Based on statistics prepared last year, almost 7m of Tehran’s citizens went to watch movies, and this number reached 14m across the country; indicating 14 percent decrease compared with two years ago, MNA reported.

Over the past seven years, only the year 2007 saw a slight increase in the number of viewers and the rest show a decline.

The number of viewers in the first five months of the year 2007 compared to the year 2005 shows a decrease of 700,000.

This implies that Iran’s cinema is encountering a critical situation. In the year 1992, Iran’s cinema had attracted 54m viewers, and the number increased up to 56m in the year 1994, but this number lessened up to 21m in the year 2002, and about 16m in 2004.

This huge decrease of viewers confirms that the cinema is losing its hopes for the future, and it gives a dire image of Iran’s cinema for the coming years.

Tehran Times