The people have spoken and the results of New Zealand's first ever 'Cinema Census' have been collated.

Nearly 4,000 Kiwis responded to our online survey. They answered questions on all things movie-going from the straight-forward (How often do you go to the cinema?), to the moral (What do you think of illegal downloading of films?) to the downright critical (What is the biggest movie-going irritation?). The result is a picture of what New Zealand thinks about movies and the movie-going experience.

Fittingly, a 50/50 male-female split responded. All age groups are represented, with a majority (34%) in the 26-35 year-old bracket. Results are grouped under the tabs above. The last question of the survey asked for general comments - 1,893 people spoke (we read all of them) - and common threads are also included here. All results are published on the last page.

Movie-goers go online for their information: 84% go online for movie times, and 89% go online for movie information and to make a choice on what to see.

Positive reviews - whether from the press or from online users - are the biggest factor influencing people's movie-choice (39%), while 26% say personal recommendation (positive word of mouth), 26% say a good movie trailer, and 8% say related movie articles or interviews.

When choosing what to see at a cinema, 29% have a 'regular' cinema (or cinemas) while 71% choose a movie first then attend whichever cinema it's showing at.