Cinema Admissions for 2000 Achieve Record Figures For Second Year Running
The cinema industry managed to break its own records for the second year running, with admissions of 142.5m representing the highest ever number in 26 years and an increase of 3% on 1999’s total.
A total of twenty films earned over £10m at the box office, compared to thirteen in the previous year. The total box office equalled £628m, up 4% year on year and up 124% over the decade. £14.3m of this total was taken in a single weekend – 11-13 February – the largest box office weekend total ever. The highest grossing film of the year, Toy Story 2, released a week previous to this, contributed £7.8m of this total and went on to take a total of £43.5m.
Toy Story 2, along with the second highest grossing film Gladiator (£30.9m) and third highest Chicken Run (29.4m), each broke all time box office records for total gross.
Despite the record-breakers, there were a few months during 2000 when admissions showed a poor year on year comparison. In June, even top box office hit Gladiator could not win enough to compete with the record success of Notting Hill, The Matrix and The Mummy in June 1999, especially since the Euro 2000 tournament taking place during this time meant many releases were held back. Year on year the figures were down 29.7%, a trend which followed through during the summer, with July showing a year on year drop in admissions of 3.2% and August 13.5%.
Similarly in November, up against the previous year’s audience winners Sixth Sense and The World Is Not Enough, What Lies Beneath, Billy Elliott and Charlie’s Angels did not hold up, and the monthly admissions were down 29.7% compared to the 1999 figure.
| 2000 Cinema Admissions Year On Year Comparisons | |||
| Month | 1999 | 2000 | % Change |
| January | 10,222,000 | 10,587,000 | 3.6 |
| February | 14,350,000 | 17,640,000 | 22.9 |
| March | 9,944,000 | 10,683,000 | 7.4 |
| April | 10,018,000 | 13,015,000 | 29.9 |
| May | 7,396,000 | 11,341,000 | 53.3 |
| June | 10,992,000 | 7,727,000 | -29.7 |
| July | 14,569,000 | 14,098,000 | -3.2 |
| August | 15,650,000 | 13,539,000 | -13.5 |
| September | 8,725,000 | 9,376,000 | 7.5 |
| October | 13,313,000 | 13,991,000 | 5.1 |
| November | 13,133,000 | 9,235,000 | -29.7 |
| December | 10,747,000 | 11,275,000 | 4.9 |
| Total | 139,059,000 | 142,507,000 | 2.5 |
Admission growth was stronger in the first half of the year than the second. The release of Toy Story 2, The Beach and American Beauty brought large increases in February, and the effect continued into April, when a further boost was provided by Pokemon for the kids, Kevin and Perry Go Large for the teenagers and Erin Brokovich for the grown-ups. Just before the summer slump, May also turned out to be a good month, with Gladiator and Final Destination boosting admissions by over 50% year on year, although 1999 had shown a 17% year on year decrease during the same period.
The top ten grossing films for the year were:
| Top 10 UK Box Office Successes 1999 | ||
| Release Date | Box Office (£m) | |
| Toy Story 2 | 04/02/00 | 43.5 |
| Gladiator | 12/05/00 | 30.9 |
| Chicken Run | 30/06/00 | 29.4 |
| American Beauty | 28/01/00 | 21.3 |
| Stuart Little | 30/06/00 | 17.8 |
| Mission Impossible 2 | 07/07/00 | 17.3 |
| Billy Elliott | 29/09/00 | 16.8 |
| X-Men | 18/08/00 | 15 |
| The Beach | 11/02/00 | 13.3 |
| What Lies Beneath | 30/10/00 | 13.2 |
| Source: ACNielsen EDI | ||
One of the factors blamed for a less dynamic performance in the second half of 2000 was the lack of good releases. This could continue to be a factor during the coming year, as many Hollywood projects are on hold or delayed thanks to actors’ industrial action. However, Debbie Chalet, president of the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA), is putting a positive face on things: “The cinema industry enters the new decade on a high,” she says, “2000 was an extremely successful year. 2001 is set to continue this upward trend with an extremely wide range of film releases.”
Cinema Advertising Association: 020 7534 6363
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