TICKET NUMBERS IN TURKEY ARE SOUNDING THE ALARM!

Director and producer Murat Şeker revealed the alarming decline in production and ticket sales, backed by figures. Şeker said, “Due to rising production costs, I didn't shoot a film this summer for the first time in 20 years.”

The side events of the 62nd International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival concluded with the panels “New Wave or Stagnation: Will This Box Office Save Us?” and “From Film to Digital - Design in Cinema” held on Friday, October 31.

Issues surrounding production and audience numbers in the Turkish film industry were discussed in a panel titled “New Wave or Stagnation: Will This Box Office Save Us?” featuring director and producer Murat Şeker, CJ ENM Distribution Manager Ferhat Aslan, and Cinema Pink by Maximum Film Programming Manager İlkay Erdem.

The country with the biggest drop in ticket sales is Turkey; the country with the biggest increase is Saudi Arabia.

The figures provided by Murat Şeker painted a grim picture. Şeker first illustrated the change in Turkey over the years; according to this, while a total of 72 million tickets were sold in 2017, this number had fallen to 33 million in 2024, and the expectation for this year was 24 million. Before the pandemic, between 2015 and 2019, a total of 290 million tickets were sold, while between 2020 and 2024, this figure was only 130 million. International comparative data underscored the gravity of the situation: Saudi Arabia was the only country to increase the total number of tickets sold from 6 million in the five years before the pandemic to 70 million.

“For the first time in 20 years, I didn't shoot a film this summer.”

Şeker stated that while it is known that the decline in ticket sales is an extension of the decline in purchasing power, the real problem is the simultaneous increase in production costs. “I'll give you an example from my own experience; for the first time in 20 years, I didn't shoot a film this summer because I couldn't afford the production costs,” he said.

Şeker: "The specific reason for the increase in production costs in Turkey is that American companies such as Netflix and Disney have started producing content on digital platforms, raising production costs in dollar terms and destabilising the market. He warned, “There is one point that friends who participate in festivals, especially those who produce festival films, do not pay attention to: When the country's mainstream cinema industry is not functioning, it becomes impossible to organise festivals and competitions.”

“There are no producers left who make a film every three years.”

CJ ENM Distribution Manager-Producer Ferhat Arslan pointed out the lack of institutionalisation and industry development: Aslan said, "There was BKM, there was TAFF, there was Avşar Film. Med Yapım, Ay Yapım; they came and went. But none of them managed to create a sustainable ecosystem. We couldn't establish a producer culture. There are no longer any producers in Turkey who make a film every three years“Our occupancy rate in movie theatres is 5 per cent; this is a disaster!” said Aslan, explaining that this figure does not even cover the electricity costs for a single screening. Ilkay Erdem, Programming Manager at Cinema Pink by Maximum Film, said that alternative ways to attract audiences to theatres should be tried, adding, “That's why I think we need to increase events. For example, we held a festival on September 27-28 with very low ticket prices. We plan to continue with feature films.” In this application, Murat Şeker, who stated that 800,000 tickets were sold over the weekend at 80 TL each, said, “This tells us something: Turkish people don't have money to spend on culture.” “The industry is facing problems in the near future; those making their first film may not be able to make another one, and theatres will close,” said Şeker, continuing, "The majority of the industry has turned to television and series. Without state support, we cannot ask individual producers who finance cinema, 'Why are you doing this? Thanks to this, we have experienced the beauty of 70 million viewers, 250 films a year, competitions, and festivals."

From Méliès to Da Vinci Resolve

The other panel of the day at Altın Portakal focused on design in cinema. In the panel titled “From Film to Digital - Design in Cinema,” academic Emre Ahmet Seçmen discussed turning points in cinema history, from Méliès to Da Vinci Resolve.