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| Author | Zoe Aresti |
The BFI released the first chapters from their 2016 statistical yearbook this week and they paint a rosy picture of the UK box office. Box office in the UK for 2015 was a record-breaking £1.2 billion, up 17% from 2014 and admissions were 171.9m, up 9% on 2014. Every month in 2015, with the exception of August, was up on the equivalent month in 2014.
UK films fared well, with 28% of releases originating in the UK, including co-productions. That figure was up from 22% in 2014. For the first time too, the BFI have looked at the length of release of films, with the average time a film is in cinemas being seven weeks. However, for films produced in the UK, but made in collaboration with the major US studios, that figure goes up to 17 weeks. UK independent films spent, on average, eight weeks in cinemas in 2015.
The biggest UK independent film of 2015 was the Tom Hardy-starring Legend, but The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Shaun The Sheep Movie and The Lady In The Van all cracked the £10m mark. They also look at the biggest films of all-time and while The Force Awakens is well out in front with £122.3m, even adjusted for inflation, it tops the charts for the last 40 years, ahead of Titanic.
The yearbook features a wealth of fascinating stats and insight and the first chapters can be viewed here.