UK and Ireland Posts Biggest Week of Box Office

UK and Irish cinema box office delivered a massive £66.6m this week (21-27 July), the biggest ever haul in the territory since modern reporting began. The unprecedented ticket sales surpassed the previous best performing week – 18-25 December 2015 (£58.6m) – which saw the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.                 

Cinemas across the home nations enjoyed their highest levels of admissions since the opening week of Skyfall in December 2012. Led by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (£34.8m opening week) and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (£19.4m opening week), cinemagoers also sought out a broad range of releases including action thriller Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One, family friendly animated picture Elemental and franchise swan song Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Occupying opposite ends of the cinematic scale in both tone and content, Gerwig’s whip-smart comedy and Nolan’s weighty biopic examine various facets of the human condition and have struck a significant chord with the wider public. Audiences flocked to enjoy the two biggest blockbusters of the summer season, with many choosing to see them as part of a ‘Barbenheimer’ double bill, propagating a common cultural moment which demonstrates the enduring reach of cinema.

The weekend sessions alone (21-23 April) brought an impressive £35.8m in box office, the second highest 3-day weekend total ever in the UK and Ireland, behind only 26-28 April 2019 (£36.1m) when Avengers: Endgame released. Cinemas reported legions of sold out shows across the entire week and despite the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, a visit to the local cinema clearly remains one of the most affordable and attractive out-of-home leisure choices.

Sector recovery has been steady throughout the post-pandemic period with audiences returning in good numbers after cinemas began to reopen for business in May 2021. Since then, three releases have entered the all-time UK and Ireland top 10 – No Time to Die at no.3 (£98.0m), Spider-Man: No Way Home at no.4 (£97.2m) and Top Gun: Maverick at no.8 (£83.7m). With a diverse slate of releases still to come, 2023 looks set to deliver a healthy improvement on last year’s strong results.

Head over to the FDA Release Schedule for information on upcoming UK and Ireland cinema releases.