On Saturday, 2nd September, the UK’s National Cinema Day achieved a remarkable milestone by generating nearly £4.65 million in box office revenue from almost 1.56 million admissions, representing a significant 6% increase compared to the previous year’s edition.
The event featured heavily discounted ticket prices, with admission starting at just £3 at over 630 cinemas throughout the country. Among the standout performers for the day were Warner Bros’ “Barbie,” which grossed an impressive £860,812, Sony’s much-anticipated release “The Equalizer 3,” securing £753,335, and Universal’s “Oppenheimer,” bringing in £412,509, as reported by box office analysts at Comscore.
Additional titles that drew enthusiastic audiences included “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” “Elemental,” “The Meg 2,” and “Blue Beetle.” Notably, the 30th-anniversary re-release of “Jurassic Park” also made a significant impact.
The following day, Sunday, 3rd September, saw the box office tally reach £2.23 million, equivalent to an estimated 280,000 admissions, considering an average ticket price of £8. For comparison, the preceding Saturday (26th August) recorded a box office of £3.35 million and approximately 420,000 admissions during the Bank Holiday weekend.
This success follows last year’s rebooted edition, the first National Cinema Day in nearly three decades, which managed to amass £4.4 million from almost 1.5 million admissions.
National Cinema Day is an initiative developed by the cross-industry organisation Cinema First and receives support from the Film Distributors’ Association and the UK Cinema Association.
Early results from a nationwide survey indicate that three-quarters of attendees expressed a strong likelihood of returning to the cinema in the weeks to come.
After a relatively moderate first half of the year, the months of July and August have witnessed a resurgence in the UK-Ireland box office, primarily driven by the exceptional performances of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” Currently, the UK box office stands at a commendable 10% higher than it was at the same point in 2022, indicating that cinemas are steadily approaching pre-pandemic levels of success.
