UK Box Office Ticket Sales Surge 10%

Box office ticket sales in the UK has gone up 10% halfway through the year compared to the same time frame in 2014.

In a BBC article dated July 24th, 2015, the British Film Institute reports that 83 million tickets were sold at the box office to date.

The BFI also pointed out a significant jump of the UK film’s market share – from last year’s 26.8% it has gone up to 32%.

This substantial rise can be attributed to high profile, joint UK-US film productions such as The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Stephen Hawkings biopic, The Theory of Everything.

Independent films also pitched in, with Shaun the Sheep raking in £13.7 million, and Carey Mulligan’s Far From the Maddening Crowd making  £6.1m.

This is the highest share the UK film industry has made since 2012 according to the BFI. In total, 358 films made it in cinemas across the UK and Ireland since January of this year.

Jurassic World topped the charts, grossing more than £57 million to date. Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, filmed in the UK came in second with £48 million.

According to Amanda Nevill, Chief Executive Officer of the BFI, the report clearly shows UK audiences are continually flocking to the cinemas and ensuring movies remain to be contributing force in the economy.

Nevill also added that it is exciting, particularly for the creative sector in the UK, to see movies made in the UK getting a big share of the UK box office.

With upcoming films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the newest James Bond movie, Spectre, the box office is expected to be vibrant until the end of the year.

The report from the BFI also mentioned details on production values of films made in the UK.

In the first half of the year, 79 films spent £594 million in total on film production alone. Inward investment amounted to £518 million of that total, across 21 films.

Twenty-four Local films with production values amounting to £500,000 or more poured in £56 million.

Nevill sees the report “encouraging”. She adds that at this point, overall film production expenditures is promising, with a bigger percentage of the expenditures being made here in the UK, and with upcoming productions to begin in the next to come, we can expect a fuller picture when stats for the whole year is generated at the end of the year.

The report also mentioned that 30 high-budget TV productions spent £279 million to date. This includes shows such as Churchill’s Secret, Downton Abbey’s final series, The Dresser, and Endeavour series three.