Going to the cinema in Mato Grosso often stops being a weekend activity and becomes a trip. With theaters in just 15 of the state's 142 municipalities — equivalent to around 10.5% of cities — residents of 127 municipalities need to travel to watch a film on the big screen.
According to a survey carried out by g1, commercial spaces are concentrated in Baixada Cuiabana and in regional hubs, such as Rondonópolis, Sinop, Tangará da Serra, Sorriso and Barra do Garças. For those who live outside these areas, watching a movie at the cinema may require planning.
The need to travel to access the cinema is part of the story of Ana de Jesus, 66 years old. Her relationship with the search for big screens began in her childhood, when itinerant sessions arrived in the rural community where she lived, in Paraná. The exhibitions were rare and took place in improvised spaces, but they remained in the memory of the retired teacher.
“For us, that was a lot, it was the fun of the year, an event that we weren’t used to having”, he highlighted.
Years later, in July 1974, Ana left Paraná and moved to Pontes e Lacerda (MT). To access the cinema, he traveled approximately 483 km to Cuiabá, where he attended a session for the first time in a large room with a large screen. She also went to other cities, such as Cáceres, looking for sessions.
According to Diego Baraldi, professor of the Cinema and Audiovisual course at UFMT, the concentration of theaters in a few cities is related, among other factors, to the costs of maintaining a commercial exhibition structure. For him, the necessary investment and the difficulty of maintaining the business with ticket revenue help explain why cinemas are less common in smaller cities.
"In Brazil, less than 10% of municipalities have active commercial cinemas, and Mato Grosso accurately reflects this gap. Access to culture and art is a right guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. When more than 89% of municipalities in our state are left without a single screen, we have a serious problem of public policy and inequality of access to cultural goods", he highlighted.
Where are the rooms and how much does the session cost in MT
The distribution of exhibition halls in Mato Grosso is also reflected in ticket prices. While the metropolitan region has the largest infrastructure in the state, options in the interior have prices that vary depending on the city, cinema, day of the week and the format of the session.
Cuiabá easily leads the offer and is home to four complexes: Cinépolis (Shopping Estação Cuiabá), Cineflix (Shopping 3 Américas), Multiplex Cine Araújo (Pantanal Shopping) and Cine Laser (Goiabeiras Shopping). Neighboring the capital, Várzea Grande has a Cineflix unit in Várzea Grande Shopping. Together, the two cities have more than 20 commercial spaces.
In the capital, prices vary between:
Cinépolis: from R$30 to R$60;
Cineflix: R$32 (2D sessions) and R$38 (3D);
Multiplex Cine Araújo: from R$44 to R$58, depending on the day and format;
Cine Laser: promotional and conventional tickets between R$28 and R$46.
Inland, commercial spaces are concentrated in regional hubs and other cities. Rondonópolis has Cine Vip, while Sinop has two operations: Moviecom and Cine Center Machado. There are also commercial units and screens in Sorriso, Tangará da Serra, Barra do Garças, Cáceres, Lucas do Rio Verde, Pontes e Lacerda, Primavera do Leste, Campo Verde, Alta Floresta, Nova Mutum and Guarantã do Norte.
Outside Baixada Cuiabana, rates also fluctuate:
Rondonópolis: Cinevip in the city varies between R$12 and R$22.
Sinop: at Moviecom, the entire ticket varies from R$22 to R$32; At Cine Center Machado, prices for 2D films range from R$32 to R$44, depending on the duration of the work;
Nova Mutum: at Cine 163, full tickets (2D) also vary from R$32 to R$44 depending on the film;
Rede Cine
In addition to the distance to the nearest room, the cost of the session also weighs on the budget of those who need to travel between cities. In these cases, the ticket expense is added to the food and fuel expenses.
The concentration of movie theaters in a few cities is also linked to the high cost of maintaining a commercial exhibition structure. According to Diego, opening a theater requires investment in space, projection equipment and sound system, in addition to depending on revenue from ticket sales.
"The infrastructure that is the location, the room itself, the building. All of this involves a lot of money, I would say. It's an expensive business, which is why perhaps they don't have that many initiatives."
In Nova Mutum, 242 km from Cuiabá, the relationship with cinema has also undergone a transformation in recent years. In 2025, businesswoman Francielli Vila and her husband, João Soares, began the Cine 163 project, which began on the premises of Faculdade Famutum. Today, the space has three rooms, all with laser projection: one with capacity for 120 people and the other two for 90 spectators each.
For Francielli, administrator of the cinema, the space is considered the first cinema in the history of Nova Mutum. The experience of bringing cinema to a city in the interior also required adaptations in relation to the functioning of large chains, mainly in understanding the habits and needs of the local public.
"We started to understand that what works for a shopping mall cinema, for a large chain, doesn't necessarily work for the interior. We had to learn a lot", he explained.
This adaptation also appears in initiatives aimed at different audiences. In August 2026, Cine 163 held the first blue session — an initiative adapted for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and sensory hypersensitivity —, with the film Minions and Monsters. The proposal is to hold new sessions, initially with a goal of one per month, and increase the frequency depending on public acceptance.
Family cinema
Just like the residents of Nova Mutum, those in Pontes and Lacerda also now have a movie theater closer to home. The city once again had an exhibition room, allowing residents to access the sessions without having to travel to other cities.
For Ana, cinema also became an experience shared with her daughters, including the youngest, Luana Jesus, a 25-year-old Literature student. For Luana, films also represented an opportunity to be with her mother.
"For me, it became fun, a moment that I could have with my mother, just me and her. We watched movies, in theaters, together", he said.
With the screening room in Pontes e Lacerda, mother and daughter now have the possibility of keeping this moment of coexistence closer to home. The change also marks Ana's trajectory, who left the sessions in wooden houses, with hard floors, in her childhood, to follow the technological transformations in cinema, including 3D experiences.
