Cineworld has enjoyed a record-breaking day in the UK on its inaugural Cineworld Day, according to the exhibitor.
A mixture of films old and new in a variety of formats, as well as a low price offer of £3 ($4) per ticket, attracted a total of 650,000 admissions across more than 100 Cineworld and Picturehouse sites in the UK and Ireland.
New titles including Cyrano, The Duke, Death on the Nile, Uncharted and Belfast were included in the offering on Saturday February 26, as was the 50th anniversary re-release of mob family epic The Godfather.
Such success will come as a relief to cinema owners, following nearly two years of low attendance figures during lockdown and ensuing restrictions.
Although 2021 saw numbers rise – with global box office estimated at $21.4billion, 78% higher than 2020, according to Gower Street Analytics, these figures were still well below the record-breaking tallies for pre-pandemic 2019, when the year’s nine most popular titles topped $1billion, and Avengers: Endgame hovered just under $3bn.
Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said today: “The success of Cineworld Day is a clear message that our customers of all ages want the exciting theatrical experiences that our cinemas can deliver, with customers stating through social media that there is just ‘nothing like the big screen.’”
Although there were a few spikes throughout 2021 with titles including the most recent outings for James Bond and the Fast and Furious franchise, industry watchers were most buoyed by the box office haul of Spider-Man: No Way Home – the first film to top $1bn for two years.
This boost comes ahead of anticipated releases in the next few months, including The Batman, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Top Gun:Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion and sequels to Black Panther and Avatar.
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