UK and Ireland 2021 cinema box office revenue nearly doubles on 2020

Cinema box office revenue increased by 84.7% in the UK & Ireland, according to latest Comscore figures.

Comscore found in its annual review that total box office revenue in the UK and Ireland increased from £323.2m in 2020 to £596.9m in 2021.

This is despite cinemas being closed for the first 19 weeks of 2021 but still marks a decrease from the five years up to 2019 where annual box office revenue was more than £1.3bn each year.

While final admission numbers are not yet available for last year, Comscore expects the UK total to be around 74 million.

The top 10 films in UK & Ireland from 1st January 2021 to 6th January 2022 in terms of box office revenue included:

1. No Time To Die (Universal): £96.5m
2. Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony): £74.8m – still on release
3. Dune (Warner Bros): £21.8m
4. Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (Disney): £21.2m
5. Peter Rabbit 2 (Sony): £20.4m
6. Black Widow (Disney): £18.8m
7. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony): £18.0m
8. Free Guy (Disney): £16.8m
9. Fast & Furious 9 (Universal): £16.4m
10. Eternals (Disney): £14.8m

The latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, was the third highest-grossing film of all time after Star Wars: The Force Awakens at £123.2m and Skyfall £103.2m.

For 2022, Comscore expects the number of titles released to return to 2019 levels which had 938 releases, whereas 2021 had 491 and 2020 had 444.

Phil Clapp, CEO of the UK Cinema Association, said: “While the challenges presented to the sector by Covid during 2021 were still all too apparent, the extraordinarily positive public response to the return of cinema going in the second half of the year, and in particular their recognition of the huge efforts made by cinema operators to ensure the continuing safety and comfort of audiences and team members alike, augur extremely well for a strong and continued recovery in 2022 and beyond.”