Armenia’s theatrical market recorded strong growth in the first half of 2026, even though significantly fewer new films were released than a year earlier. KinoPress compared Comscore data for the Armenian cinema market in the first halves of 2025 and 2026, focusing on revenue earned during each reporting period.
In the comparable period of 2025, total box office revenue reached AMD 1.580 billion (about $4.35 million). In 2026, that figure increased to AMD 2.130 billion (about $5.86 million).
The market therefore gained about AMD 550.7 million (about $1.51 million) in one year, an increase of 34.9%.
The growth becomes even more notable when the number of new releases is taken into account. A total of 95 new films entered cinemas in the first half of 2025, compared with only 67 during the same period in 2026.
That means the number of new releases fell by around 29.5%.
At the same time, films released during the respective year generated about AMD 1.266 billion (about $3.48 million) in the first half of 2025 and approximately AMD 1.871 billion (about $5.15 million) in 2026. That represents growth of roughly 47.8%.
In other words, the 2026 increase was not driven by a larger number of films entering the market. The opposite happened: fewer new releases generated significantly more revenue.
In 2025, an average new release generated about AMD 13.3 million (around $36,600) during the period. In 2026, that figure rose to approximately AMD 27.9 million (around $76,800).
At the same time, the concentration of revenue among the market’s biggest films remained almost unchanged. The top ten films accounted for about 70.8% of the first-half box office in 2025 and 70.9% in 2026.
This suggests that the overall increase was not the result of a single exceptional hit. The group of leading films as a whole performed at a much higher financial level in 2026.
The leading film of the first half of 2025 was Vazgen: The Last Sparapet. Released on March 6, the film earned AMD 407.9 million (about $1.12 million) during the reporting period.
Good Day 2 ranked second with AMD 236.7 million (about $651,000), while Monsieur Aznavour was third. Although it had been released on December 5, 2024, the film earned another AMD 99.9 million (about $275,000) during the first half of 2025.
In 2026, the top position was taken by Full House: Landing, released on January 29. The film earned AMD 503.5 million (about $1.39 million) during the reporting period alone.
Try Again ranked second with AMD 298 million (about $820,000), followed by Zontik with AMD 153 million (about $421,000). 13 Kilometres from the Tunnel placed fourth with around AMD 124.7 million (about $343,000).
The highest-ranking foreign film was The Devil Wears Prada 2, which earned approximately AMD 109.5 million (about $301,000).
This makes Full House: Landing the highest-grossing Armenian film of the first half of 2026. The film opened on January 29, 2026.
Its first-half revenue of AMD 503.5 million (about $1.39 million) was around AMD 95.6 million (about $263,000), or 23.4%, higher than the result achieved by the previous year’s leader, Vazgen: The Last Sparapet.
When comparing the two periods, it is important to separate revenue earned during the first half of the year from a film’s total lifetime box office.
The 2026 data includes several films released in the second half of 2025 that continued to earn money after the start of the new year.
The most notable example is Dear Boys. The film opened on November 6, 2025, and had earned around AMD 399 million (about $1.10 million) over its full theatrical run by the time of the report. Of that amount, AMD 108.3 million (about $298,000) was earned during the first half of 2026.
A similar pattern can be seen with Avatar: Fire and Ash, released in December 2025. It generated another AMD 57.6 million (about $158,000) during the first half of 2026.
Overall, films carried over from previous years had a smaller impact on the market in 2026.
In the first half of 2025, 19 films released earlier generated a combined AMD 313.6 million (about $863,000), or about 19.9% of the total market.
In 2026, there were 12 such films, which generated approximately AMD 259.2 million (about $713,000), representing 12.2% of the market.
This means that a larger share of the 2026 growth came from films released during the year itself.
The most active distributor also changed.
In the first half of 2025, Russian distributor VLG released the largest number of new films, with 16 titles. It was followed by MELOMAN with 12 releases and UPI with 11.
In 2026, Kazakhstan-based ASCAR, formerly MELOMAN, moved into first place with 17 new releases. Local film producers and UPI each had nine releases, WBI had six, and VLG had five.
This change took place while the overall number of new releases was falling.
In 2025, VLG accounted for around 16.8% of all new releases. In 2026, ASCAR’s share rose to approximately 25.4%.
In other words, fewer films entered the market overall, while a larger share of releases was concentrated within a single distributor’s slate.
The first half of 2026 therefore brought several clear changes to Armenia’s theatrical market: box office revenue increased by almost 35%, the number of new releases fell by nearly 30%, average revenue per new film more than doubled, and films carried over from the previous year played a smaller role in the total result.
The main takeaway is that the market grew not because more films were released, but because the films that did reach cinemas generated substantially more revenue.
USD equivalents are approximate and calculated using the Central Bank of Armenia exchange rate available on September 18, 2026: AMD 363.5 per US dollar.
