2023 UK and Irish Box Office Breaks the £1 Billion Barrier

The Film Distributors’ Association (FDA) represents the interests of film distributors in the UK and Ireland. Its membership ranges from Hollywood studios to independent operators and is responsible for 99% of all films released theatrically in the territory.

Comscore today announced the 2023 UK and Irish cinema box office total as £1.062bn, the first time the territory has crossed the £1bn threshold since the global COVID pandemic.   

Final box office takings for 2023 reached £1.062bn (vs.£981m in 2022), a healthy rise of 8% on last year leaving behind the COVID-affected market nadirs of 2020 (£323m) and 2021 (£597m). Despite the impact of film industry strike action and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, territory box office remains on an upward path of recovery.

1,013 new titles were released in cinemas across the home nations (vs.929 in 2022). Barbie (£96m) was the top grossing film of the year, giving Warner Bros. and the film’s writer/director Greta Gerwig their biggest hits to date in the territory. Barbie is currently the sixth highest grossing film of all-time in the UK and Ireland.

Warner Bros. were the no.1 distributor, scoring two of the top five films, 23 new releases, £239m box office and achieved 23% overall market share. A strong slate across the year included no.1 film Barbie; Roald Dahl musical prequel Wonka; sequels Creed III, The Nun 2 and The Meg 2; and UK dramas Saltburn, The Great Escaper and Allelujah.

Sitting just behind Warner in the second spot were Universal with £225m and an impressive roster of 32 releases including Oppenheimer, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Asteroid City and TAR. Walt Disney also crossed £200m at the box office, the first time three distributors have achieved this feat since 2017.

Global box office estimates from Gower Street Analytics put the worldwide yearly total at $34bn (vs.$26bn in 2022), an impressive 31% increase on last year. The UK and Ireland retained its position as the leading European box office market and was the fourth biggest worldwide, behind only the US & Canada, China and Japan.*

For further detail on 2023 box office results see full press releases from Comscore and Gower Street Analytics

*These results are excluding India as Comscore and GSA tracking is incomplete for the territory