National Cinema Weekend took place on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September with more than 640 participating venues offering tickets to cinemagoers from just £4 (UK) and €4 (Republic of Ireland). The 2-day national celebration of cinema delivered 1.8m admissions from cinemas across the home nations and was supported by cross-industry group Cinema First, the Film Distributors’ Association, UK Cinema Association and numerous industry partners.
Closing out a terrific summer session of cinemagoing, National Cinema Weekend arrived as an expansion of its forerunner National Cinema Day, which last ran in September 2024 when it landed 1.1m admissions. The move to a multi-day event brought National Cinema Weekend closer in line with other long-established annual European celebrations of cinema such as France’s La Fête du Cinéma and Spain’s Fiesta del Cine, running since 1985 and 2009 respectively.
The 2-day event proved to be a strong draw for audiences with research conducted across the weekend highlighting that 40% of those attending cinema screenings did so because of the National Cinema Weekend promotion. Family groups in particular were influenced heavily by the £4 (UK) and €4 (Republic of Ireland) ticket price with 74% of families surveyed stating the offer was highly significant in their decision to attend the cinema over the weekend.
Cinemas welcomed a diverse range of audiences for National Cinema Weekend from first-time attendees to regular cinemagoers with one in four visitors aged 16-24. Participating venues across the home nations reported busy auditoriums and many sold out screenings throughout the weekend. The initiative looks set to deliver long-term value beyond its initial weekend launch with 29% of attendees now expected to increase their planned cinema visits.
National Cinema Weekend nicely caps a record-breaking cinema run in the UK and Ireland, with the 18-week summer (1 May – 3 September) delivering £528m in box office, the highest ever for that period in the territory. UK and Ireland cinema box office for 2026 currently sits 22% ahead of 2025 results at the same point in time. With many marquee releases still to come including a bumper Q4 to round out the year, 2026 looks set to continue delivering good news for both audiences and the sector.
Cinema First’s National Cinema Weekend UK press release can be found here.
Up-to-date information on upcoming releases in the UK and Ireland can be found on the FDA Release Schedule.