Portuguese cinemas drew 10.9 million moviegoers in 2025, an 8.2% drop compared to 2024, marking the lowest turnout this century excluding the Covid-19 pandemic years (2020-2022).
According to data from Portugal’s cinema (ICA) and statistics (INE) institutes, the previous lowest turnout had been in 1996, when 10.4 million moviegoers were registered.
Box office revenue fell as well, to €70.5 million, down 3.9% on the previous year. Despite the decline, more films hit screens last year: 406 compared with 393 in 2024, including 54 Portuguese productions, representing 13.3% of releases.
Disney’s Lilo & Stitch led the charts as the most-watched film with 667,000 viewers, followed by Minecraft (503,000) and Zootropolis 2 (428,000) – showing how movies geared towards children are those that pull the largest audiencies. The only Portuguese-language entry in the top 10 was the Brazilian drama Ainda Estou Aqui, with 385,000 admissions.
Among Portuguese films, O Pátio da Saudade led the way with 69,000 viewers.
Cinema chains saw mixed fortunes. Cineplace, which closed several venues in 2025, recorded losses of over 30% in both audience and revenue. NOS Lusomundo Cinemas remained the market leader, with 7.1 million tickets sold, down 8.1%, and €48.2 million in box office, down 3.5%.
