Figures over the last few years for the film industry in Brazil, including those published by Brazil's National Film Agency (ANCINE, Agência Nacional do Cinema) in its Anuário Estatístico do Cinema Brasileira (Statistical Yearbook of Brazilian Cinema) and those on the website of the film magazine Revista Filme B, point towards its continued expansion. Domestic production is increasing: with 130 national films produced in 2015 up on the 114 films produced in 2014 (Filme B 2016a; ANCINE 2015: 19). Current production numbers are now higher than the 100 films released annually between 1978 and 1980, previously the height of production in Brazilian filmmaking (Johnson 2005: 18). There is also significant growth in the number of screens – 3,000 screens in 2015, compared with 2,465 in 2012 – and consequently in audiences, with ticket sales that are up to 170 million (ANCINE 2015: 10, 12; 2016: 9). Growth in audience numbers overall ‘translates’ to larger audiences for local films (Donoghue 2014b: 539). The two highest grossing national films of 2016 Os Dez Mandamentos – O Filme (Alexandre Avancini) and Minha Mãe é uma Peça 2 (My Mother is a Character 2 César Rodrigues) brought in audiences of over 11 and 9 million respectively (Table 6). Unlike Mexico's annual film industry reports, figures published by both ANCINE and Filme B do not specify the number of films supported by the Government because all films produced in Brazil receive some kind of state support (Butcher 2016), although as this section will explore actual funding comes from a variety of sources and not necessarily directly from the state.

Other figures circulated in the anuários and by Filme B are less positive in terms of how Brazil's national cinema is performing in its own market. As in Mexico, the Brazilian market is dominated by US films and US distributors (ANCINE 2015: 48–49). In 2014, US titles and Motion Picture Association (MPA) member companies, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, Warner, Paramount and Sony were responsible for all but one of Brazil's box office top twenty films, including Brazilian director José Padilha's (Ônibus 174/Bus 174 [2002], Tropa de Elite/Elite Squad [2007], Tropa de Elite 2: O Inimigo Agora é Outro/Elite Squad: The Enemy Within [2010]) remake of RoboCop, which occupies the twentieth slot.