The UK-Ireland box office bounced back in the wake of the pandemic, with total admissions for 2021 reaching 74m, an increase of 68% on 2020’s admissions, according to the BFI’s annual official statistics report.
The year presented two very different half years of business for UK cinemas. The first four months was marked by cinemas being closed and reopening from early May. Then October saw the release of No Time To Die and 16.4m admissions, the third highest October on record. The trajectory of recovery saw admissions reach 38.8m in the final quarter of the year.
The total box office generated by all films on release in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in 2021 was £602m, a 144% increase on the £247m in 2020, but significantly down on the 2019 figure of £1.25bn.
No Time To Die was the highest grossing film of the year with £96.6m, followed by Spider-Man: No Way Home on £84.1m. The top five also included Dune (£21.9m), Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (£21.3m) and Peter Rabbit 2 (£20.5m).
The top 20 films of the year collectively grossed £441m, accounting for 73% of the total box office; the top 20 UK qualifying film releases grossed £234m.
Independent films
The market share of UK-qualifying independent films fell to 5% in 2021 from 14% in 2020, with the box office total down 11% year-on-year to £30m. The market share of UK-qualifying films overall (which includes No Time To Die), was 41%, compared to 46.5% in 2020.
The top grossing UK independent film was The French Dispatch (£4.6m), which undertook some of its production work in the UK, followed by The Hitman’s Bodyguard (£3.8m) and Spencer (£2.8m). People Just Do Nothing - Big In Japan and Last Night In Soho (both £2.3m) rounded out the independent top five.
The BFI report classes an independent film as made with ”independent (non-studio) US support or with the independent arm of a US studio”.
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