After three successful years, the UK’s National Cinema Day has been put on hold, although it may be revived next year. The slow summer, one-day in
After three successful years, the UK’s National Cinema Day has been put on hold, although it may be revived next year.
The slow summer, one-day initiative launched in its current incarnation in 2022 and offered cinema-goers across the UK and Ireland the chance to watch films for £3 or £4.
Cross-industry body Cinema First, supported by the Film Distributors’ Association and the UK Cinema Association, organised the event which was established as the sector was emerging from the pandemic. It was inspired by the original UK “National Cinema Day” held in June 1996, a period when attendances were dipping, with tickets selling for one pound.
A spokesperson from Cinema First told Screen: “Given the growth of cinema admissions and the exceptionally busy slate for the remainder of this year, the National Cinema Day initiative has been put on pause for 2025, and an evolved format for the event, to further celebrate the cinema-going experience, is being considered for 2026.”
Last year’s National Cinema Day was held on August 31, 2024, and posted over 1 million admissions at 630 venues throughout the UK with ticket prices at £4. New films on release that weekend included The Count Of Monte Cristo from Entertainment Film Distributors, Sing Sing from Black Bear and Touch from Universal, alongside 4K restoration re-releases from Park Circus of The Terminator and Ocean’s Eleven.
In 2023, the event was held on September 2 at over 700 cinemas and generated 1.7 million admissions, 5% up from the inaugural event in 2022. Films released that weekend included The Equalizer 3 from Sony Pictures, Cobweb from Lionsgate, Passages from Mubi, and a 30th anniversary re-release of Jurassic Park from Park Circus.
National Cinema Days was viewed in its fresh guise as largely beneficial, providing a handy end-of-summer boost to cinema-going attendances as well as an opportunity to put trailers for forthcoming movies in front of a mass audience. However, there was also wariness about lower revenues for popular films, although most exhibition and distribution execs are supportive of the initiative and hope to see it return next year.
COMMENTS