Gordon Patterson, Managing Director of Starcom, says: "The decline is a clear indication that ticket cost is not the only barrier to this medium. Content is obviously a major factor as well as relevance of the overall experience.
"Affordability of home entertainment systems and DVDs must also have had an impact, creating a trend for viewing movies in the comfort of the home environment.
"Declining attendance has a direct impact on advertisers and this has been exacerbated by increased rates. If content is king, as it appears to be, another issue looming for the cinema industry is pressure from distributors
"South African cinemagoers are accustomed to seeing the top global hits very soon after they are launched internationally. If we are not attracting the audiences, we won't be able to afford the going prices for the top new releases which will impact further on content."
