Hottest ever summer for cinema

Published on Monday 9 March 2009 21:13

FROM The Italian Job to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1969 was a milestone year for British film as UK cinemas sold 50 million tickets during a bumper summer.

But figures released yesterday show that this near 40-year record was broken in 2008, with major box office hits such as Mamma Mia! The Movie and The Dark Knight helping British cinemas notch up 53.6 million admissions from June to August 2008.

Mark Batey, chief executive of the UK Film Distributors Association (FDA), said: "Lousy weather was one factor, but it's a product-driven thing. Mamma Mia worked all over the world, but in the UK it went through the roof."

Britain's population in 1971 was 55.5 million, census figures show. With the population now just under 61 million, the figures suggest the attraction of the shared experience of watching a film on the big screen has survived the onslaught of home video systems and the internet.

"Cinema-going shows no signs of a downturn. UK audiences continue to appreciate the shared theatrical experience," said the FDA president, Lord Puttnam. Cinemas will keep their premium position with "high-quality features on larger-than-life screens, in luxurious comfort," he added.

The managing director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Ginnie Atkinson, said art-house film distributors have also started targeting the summer market.

"People are discovering there is an audience not just for blockbusters and family movies, in July and August," she said.

"The cinema is a great place to go in a recession."

Mamma Mia!, the film of the successful Abba musical, was released on July 10 last year.

With box office sales of more than 69 million, it became the biggest British film of all time, just topping Titanic.

"There are other romantic comedies but they tend to be 'date' movies," said Mr Batey. "What we saw particularly with Mamma Mia! was groups of women coming together across the generations into cinemas, and then a few weeks later doing it again.

"It defied box office gravity and kept on going through the summer and autumn."

July also saw the release of the massively successful Batman film The Dark Knight, which took in nearly 49 million, while Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released in late May, earned 40 million. Films like these appealed strongly to male audiences, Mr Batey said.

Summer family fare included the Disney hit WALL-E, which earned just under 23 million, and Kung Fu Panda.

Overall, cinema admissions in 2008 rose 1.1 percent to 164.2 million, with box office takings up 3.7 per cent to 854.4 million.

The first three months of 2009 are already running ahead of the same period in 2008, boosted by the success of Slumdog Millionaire, which has now seen by five million people in the UK alone.

Commentary: Bond thrives as originality fades from screen

Brian Pendreigh

THE cowboys may have been enjoying a last hoorah in 1969 before riding into the sunset, but who'd have thought that James Bond would still have his licence to kill 40 years later?

Bond provides some continuity between the Top Tens of 1969 and 2008, but little else remains the same. Last year's chart is dominated by the big-budget blockbusters and what they now call "franchises", including Bond, Batman and Indiana Jones.

In the old days they were "series", but the term "franchise" reflects the industry's reliance on brand recognition and its wariness of originality.

Sequels, big-screen versions of TV series and comicbook adaptations have become staples. Mamma Mia! is a surprise at No 1, but it is an adaptation of a stage show that taps into some of the most familiar songs of the last 40 years. Two of the three genuine originals are animated films.

What is most striking about the 1969 list is not so much the number of original films, but their nature, with five out of six carrying X certificates that banned everyone under 16.

Oscar-winner Midnight Cowboy was the story of a male prostitute, and while the Edinburgh period drama The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie seems twee now, it earned an X for nudity and a plot in which a schoolgirl has an affair with a teacher.

It is not that long since analysts were complaining that there was nothing for children or families and that was why cinema was dying. There is plenty for them now.