How many movie theaters are there?
Counts of cinema sites, screens and seats for the United States, the world and 13 national markets. Each figure comes from a national statistics office, a film agency or a trade body, with the year it describes. Sources count differently, so where two disagree, both are shown.
The short answer
- The United States had about 38,400 movie screens at the end of 2023, down from a peak of 41,172 in 2019 [1]. Cinema United gave 2023 as a round figure, and it is the last count it published.
- The US had 5,798 movie theater sites in 2020: 5,477 indoor cinemas and 321 drive-ins [2]. That was the last year the site count was published. In 1995 it was 7,744. The country has fewer buildings but more screens per building than it did 30 years ago.
- The world had 219,954 cinema screens in 2025, according to Omdia as quoted by UNIC, up 0.76% on 2024 [4]. China alone has 93,187 [17].
A site (or theater, or cinema) is one building. A screen is one auditorium. A 12-screen multiplex is one site and 12 screens, which is why the two numbers are so different.
US movie screens by year
Indoor and drive-in screens combined. 2023 is Cinema United's rounded figure.
Show the data as a table
| Year | Screens |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 36,379 |
| 2010 | 39,520 |
| 2019 | 41,172 |
| 2020 | 40,998 |
| 2021 | 40,150 |
| 2022 | 39,007 |
| 2023 | 38,400 |
US movie theater sites
| Year | Indoor sites | Drive-in sites | Total sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | – | – | 7,744 |
| 2000 | – | – | 6,992 |
| 2005 | – | – | 6,114 |
| 2010 | – | – | 5,773 |
| 2019 | 5,548 | 321 | 5,869 |
| 2020 | 5,477 | 321 | 5,798 |
Source: Cinema United (then NATO), Number of U.S. Cinema Sites. No later official count has been published.
Cinema screens and sites by country
| Country | Year | Screens | Sites | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 2025 | 93,187 | – | – |
| United States | 2023 | 38,400 | 5,798 (2020) | – |
| India | 2024 | 9,927 | – | – |
| France | 2025 | 6,401 | 2,060 | 1,129,286 |
| Germany | 2025 | 4,757 | 947 locations | 758,351 |
| United Kingdom | 2025 | 4,563 | 839 | 790,000 (2022) |
| Italy | 2025 | 3,579 | 1,366 | – |
| Spain | 2024 | 3,566 | – | – |
| Canada | 2024 | 2,740 | – | – |
| Australia | 2024 | 2,244 | 456 | 364,000 |
| Netherlands | 2025 | 1,109 | 286 | 152,533 |
| Sweden | 2025 | 867 | 446 | – |
| Norway | 2025 | 680 | 203 | 74,250 |
| Denmark | 2025 | 492 | 169 | 53,000 |
Sources: China Film Administration; Cinema United; EY; CNC; FFA; UK Cinema Association; ANICA/Cinetel; Spanish Ministry of Culture; Statistics Canada; Screen Australia; NVBF; Swedish Film Institute; Statistics Norway; Statistics Denmark. UNIC's own tables differ for some countries (Sweden 971 screens, Norway 476, Denmark 482, Spain 3,562 in 2025) because it counts differently. Germany counts 947 locations housing 1,651 cinemas.
How many seats are in a movie theater?
National averages per auditorium, latest year.
Show the data as a table
| Country | Seats per screen |
|---|---|
| France (2025) | 180 |
| Australia (2024) | 162 |
| Germany (2025) | 159 |
| Netherlands (2025) | 138 |
| Norway (2025) | 109 |
| Denmark (2025) | 108 |
How many movie theaters are in the world?
Omdia counted 219,954 screens worldwide in 2025 [4], against 212,590 in 2022 and 200,949 in 2019 [3]. The MPA's THEME report, also built on Omdia data, gave 195,813 for 2019 and 208,037 for 2021 [5]. The two series differ by about 5,000 screens for the same year, so use one series for a trend.
Nobody publishes a reliable worldwide count of sites, because many countries only count screens. For Europe, UNIC's 2025 country table adds up to 36,818 screens, while Omdia, quoted in the same report, gives 40,214 [4].
What the counts mean for an operator
Screen counts have levelled off in most mature markets since 2019. The gap between the busiest and quietest sites has grown, and operators are cutting seats per screen with recliner conversions. When you plan a refurbishment, start from seats per screen rather than a national average. Our seat plan builder and screen size calculator work from your own room. For what all those screens earn, see US attendance and ticket prices by year and the largest cinema chains.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Where two sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than averaged away.
- Cinema United (then NATO), Number of U.S. Movie Screens. web.archive.org/web/20240304014507/https://www.natoonline.org/data/us-movie-screens.
- Cinema United (then NATO), Number of U.S. Cinema Sites. web.archive.org/web/20221213070937/https://www.natoonline.org/data/us-cinema-sites.
- The Cinema Foundation, State of the Cinema Industry, March 2023. www.thecinemafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/State-of-the-Cinema-Industry-March-2023.pdf.
- UNIC, Annual Report 2026. unic-cinemas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/2026/UNIC_Annual_Report_2026.pdf.
- Motion Picture Association, THEME Report 2021. www.motionpictures.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/MPA-2021-THEME-Report-FINAL.pdf.
- UK Cinema Association, Sites and screens 2013–2025. www.cinemauk.org.uk/the-industry/facts-and-figures/uk-cinema-industry-infrastructure/sites-and-screens.
- CNC, Bilan 2025 du CNC. www.cnc.fr/professionnels/etudes-et-rapports/bilans/bilan-2025-du-cnc_2589800.
- FFA, Kino- und Filmergebnisse 2025. www.ffa.de/files/dokumentenverwaltung/Kinoergebnisse-ab-2025/1%20Kino-%20und%20Filmergebnisse/Kino-%20und%20Filmergebnisse%202025.pdf.
- Ministerio de Cultura (Spain), Estadística de Cinematografía 2024. www.cultura.gob.es/actualidad/2025/05/250508-datos-cine.html.
- ANICA / Cinetel, Il cinema in sala nel 2025. www.anica.it/multimedia/files/allegati/Conferenza_Stampa_Mercato_Cinema_2025.pdf.
- Statistics Canada, Table 21-10-0180-01, motion picture theatres. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2110018001.
- Screen Australia, Screens and Theatres. www.screenaustralia.gov.au/insights-and-trends/cinema-industry-trends/screens-and-theatres.
- Statistics Norway (SSB), StatBank table 11817. www.ssb.no/statbank/table/11817.
- Swedish Film Institute, Filmåret i siffror 2025. www.filminstitutet.se/globalassets/2.-fa-kunskap-om-film/analys-och-statistik/publikationer/filmaret-i-siffror/filmaret-i-siffror-2025.pdf.
- Statistics Denmark, StatBank table BIO1. www.statbank.dk/BIO1.
- NVBF, Jaarverslag 2025. www.denvbf.nl/files/2025-jaarverslag-nvbf.pdf.
- China Film Administration, 2025 national film market figures. www.chinafilm.gov.cn/xwzx/gzdt/202601/t20260105_944809.html.
- EY, The story of film exhibition in India 2025. www.ey.com/content/dam/ey-unified-site/ey-com/en-in/pdf/ey-the-story-of-film-exhibition-in-india-2025.pdf.
Frequently asked questions
How many movie theaters are in the US?
There were 5,798 movie theater sites in 2020, the last year Cinema United (then NATO) published the count: 5,477 indoor cinemas and 321 drive-ins. Those sites had about 38,400 screens at the end of 2023, down from 41,172 in 2019.
How many movie screens are there in the world?
219,954 in 2025, according to Omdia as quoted in UNIC's 2026 annual report. China accounts for 93,187 of them and the United States for about 38,400.
How many seats are in a movie theater?
The average auditorium has 180 seats in France, 162 in Australia and 159 in Germany, according to each country's film agency. A whole cinema averages 581 seats in France. Recliner conversions are pushing the averages down.
How many drive-in theaters are in the US?
321 drive-in sites with 559 screens in 2019, and still 321 sites in 2020, according to Cinema United (then NATO). In 2000 there were 683 drive-in screens.
How many cinemas are in the UK?
839 sites with 4,563 screens in 2025, according to the UK Cinema Association.
Using these figures
Quote them, chart them, put them in a deck or a board paper. No permission needed and no attribution required, though a link back to this page is appreciated and lets a reader check the working.
If a figure here looks wrong to you, it might be: sources in this industry revise, and some of them disagree with each other by more than you would expect. Tell us what you are seeing and we will correct the page and say that we did.
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