Cinema Reaches For The Sky In June

Cinema admissions in June reached 9.4m and were up 21% on the same period last year, according to The Cinema Advertising Association (CAA).

The box office soared during June with cinema admissions averaging 2.18 million a week. This was largely due to Pearl harbour, which took £10.4m, throughout the month, making it June’s top film. Animated comedy Shrek also did well and, despite opening at the end of the month, took an impressive £3.8m in June. The film is expected to feature in the top ten for 2001.

Vice president of the CAA, Christine Costello, said: “The success of Shrek prior to the start of the school holidays meant that we have been able to extend the summer children’s package from the usual July to September offering, attracting advertisers such as Nissan, Walkers, McDonalds and Yoplait.”

She added: “Interest is growing from advertisers around key forthcoming ‘event movies.’ This should ensure that the current momentum is maintained in the second half of the the year, as we continue to create strong but targeted packages to capitalise on our growing audiences.”

Blockbusting chick-flick Bridget Jones’s Diary also did well in June, taking £4.3m throughout the month. Eight weeks after its release the film is number six in the all-time UK box office records and number one for the year.

However big knickers and bunny suits will soon have to move over with a series of high profile releases including; Planet of the Apes, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Lord of the Rings, still to come.

CAA: 020 7534 6363

Subscribers can access further information on Cinema by selecting “Cinema” from the drop down box at the top of this page.