Record Weekend for UK Cinemas
News Report by Daniel Laverick
The weekend of the 28th and 29th of July was not only the number one weekend for cinema going in 2007, it was also the highest official figure on record. 5.5 cinema admissions were recorded against an average of 2 million, with 50% of the cinema goers attending screenings of The Simpsons Movie. The reasons cited for this significantly high number of film attendees has been attributed to the lack of a hot English summer and a concentrated release and overlapping runs of some of the biggest films in the year. The likes of Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Shrek the Third and Hairspray pulled in the mainstream audience while independent films such as Moliere, Tell No One and La Vie En Rose catered for the art house cinema goers.
In comparison, last years highest attended weekend took place in November with 4 million people passing through the doors of their local Odeon or Warner Bros. Figures such as these show that the cinema industry is still going strong, producing films that audiences want to see and are willing to pay for. Mark Batey, Chief Executive of the Film Distributors’ Association stated:
“It’s fantastic that so many people are enjoying the special
experience that only the cinema delivers. With record
breaking attendances and a really varied line-up, this
really is the ultimate summer of cinema.”
This boost in audience figures should further cement the belief that the UK audience is hungry for cinema that ranges from the Blockbuster to the independent or foreign film. One can only hopes that this evolves into further backing and funding for British cinema in the future.
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