A standout summer at cinemas across New Zealand: admissions hit a high of 1 million – up +45% on prior year.
From blockbusters to family favourites and breakout hits, cinemas across New Zealand have something for everyone this summer, attracting strong audiences to the best of big-screen entertainment. Between 19 December and 11 January, over 1 million admissions were delivered, up +45% on the same period last year.
Matt Tremain, Sales Director of Val Morgan New Zealand, commented, “It’s really exciting to see another big summer at the cinema. The diversity across the slate has been a huge contributing factor to the success, alongside the growth of our advertising network, with the addition of Silky Otter now part of our circuit.”
The standout film of the summer is the third instalment in the Avatar franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash, once again proving the power of the juggernaut cinematic event. Since its release on 19th December, the film has already delivered over 500,000 admissions in New Zealand. At the global box office, the film has surpassed $1.2 billion.
Zootopia 2 has also crossed the $1 billion mark globally and is the second biggest film of the summer in New Zealand, with 280,000 admissions since it released on 27th November.
Wicked: For Good is also having a solid run, delivering 210,000 admissions to date.
The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, has emerged as a breakout success with 85,000 admissions in New Zealand and $192 million at the global box office – a result that has led to a sequel being greenlit.
Several other releases are contributing to cinema’s highly successful summer, including Anaconda, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants and Song Sung Blue.
The quality and depth of the slate delivered strong growth across multiple hard-to-reach demographics. Youth admissions rose sharply, with P14–24 up +105% and P18–39 up +20%, while affluent ABs recorded +87% growth.
Tremain added, “Looking ahead, the quality and depth of the content across 2026 is at an all time high, from original stories and globally recognised IP.
“The family slate is shaping up to be the biggest on record, led by titles including The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Toy Story 5, Minions 3 and Moana. Alongside this sits a lineup of major, globally loved franchises such as The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Mandalorian & Grogu, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Dune: Part Three, Avengers: Doomsday and Jumanji 3.”
“There’s so much great content coming, which means there’s an abundance of opportunities for brands, no matter their target audience.”
Source: CineTAM 2026