1. Biggest ever year for cinema in the UK & Ireland
The total cinemabox-office inthe UK& Ireland broke all recordsin2015, overtaking2012 to become
the highest-grossingyear ever. The exact total across the UK & Ireland was £1,309,606,400, up from
£1,136,188,077 in 2014. This represented a 15.26% year-on-year rise, 11.07% ahead of the previous
record holder (2012, with £1,179,046,380). Final admission figures are not yet available but have
certainly exceeded 2014, and may overtake 2012 as the largest in the multiplex era.
Geographically, all regions saw notable rises. England posted the biggest increase, rising 18%,
followedbyScotland(12%) andWales(10%). NorthernIrelandandthe Republicof Ireland both rose
5% (when viewed in local currency).
As expected,2015 was a year of enormousfilms. Where 2014’s biggest success was The Hobbit: The
Battle Of The Five Armies with £41.3m, five titles managed to beat this total in 2015. All five were
sequels in hugely successful film series, demonstrating the power of the franchise in the current
marketplace. Indeed, seven of the top ten films were sequels (with another based on an
international literary phenomenon: Fifty Shades Of Grey, eighth with £35.1m). Only two were
original titles:Pixar’sInsideOut(sixthwith £39.2m) and DreamWorksAnimation’s Home (tenth with
£25.4m).
The titles taking the top two spots are no surprise: based on two of the most successful media
franchisesof all time,these films were widely expected to break records and bolster the 2015 box-
office. At number one in the 2015 calendar year was SPECTRE (£94m), the latest in a long line of
Bond successes. At number two was Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£87.1m), the first live-action
Star Wars film for ten years. Released on the 17th
December, it passed SPECTRE in the first days of
2016 to become the biggestfilmreleasedin2015. It is predictedto overtake Skyfall(£103.2m) as the
highest grossing film of all time in the UK by its fourth weekend. SPECTRE, meanwhile, has since
moved into third place in the all-time charts, ahead of Avatar. Jurassic World, the first film in the
Jurassic Park series for fourteen years, dominated the summer box-office with a £64.5m total, to
take third place. Marvel’s Avengers returned in the hotly anticipated Age Of Ultron, with £48.3m
(compared with £51.9m for the first Avengers film). Animated spinoff Minions followed 2013’s
biggest film, Despicable Me 2, just beating its predecessor’s £47.5m lifetime gross with a total of
£47.8m.
A sizeable hit in the market as a whole, Brooklyn was a runaway success in its home country. The
well-received period drama made 37% of its £5m total in the Republic of Ireland (£1.9m, €2.6m),
coming ninth in the Irish chart for the year.
Universal Picturesrecordedthe biggest-ever year for any distributor, grossing £279,927,455 (21% of
the overall market),withanexceptionalfourfilmsinthe topten. WaltDisney wasclose behind with
£261,669,644, taking 20% of the market share and three of the top ten films.
12-certificate films dominated the year, accounting for more than half the market (54%, up from
44% in2014). 18-certificates,however, made up only 4% (comparable to 5% in 2014), 97% of which
came fromonly two releases: Fifty Shades Of Grey and Legend (£18.4m). Despite the difficulties of
translating its risqué contents, Fifty Shades delivered on the massive success of its source novel,
demolishing the previous record for an 18-certificate (last year’s The Wolf Of Wall Street, £22.7m).

2. Lucy Jones,ExecutiveDirectoratindustryanalystRentrak,comments:"Inourpreviousreview of the
disappointing 2014 box-office (down 3% versus 2013), we stated that cinema is a product-driven
market.The audience will turnoutforthe filmsthatgrab theirattentionbuttheyneed a compelling
reasonto go, givencompetitionfromhome entertainmentserviceslike Netflix andAmazon, and the
cost-of-livingsqueeze onhouseholdfinances.This was emphatically proven by the record-breaking
resultsseenin2015 – whichdelivered notonlythe biggest box-office total of all time, but also Star
Wars: The ForceAwakens,now poisedtotake the crownfor the biggest film of all time. In addition,
it's encouragingtosee the success of local films and actors, with four UK productions passing £20m
for the first time since 2011, and actors like Jamie Dornan, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega invading
Hollywood.The governmentFilmTax Relief scheme isincrediblysupportive of film-making in the UK
and helps to boost our creative talent on both sides of the camera."
Top 10 films in UK & Ireland in 2015:
Data up to 31st
December 2015
1. SPECTRE (Sony): £94.0m (still on release)
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Walt Disney): £87.1m (still on release)
3. Jurassic World (Universal): £64.5m
4. The Avengers: Age Of Ultron (Walt Disney): £48.3m
5. Minions (Universal): £47.8m
6. Inside Out (Walt Disney): £39.2m
7. Fast & Furious 7 (Universal): £38.6m
8. Fifty Shades Of Grey (Universal): £35.1m
9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (Lionsgate): £28.1m
10. Home (20th Century Fox): £25.4m
Top 10 British Films in UK & Ireland in 2015:
Data up to 31st
December 2015
1. SPECTRE (Sony): £94.0m (still on release)
2. The Martian (20th Century Fox): £23.5m
3. The Theory Of Everything (Universal Pictures): £21.7m
4. Cinderella (Walt Disney): £21.3m
5. Legend (Studiocanal): £18.4m
6. Kingsman: The Secret Service (20th Century Fox): £16.6m
7. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (20th Century Fox): £16.0m
8. Shaun The Sheep Movie (Studiocanal): £13.7m
9. The Lady In The Van (Sony): £11.9m (still on release)
10. Everest (Universal Pictures): £10.7m

3. After the dramatic successes of 2015, the coming year may struggle to continue the year-on-year
rise. There are arguably fewer sure-fire hits of the size of SPECTRE or The Force Awakens, with the
spacing of franchise sequels pushing many big films into 2017. However, the 2016 slate is still
extremely strong.Superheroeswillreturninsequels (Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, X-Men:
Apocalypse, Captain America:CivilWar) and new additionsto the existinguniverses(DoctorStrange,
Deadpool, Suicide Squad). Many other successful properties will return to cinemas, with films
including Star Trek Beyond, Bridget Jones's Baby, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Independence
Day:Resurgence,Ice Age:Collision Course,the nextBourneinstalment,andPixar’s Finding Dory. We
will also see large-scale adaptations of hugely popular properties, including Warcraft, Assassin's
Creed, Angry Birds, The BFG, and The Jungle Book.
The year endspromisingly withspin-offsfromtwoof the biggestfranchises of all time. J. K. Rowling
returnsto Harry Potter’swizardingworldwithFantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, arriving in
November, and Star Wars: Rogue One takes the same slot as 2015’s The Force Awakens in mid-
December 2016.