UK & Ireland 2020 Box Office: Year in Review

Following a strong start to 2020 with revenues up 20% year-on-year, from March onwards the number of cinemas open remained below normal levels for the rest of the year. A full national closure was in effect throughout Q2 2020 (April-June), followed by regional closures through Q4 2020 (October-December). Even when all regions were permitted to open in Q3 2020 (July-September), some cinemas opted to remain closed due to health concerns and the limited pipeline of new films being released.

Going into 2021, all cinemas are again closed with various local Tiered restrictions expected to last until February.

Overall, 441 new titles were released in cinemas in 2020, down from 938 in 2019.

31 drive-in cinemas opened across UK & Ireland, contributing over £1.6m to the box office.

Final 2020 admission figures are not yet available; the total is expected to be in the region of 42 – 43 million in the UK and 3 – 4 million in Republic of Ireland. This is less than one visit per person on average, around one-third of the usual frequency. The previous UK low was 54 million in 1984. Total admissions in 2019 were 191.1 million for UK & Ireland combined.

Comparing 2020 revenues to 2019, we see a similar picture across the five nations. Northern Ireland held up marginally better than the rest of the UK, down 75% vs 2019. England and Republic of Ireland were each down 76%, Scotland 77%, and Wales was worst affected, falling 79%.

Cinema size/type had a larger impact on performance; smaller venues fared better overall than the larger multiplexes. Single-screen sites were least likely to reopen with many concerned for the safety of older audiences, staff and volunteers and their ability to deliver social distancing in generally smaller venues. Almost half of these sites have remained closed since March 2020. However, those that did reopen delivered a strong performance relative to larger venues, with revenues down 68% in 2020 compared to the 2019 total for all single-screen sites. Cinemas with 2-3 screens or 4-5 screens also held relatively well, falling by 70% and 73% in 2020, respectively. In contrast, almost all multiplexes with 6+ screens reopened but their total 2020 revenue fell 77% vs 2019. The largest venues drive the overall impact on total box office, as they account for three-quarters of all cinema revenues.

Looking into the reasons why smaller venues’ revenues have held up better, the continued availability of arthouse/independent British titles, event cinema, catalogue and short-windowed titles is a major factor; multiplexes are more reliant on the pipeline of major Hollywood blockbusters. In the second half of 2020 following the Q2 lockdown, the highest-grossing titles at sites with 1-3 screens included The Secret Garden and On The Rocks, Saint Maud and Rocks, Trolls World Tour and Onward, and events Michael Ball & Alfie Boe and David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet (alongside Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984 which performed well across all venue types). Audiences who attend smaller cinemas often have a more personal relationship with the venue and may feel more inclined to support them as community assets. In addition, boutique cinemas tend to have fewer than 6 screens; their higher ticket prices helped to maintain revenues for this sector.

Based on admissions in the first eleven months of 2020, the average price paid for a ticket will be in line with 2019’s £7.06.

Looking at audience demographics, we saw more post-lockdown attendees from the younger half of the spectrum (18-34) compared to pre-lockdown, with fewer adults aged 45+ visiting. Hopefully the rollout of various vaccines will quickly renew confidence in the older audience as we enter 2021. Across all post-lockdown attendees, the desire to see a new film and to return to normal activities with friends and family were the main driving forces for returning to cinemas. 95% of attendees said that having experienced the safety precautions, they were Very Likely or Quite Likely to return. The main barriers are the lack of new blockbusters and cinema closures rather than audience desire.

Top 10 films in UK & Ireland in 2020:

Data from 3rd January to 31st December 2020

Nine of the Top 10 films were released before the Q2 national lockdown, with three of these releasing in December 2019. The chart is ranked on each film’s revenue in the 52 playweeks of 2020. 1917 was released on 10th January and has held on to the top spot all year. Sonic The Hedgehog was the most popular school holiday release in mid-February, overtaking Dolittle which released the previous weekend. Tenet was the only post-lockdown release to crack the Top 10, at No.3. Sony had the most titles in the Top 10, led by Bad Boys For Life at No.4.

Following four years of Disney dominance, eOne was the top distributor in 2020, taking £49.3m (15.3% of the total market) despite releasing only five new films in the year. Revenue was more evenly shared across the studios this year, with five distributors taking a share of over 10%, up from three in 2019 when Disney achieved 36.2% of revenues. Alongside eOne, the other Top 5 distributors were Sony (15.0%), Disney (13.7%), Universal (12.1%) and Warner Bros (11.3%).

In total, 121 different distributors released films this year, with the Top 10 distributors taking 89.1% share of the market (down slightly from last year’s 91.8%).

Top 10 films in UK & Ireland in 2020 - Post Q2 lockdown:

Data from 29th May to 31st December 2020

After the staged reopening began at the end of May 2020, the first successful new releases came at the end of July 2020: Unhinged and 100% Wolf. In addition, many cinemas programmed Onward which had released in March 2020 just before lockdown; it added a further £2.4m post-reopening. The most surprising success was After We Collided, released a week after Tenet in early September 2020. The sequel to After which was not released theatrically in the UK, it has taken £4m and is second only to Tenet in the post-lockdown chart. Two more sequels are planned.

Warner Bros takes the crown for the most major releases since reopening, with four titles in the Top 10 appealing across adult and family audiences.

Top 10 British films in UK & Ireland in 2020:

Data from 3rd January to 31st December 2020

The British films chart is dominated by 1917, which took over three times as much as its closest competitor The Gentlemen. Two event cinema releases feature in the Top 10, both recorded when theatres were still open: the musical Kinky Boots and play Cyrano De Bergerac. Event cinema releases have been popular with audiences who are currently prevented from indulging their theatre-going habit. Debut feature Saint Maud has been widely acclaimed, scoring seventeen nominations at the upcoming BIFA awards and performing strongly at arthouse cinemas.

Alongside cinema box office revenues, studio facilities and post-production continue to be powerhouses for the UK economy with multiple new stages under construction across the south of England, Liverpool and Belfast. The industry was quick to devise Covid-safe working methods and production is continuing or completed on 2021 releases including The Batman, Mission: Impossible 7, Jurassic World: Dominion and other major film and TV projects.

Note: The 2020 date range was Friday 3rd January 2020 to Thursday 31st December 2020.