Wicked, Moana and Paddington help UK cinema admissions hit five-year high

UK cinema admissions hit a five-year high in 2024 – but thanks only to a late flurry of big releases in the weeks before Christmas, including Wicked and Paddington In Peru.

Some 126.5 million admissions were recorded across the year, according to new figures from the British Film Institute (BFI).

This is up 2% on 2023’s total of 123.6 million admissions, though still 28% down on the 176.1 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

As late as September last year, admissions were tracking below the level seen in both 2023 and 2022, with cinemas suffering from an absence of high-profile releases.

This was likely due to the impact of the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes between May and November 2023, the BFI said.

Help arrived in the final months of 2024 in the shape of a clutch of box office big-hitters, however.

Leading the charge was the Oscar-nominated musical fantasy Wicked, released in late November, which ended up as the year’s highest-grossing film at the UK and Ireland box office, taking £59.6 million.

Five of the top 10 highest-earning films of 2024 were November or December releases: Wicked, Moana 2, Paddington In Peru, Gladiator II and Mufasa: The Lion King.

Just missing out on the top spot was Inside Out 2, the most popular release of the summer, which took £59.5 million.

But while Wicked ended up at number one by a whisker, its box office total of £59.6 million is well below the amount taken by the chart-toppers in 2023 and 2022, Barbie (£95.6 million) and Top Gun: Maverick (£83.7 million) respectively.

Aside from Wicked, every film in 2024’s top 10 was either a sequel or spin-off.

The biggest UK independent film release of last year was Back To Black, the biographical drama of the life of singer Amy Winehouse, which took £12.3 million.

UK box office revenue in 2024 was £979 million, a 0.1% decrease on 2023 (£980 million) and down 22% on 2019 (£1.25 billion).

Here are the top 10 highest-grossing films at the UK and Ireland box office in 2024, according to data compiled by the BFI and Comscore covering the period up to January 19 2025.

1. Wicked (£59.6 million)
2. Inside Out 2 (£59.5 million)
3. Deadpool & Wolverine (£57.8 million)
4. Despicable Me 4 (£48.6 million)
5. Moana 2 (£40.3 million)
6. Dune: Part Two (£39.6 million)
7. Paddington in Peru (£35.7 million)
8. Gladiator II (£31.8 million)
9. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (£26.3 million)
10 . Mufasa: The Lion King (£26.2 million)