Cinema box office 7% down

Halfway through the year, the UK and Ireland box office is running 7% behind 2022.

The latest June Comscore figures found continued lag in box-office revenue despite the effective end of the pandemic in the early months of 2022.

June box office figures totalled £90.3m; 28% lower than June 2022, which included the release of Jurassic World Dominion and Elvis.

The highest-grossing film last month was Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, which has earned £26.7m to date. It is followed by The Little Mermaid, which has earned £25.4m to date.

Franchises have dominated the box office all year. Eight of the top 10 performers have been sequels, and the other two include a remake (The Little Mermaid) and a film based off of established video game characters (The Super Mario Bros Movie).

The relative dearth of new IP in popular releases may be in part behind lagging box office figures. In a November interview with The Media Leader, John Partilla, CEO of US cinema advertiser Screenvision Media, and Karen Stacey, CEO of UK cinema advertiser Digital Cinema Media, both agreed that the product slate was lacking compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This isn’t a poor reflection on the industry, but more that admissions numbers have reflected the content available for audiences,” said Stacey.

“We need more romantic comedies, we need more art films. We just need more, more, more,” said Partilla. “I think [the lag in box office] is partially because of Covid and safety and just breaking that seal for moviegoing, but I think part of it is just there hasn’t quite been enough product to pull those laggards back in.”

July is likely to see a box-office boost. Three of the year’s most anticipated releases, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and the latest instalment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One are all set to release.