Number of movie theaters in the United Kingdom 2004-2021

In 2021, there were 860 movie theaters across the United Kingdom, up two percent from 840 two years earlier, before the pandemic. The average cost of a movie ticket in the UK reached an all-time high in 2021, surpassing 7.5 British pounds.

Employment and supply

The workforce of British cinemas increased in 2020, despite the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent mobility restrictions. The film exhibition subsegment employed around 16 thousand people in the UK that year. Also in 2020, various countries produced movies released in Ireland and the UK, often counted as a single cinema market. India alone accounted for more than 11 percent of the premieres, while the United States and the UK each accounted for more than one-quarter of the theatrical releases.

Movie genres and distributors

While more than half of the films released in Ireland and the UK in 2020 consisted of dramas and comedies, non-fiction had a privileged spot on the big screen. That year, the documentary was the third movie genre with the most premieres, accounting for about 11 percent of all titles. Entertainment One, Sony, and Disney dominated the market, collectively accounting for almost half of the box office gross in the two countries.