UK & Ireland cinema box-office exceeds £1.1 billion for fifth consecutive year, despite year-on-

year fall of 2.9% in 2014

Cinema box-office in UK & Ireland exceeded the £1.1 billion mark for a fifth consecutive year in

2014, despite falling 2.9% versus 2013. This is the most significant reduction in box-office since

tracking began in 1991. The exact total across UK & Ireland was £1,133,975,157, down from

£1,167,909,853 in 2013. Admission figures are not yet available but are also expected to be lower

than 2013. Geographically, all parts of UK & Ireland saw reductions of at least 2%. The biggest drops

were seen in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, both down 7% versus 2013. Wales fell 4%.

2014 was never expected to be a stellar year, and those expectations proved correct. A year ago,

looking back at a flat performance in 2013, and forward to a release slate which lacked reliable

blockbusters in the same league as Bond, Harry Potter or Toy Story, 2014 was already being

disregarded by industry figures more excited by the high-profile titles coming in 2015.

Following some delays to anticipated releases (such as a major Pixar animation and the next Fast &

Furious instalment, both pushed back to 2015), there were relatively few sure-fire hits in the 2014

release calendar – and some of those came very late in the year (The Hunger Games in November,

The Hobbit in December). Top spot went to original animation The Lego Movie, with £34.3m and a

96% Fresh critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Summer was boosted by several hotly-anticipated

sequels, led by The Inbetweeners 2 and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. Success also came in some

unexpected quarters: 18-rated The Wolf Of Wall Street took £22.7m, the UK’s highest ever gross for

an 18 certificate (overturning Hannibal’s 13-year record). Close behind was another 18-rated book

adaptation, Gone Girl (£22.3m), proving there is a market for darker adult entertainment in advance

of Fifty Shades Of Grey. At the other end of the spectrum, Paddington exceeded expectations over

the Christmas holidays and is on track to take well over £30m – distributor StudioCanal’s best ever

result and likely to begin a new franchise. Intelligent sci-fi continues to strike a chord with audiences;

as well as new instalments of Planet Of The Apes and X-Men, there were plenty of ideas to mull over

in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla and Luc Besson’s Lucy.

However, no 2014 release has yet passed the £40m milestone; we are likely to record just one (The

Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, which will overtake The Lego Movie in January). In

comparison, four 2013 releases grossed £40m+ (Despicable Me 2, The Hobbit: The Desolation Of

Smaug, Frozen and Les Miserables).

Lucy Jones, UK Executive Director at industry analysts Rentrak, offers this view. “When considering

the causes of the drop in box-office, we could point to widening home entertainment options, with

online services enabling easy downloading of films and TV box-sets for binge-viewing, or the

increasing cost of cinema tickets. However our view remains that it’s a product-driven market. The

audience will turn out for the films that grab their attention, but they need a compelling reason to

go – whether that’s a must-see sequel, big-budget effects or 5-star reviews. It’s a crowded

marketplace, with over 830 releases last year including live events. To get over the £50m level, you

have to motivate irregular cinema-goers to book that ticket, and 2014 was a ‘year off’ for many of

the major franchises like Bond and Avengers.”

Top 10 films in UK & Ireland in 2014:

Data up to 1st

January 2015

1. The Lego Movie (Warner Bros): £34.3m

2. The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (Warner Bros): £33.5m (still on release)

3. The Inbetweeners 2 (Entertainment Film Distributors): £33.3m

4. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (20th

Century Fox): £32.7m

5. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 (Lionsgate): £30.1m (still on release)

6. Guardians Of The Galaxy (Walt Disney): £28.5m

7. Paddington (StudioCanal): £27.9m (still on release)

8. X-Men: Days Of Future Past (20th

Century Fox): £27.1m

9. How To Train Your Dragon 2 (20th

Century Fox): £25.0m

10. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Sony Pictures): £24.0m

Top 10 British Films in UK & Ireland in 2014:

Data up to 1st

January 2015

1. The Inbetweeners 2 (Entertainment Film Distributors): £33.3m

2. Paddington (StudioCanal): £27.9m (still on release)

3. Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie (Universal Pictures): £14.7m

4. The Imitation Game (StudioCanal): £14.1m (still on release)

5. Non-Stop (StudioCanal): £9.4m

6. Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey? (eOne Films): £7.4m

7. Mr. Turner (eOne Films): £6.4m (still on release)

8. The Railway Man (Lionsgate): £5.3m

9. Gravity (Warner Bros): £5.2m (released in 2013; lifetime £32.7m)

10. Exodus: Gods And Kings (20th

Century Fox): £4.7m (still on release)

While not quite matching up to the first instalment (£45m), The Inbetweeners 2 gave a much-needed

boost to the summer box-office following the World Cup. Expect Exodus: Gods And Kings to move up

the rankings, as its £4.7m gross was from only seven days of play.

2015 is being tipped to bring the highest ticket sales since the 1970s, with hugely compelling

franchises including: Skyfall follow-up SPECTRE; sci-fi sequels Star Wars: The Force Awakens;

Marvel’s The Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Ant-Man; Jurassic World; Mad Max: Fury Road; and

Terminator: Genisys; comedies Ted 2 and Pitch Perfect 2; action from Taken 3 and Fast & Furious 7;

the return of old favourites at The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; and YA adaptations The

Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and The Divergent Series: Insurgent.

We also have a bumper crop of family animations: Big Hero 6; TV favourites Shaun The Sheep and

Peppa Pig; Home (featuring Rihanna); The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water; Minions; a

double helping of Pixar with Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur; Hotel Transylvania 2; and Snoopy

And Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Movie.

With the number of releases expected to exceed 850 titles, there will inevitably also be some

surprises in store.