended the cinema, which shows that the projection on the big screen is still a way of going out, entertainment and enjoyment. This is followed by 14% who attended an artistic event, 11% to museums, 7% historical sites and 5% to plays, according to the National Statistics Office (ONE).