Cinema’s Gladiators Can’t Compete With Last Year’s Sci-Fi And Londoners

UK cinema admissions showed a 30% drop in year-on-year admissions for June this year. The witholding of releases due to the Euro 2000 football tournament and the particular success of films including Notting Hill and The Matrix last year (see Cinema Achieves Best June Admissions In 27 Years) are being blamed. In June 1999, admission figures were, at 11 million, the highest recorded for the month in more than 25 years. This year figures reached just 7.7 million.

The highest grossing film for this June was Gladiator, which pulled in £9m (Source: ACNielsen EDI), well ahead of the next biggest earner Final Destination, which only managed £3.8m. Ben Elton-penned Brit film Maybe Baby brought in £3.1m during the month, followed by U-571 with £2.2m and Big Momma’s House with £1.4m.

The disappointment of last month has not prevented the first half of this year from producing the highest admission figures for the January-June period for 26 years. A total of 71 million visits to the cinema were made by the British public during the first six months of this year, an increase of 13% on the same period last year. During the second quarter, high box office earners Gladiator, which took £25.2 million, Pokemon: The First Movie, which took £10.8 million and Erin Brokovich, which took £10.2 million, helped raise the admission figures.

July is also expected to record a drop compared to last year, when Star Wars: Episode 1- The Phantom Menace broke all previous opening weekend box office records for the UK (see Star Wars Episode 1 Smashes Box Office Records). However, with films including X-Men, which enjoyed a $54.5m opening weekend in the US, due for release later in the year, it is hoped that total admission figures can still exceed last year’s.

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