Cinema admissions across the UK and Ireland reached 128m in 2022 (vs. 80m in 2021).
The full year’s ticket sales represented an impressive 60% increase versus the already great gains made in 2021. Whilst final numbers are still a little shy of the pre-pandemic highs enjoyed in both 2018 and 2019 (190m+ admissions each year), increased cinema footfall and pointedly improved box office demonstrate a substantial step forward in the ongoing theatrical business recovery.
911 new titles were released into cinemas in 2022 (vs. 503 in 2021), on par with the pre-pandemic number of releases (2016 – 2019 all saw around 900 titles launched). Big screen highlights included Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Batman, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Living and Aftersun.
Continuing in the same vein, 2023 has gotten off to a healthy start thanks to a wide range of great film choices attracting cinemagoers back to the big screen in good numbers. With a bumper crop of titles slated for release across the year and many more yet to be announced, 2023 looks set to build on last year’s substantial progress, promising further recovery for the already burgeoning sector.
To see future theatrical releases for the UK and Ireland, find the FDA release schedule here.
