I came across a copy of Screen International from January 1993 the annual preview additional they used to do. In it there was a report predicting UK cinema admissions would have increased from 101m in 1991 to over 200m in 2000. From then till 2002 they were climbing up to a record high of 175.9m in 2002 but since then they have been treading water with a big dip in 2006.
In that issue of Screen International had the box office takings for West End cinemas 20 years later I doubt the box office levels haven’t changed even with the inflated prices. Back then remember cinema like the Odeon Leicester Sq, Warner West End, Empire Leicester Sq and Odeon West End regularly breaking weekend box office records for films being screened. I doubt many films these days take £190,000 over a weekend at the Odeon Leicester Square as they did 20+ years ago when top prices was about £6 to the current price of £23.50.
This year if admissions repeat last year for October – December admissions it could be the lowest admissions since 2001.
Why has this year been so bad? If you are sitting in offices in Fox House Soho Square you wouldn’t be thinking that this year was a poor year after 20th Century Fox are experiencing their best year for many years. As is Event Cinema, so why have all the other studios got it so wrong? (or did they?)
Disney have had good success with Guardians of the Galaxy, Maleficent and Captain America: The Winter Soldier
The year started so well with £20m grosses for 12 Years A Slave and Wolf of Wall Street neither film was expected to do as well and then Warner Bros had massive success with The Lego Movie. But since then most films have failed to really connect with audiences it’s amazing to say that The Inbetweeners 2 £33m and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 that took £23.6m could be seen as disappointments as both distributors would of likely been expecting higher box office that they got. That is where one of the issues has occurred.
As it was World Cup year the studios are always nervous of opening their big films during it which caused a bottleneck of releases in May with Godzilla, X-Men Days of Future Past, Maleficent, A Million Ways to Die in the West and Edge of Tomorrow all opening in less than 3 weeks. Godzilla opened ok but then dropping big with X-Men Days of Future Past opening. The following triple of Maleficent, A Million Ways to Die in the West and Edge of Tomorrow gave Tom Cruise one of his worst ever openings in the UK even after it received great reviews. It held well in the weeks after its release but the damage was already done. The following weekend the weekend before the World Cup 22 Jump Street had a fantastic opening as did Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie proving if you build it they will come no matter what else is going on.
Industry experts are still describing a film that takes £10m or £20m as hits 10+ years ago a film taking £10m+ would be seen as a successful release but with marketing costs increasing a film that takes £10m in the UK cannot really be described as a hit.
Gone Girl has taken £14m in the UK to date that is more than David Fincher’s two recent films The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo but less than Seven which took £19.6m in 1996. Cinema ticket prices were a third of what they are now so how can you compare the two films? As every film released now should be taking much more than films released 20 years ago as the average ticket price was about £3 in 1996 now it’s almost £9.
If you are to compare films released more than 10 years ago you need to compare admissions rather than box office.
Exhibitors are blaming the films for the poor year and are saying that next year will be better. There maybe some huge releases next year but there are bigger issues that are the reason for the drop in cinema attendance and the biggest is the cost of going to the cinema has dramatically increased recent years. The Cinema Exhibitors Association would like us to think that the average cinema ticket price in the UK is £6.53 but a recent survey said it was nearer £9.60 up 2133% since 1974 and in the last 5 years along up by 26%.
Then you have the 3D surcharge con where cinemas add a third onto tickets for 3D films what is crazy is most times the 2D version will outsell the 3D version even with the additional charges. Those additional charges have hidden the fact that box office hasn’t increased in the UK since 2009.
Exhibitors always say that they make more money on popcorn than they do on ticket sales so the increase in ticket prices is really only hurting them. If prices were lower more people would come and more popcorn will be sold. EE Wednesdays are very lucrative for cinemas as the buy one get one free doubles the audience and I’m sure makes cinemagoers more likely to buy popcorn than if they were going on a different day.
17 years ago on June 15th 1997 there was National Cinema Day when cinemas across the country tickets were £1 and cinema screened their current films and previews it was a huge success events like these are needed to get people back to the cinema. Event Cinema has been one of the year’s biggest successes as it gives audiences something different to what is regular screening at their multiplex.