Cinema Round-Up – January To October

Admissions Cinema admissions have been varied so far this year, with January and February starting 1996 off well by each recording figures of just over 12 million. The best month of the year so far however was August which saw an overall increase of 23.87% on the same month last year with a figure of over 16 million. September was a disappointing month however with a dramatic fall to 7,926,000.

Figures for April showed that films such as Sense & Sensibility and Trainspotting continued to maintain good admission figures for that month and Toy Story continued to have the highest gross figures for the second month in succession. August saw the record breaking success of Independence Day which took £25 million during August.

Overall this year has been one of significant growth for the Cinema industry. The best indicator of this is the number of large new multiplex screens which are being opened or planned. In January for example UCI announced a £100m expansion plan which would see it open six new sites across the UK by the end of 1997 and four by the end of this year. Another fillip for the industry was the 13^th annual CAVIAR survey in March which revealed that three quarters of the population are cinemagoers and showed that the number of regular cinemagoers has tripled since 1984 to account for 15% of the population. July saw the announcement from Carlton Communications that it would acquire Cinema Media. Carlton saw the opportunity to capitalise on cinema advertising after the increase in cinema audiences and multiplex cinemas over the last decade. Cinema Media will operate alongside Carlton UK Sales, which sells airtime for Carlton, Central and various cable channels. July also saw Pearl & Dean update its identity, including the well known signature tune, giving it a more contemporary feel. The update was the final stage of the three year plan to revitalise Pearl & Dean ‘s operation in the UK.