Cinema Admissions Reach High In July
Cinema admissions for July are the highest of the year so far, at 16.3 million, which works out at an average of 3.7 million cinemagoers visiting each week.
The figures, revealed by the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA), reveal that the summer blockbusters helped to bring in large swathes of people, particularly sea-faring sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest which grossed an impressive £39.9 million in July alone.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest outperformed the opening of 2003 film Curse of the Black Pearl and has held on to a weekly top box-office position to take the title of number one film so far this year. The third instalment in the franchise is scheduled to be released on a pirate crazy population on May 27 2007.
The man of steel also made a big impact at the box-office in July, as Superman Returns flew faster than a speeding bullet to reach second place in the July chart, grossing £12.3 million.
In addition, Superman Returns offered cinemagoers a unique experience with an IMAX 3D version available. IMAX box-office records were broken, particularly with the London bfi site where sessions were sold-out as 30 minutes of 3D footage was shown during the live-action film. The CAA says that the overwhelming popularity for the IMAX experience has created further screening dates to be added and shows positive demand for future 3D live-action features.
Family animation Over The Hedge hit third spot in July, grossing £10.4million in the process, while other films contributing to July’s strong cinema admissions and 2% growth year-on-year targeted young audiences with comedy and action while dramas were aimed at older cinemagoers.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the top three categories for spend in cinema during July were Motors (£2.86 million), Telecoms (£1.98 million) followed by Entertainment & the Media (£1.73 million). Orange was the highest spending brand in July with its out-of-reel sponsorship, while Land Rover and Vodafone were second and third respectively, both of which were new advertisers in July this year.
| UK Top Ten Box Office 1 July – 31 July | ||
| Rank | Film | Box Office |
| 1 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest | £39,902,162 |
| 2 | Superman Returns | £12,284,003 |
| 3 | Over the Hedge | £10,448,816 |
| 4 | The Break Up | £5,785,998 |
| 5 | Cars | £3,366,141 |
| 6 | Stormbreaker | £3,365,902 |
| 7 | Garfield 2 | £2,245,248 |
| 8 | The Wind that shakes the Barley | £1,884,502 |
| 9 | Just My Luck | £1,837,599 |
| 10 | Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift | £1,399,337 |
CAA: 020 7534 6363