The last few weeks of 2023 brought the UK box office to a pleasant conclusion, with Wonka dominating the Christmas box office as there was no real competitor to speak of. And while the New Year brings many new things, new blockbusters will be few and far between, with only Paramount’s Mean Girls opening on January 19 likely to bring in numbers that cinemas would like to see.
Throughout the month the 2024 combined weekend totals for the top 15 films will likely continue to crisscross the combined top 15 totals of 2021-2023 (post-pandemic) as they did in 2023 while struggling to surpass the box office average of 2015-2019 (pre-pandemic average).
Note: All figures courtesy of the British Film Institute, unadjusted for inflation.
Table of Contents
Weekend 1 – January 5-7
UK Box Office Performance Jan 5-7
The first weekend of 2024 was solid, with the combined weekend total for the top 15 films in the UK box office coming out to be £13,954,766. Wonka held steady in the first week of 2024, but a strong opening from the Anthony Hopkins film One Life also helped to raise the total. Cinemas will no doubt want this success to continue, but it’s unlikely with the lack of films to attract audiences.
Coming back to this weekend, the total is 36% higher than the combined box office total for the top 15 films in the post-pandemic era, where the number came to £10,252,382. The first week of 2024 has hopefully set the tone for what the box office will be like for the rest of the year, showing that the box office is making a slow but measured recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The combined 2024 total for week one is 27% less than the pre-pandemic era of £19,245,136, showing that despite this recovery, there’s still a long way to go. Even with a de facto winter blockbuster in Wonka, proving that while a portion of the usual cinema-goes at Christmas and New Year want to see anything, Wonka hasn’t got the same audience appeal as the Star Wars blockbusters of previous years.
It would be wrong to end on the sentiment that this week has been bad though. It’s clear that 2024 has opened with a flying start over the previous three years, and while it’s not near pre-pandemic heights, the box office is slowly gaining ground to where it once was.
#uk #BoxOffice update!
2024 Weekend One total box office had a good start. A 36% increase compared to the same weekend in the post-pandemic period but 27% down on the same weekend in the pre-pandemic period.
Good but work to do!
Numbers from @BFI and unadjusted for inflation. pic.twitter.com/UzBsMO7xYP
— Kieran (@KieranDavidBurt) January 18, 2024
Weekend 2 – January 12-14
UK Box Office Performance Jan 12-14
Weekend Two for 2024 showed a somewhat harsh decline compared to the previous week, with new entries like Poor Things and The Beekeeper not attracting strong crowds to push the box office high. Even Sony’s romcom Anyone But You jumping up 14% in its third week couldn’t stop the second weekend box office total for 2024 from falling 25% from the weekend before, from £13,954,766 to £10,505,954.
This total puts it far below the pre-pandemic weekend total of £16,480,527.80, by 36% less. While this is disappointing, and not the direction that the box office total should be going in, 2024’s second weekend shows a similar drop to the pre-pandemic’s second weekend. However, it is slightly steeper at a 25% drop compared to a 14% drop. But it still shows a similar trend in attendance between 2024 and the pre-pandemic period, likely as people return to work after New Year’s as cinemas and studios aren’t releasing new blockbusters.
This drop also puts the combined total for the second weekend of 2024 3% below the same weekend for the post-pandemic period, which had a slightly better total of £10,877,957. So while it’s still below where cinemas might want to be, rather than showing a regression for the second weekend in 2024 is more likely confirming a new status quo for how the box office will perform at this early stage in the year.
#uk #BoxOffice update!
2024 Weekend 2 total box office was slightly below the post-pandemic total perhaps showing a new norm.
While far below the pre-pandemic there was a similar drop between week 1 and 2 showing the same trend.
Numbers from @BFI and unadjusted for inflation. pic.twitter.com/K236yBdmCo
— Kieran (@KieranDavidBurt) January 18, 2024
Weekend 3 – January 19-21
UK Box Office Performance Jan 19-21
The fourth weekend of the year showed an increase in the overall total for the top 15 films here at the UK box office, largely driven by the debut of Mean Girls at £3,251,159. Wonka continued its box office domination in its seventh week of release with a total of £1,691,563, good enough for second place. Both of these films helped to push the overall total to £11,162,245.
The box office is still nowhere near where it was pre-pandemic. Before COVID-19, the average box office reached £16,413,203 for this weekend, which means that the current total is 32% less than a few years ago. While the total is still millions below where the box office should be, it’s slowly recovering, as in comparison to the post-pandemic years show.
In fact, the 2024 overall weekend total is 30% higher than the post-pandemic total of £8,607,049, which shows there is some recovery going on despite the few major films that are releasing. It’s a much-improved picture, especially so because both 2022 and 2023 had the prior Christmas megahits still playing in cinemas, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avatar: The Way of Water, though both were starting to run out of steam at this point in their release cycle (relative to their incredible performance).
#uk #boxoffice update
This weekend is +30% from where the box office was last year a pleasing rise thanks to strong showings like #MeanGirls and #Wonka.
However, the box office is still -32% from where we were pre-pandemic, still a long road until recovery.
Numbers from @BFI pic.twitter.com/p2NiEUYfyx
— Kieran (@KieranDavidBurt) January 27, 2024
Weekend 4 – January 26-28
UK Box Office Performance Jan 26-28
The final week of January saw a staggering dip down to £8,845,825, with films like All of Us Strangers and The Color Purple finding only a small audience in their opening weeks. It’s a harsh drop of 21% from the week prior, something that cinema owners will have felt. As will be discussed, this week in January has commonly seen large upticks in box office in years prior, but due to a lack of high-profile films, this hasn’t happened in 2024.
Looking at the pre-pandemic period, the combined top 15 films in this time gave an average total of £17,252,629.40, meaning that 2024 posted a total that’s 49%. Weekend 4 has historically been a profitable weekend for cinemas. In 2017, the animated film Sing opened £10,487,380, above the whole top 15 for Weekend 4 of 2024. The combined total for the top 15 films was £27,010,247. In 2018, a quartet of blockbusters – Darkest Hour, Coco, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, and The Greatest Showman – had a combined box office of £9,277,837, again higher than all 15 of offerings in 2024’s Weekend 4. The total for the full 15 films in Weekend 4 2018 was £19,686,389.
Weekend 4 in 2024 also felt the pain of the lack of a massive blockbuster in the last few weeks of 2023, as looking at the post-pandemic shows. This period had an average of £11,749,285.50, 25% higher than Weekend 4 in 2024.
While Wonka’s performance has been amazing, it has not had the staying power of Avatar: The Way of Water, which was released in a similar period. Wonka came in at £1,047,752 this week, but in the same weekend in 2023, The Way of Water more than doubled that with a total of £2,116,616. Wonka also released on digital platforms on January 22, even when its theatrical run was still strong. It illustrates the continued lack of care that studio Warner Bros. Discovery has with cinemas and shortsighted greed. The Way of Water didn’t make its way onto digital platforms until March 28, much later. This is certainly due to the commitment that James Cameron and Disney had to the film’s theatrical success and had a positive impact on cinemas.
February sees the release of a few films with box office potential, including Apple’s Argylle, Sony’s Madame Web, and Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love. It should provide for a slightly more vibrant month and not one that trends dowards like January.
#uk #BoxOffice update!
A large drop-off for the 4th weekend of the year, since no major films were released. January also trended downwards, a bad start to the year.
Box office is -49% compared to the pre-pandemic era and -25 for the post-pandemic era.
Numbers from @BFI pic.twitter.com/E71kZLTxCV
— Kieran (@KieranDavidBurt) February 2, 2024
