UK admissions down 4% in 2013

Despite a resilient December, UK cinema admissions were down 4% in 2013 according to the latest figures released by the Cinema Advertising Association.

In total, 165.5m people visited UK cinemas throughout the year, down on 2012’s 172.5m tally. The 165.5m result is also the lowest since 2008’s 164.2m.

December saw the likes of Frozen and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ensure a strong end to the year, with an overall figure of 15.7m admissions throughout the month. It marks the strongest December showing since 2009’s 16.3m when cinemas were boosted by the arrival of Avatar.

The main difference between 2012 and 2013 was the record-breaking run of Skyfall which aided UK admissions to hit 16.8m in Oct and 17.6m in Nov, compared to 2013’s Oct tally of 11.9m and Nov result of 13.7m.

Until October, 2013 was either tracking ahead of 2012 or narrowly behind with the year-to-date as of September for 2013 standing at 124.3m as opposed to 2012’s 123.6m.

The strongest month in 2013 was August with 17.6m admissions, closely followed by January with 17.1m, a month boosted by the tail end of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and the stirring success of Les Misérables.

2014 has gotten off to a similarly healthy start, with both weekend frames (Jan 3-5 and Jan 10-12) seeing at least seven films pocket over £1m.

This year could mainly end up relying on performances from the latest superhero outings, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy all set for release.

The end of the year could be strong again with releases for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, The Hobbit: There and Back Again and Dumb and Dumber To.

UK cinema admissions 2013

January 17.08m
February 13.96m
March 10.89m
April 11.89m
May 15.61m
June 13.03m
July 14.32m
August 17.64m
September 9.89m
October 11.87m
November 13.67m
December 15.71m

Total 165.54m

Source - Cinema Advertising Association