Cinema going now part of the UK summer culture - official
Story by Jack Foley
CINEMA going has become an integral part of the UK summer culture, and is now almost as popular as going on holiday, holding a barbeque and/or sunbathing.
The findings have been revealed by the Film Distributors’ Association (FDA) which has just published the results of a survey, conducted in March 2008, and conduced in online interviews with teenagers and adults in the UK aged 15 and over.
Participants were given a long list of indoor and outdoor summertime activities and asked to place them in order of anticipation, starting with “the best thing about summer 2008”. The following ranking emerged:
Top 12 “best things” to look forward to most in summer 2008:
1 – Holiday abroad
2 – Barbeques with friends
3 – Cinemagoing
4 – Sunbathing
5 – Music festivals/concerts
6 – Picnics
7 – Swimming
8 – Going to the beach (UK)
9 – Holiday/break in the UK
10 – Country walks
11 – Watching the Euro 2008 football tournament
12 – Watching the Olympic Games
Although cinemagoing is clearly a year-round activity, the summer would feel incomplete for many people without a seasonal line-up of films.
81% of the survey participants agreed that summer is characteristically a time when “a lot of the year’s best films come out”. Essentially “summer films” are perceived as spectacular adventures with ground-breaking action and effects or large-scale family franchises, usually with global reach and resonance; or smart, quirky dramas or comedies, potentially from anywhere in the world. UK cinema audiences are increasingly receptive to films from any country of origin.
In total, 35% of men and 27% of women said they “can’t wait” for at least some of the summer releases. Overall, two-thirds (67%) claimed they were at least “looking forward” to going to the movies as part of their summer.
The public perceptions are supported by the statistics. Cinema admissions during the last five summers (May–August) – 66.5 million in 2007, 53.3m in 2006, 55.6m in 2005, 63.6m in 2004, 52.7m in 2003 – equate approximately to one visit per person for the entire UK population (60.6m) in the season.
By contrast, the equivalent summertime admissions in the 1990s amounted to an average of just 40.8m.
Furthermore, 47 of the all-time top 100 films in UK cinemas were released during May–August, including 27 of the top 50.
To date, the UK’s top summer movies of all time are as follows:
1) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest – July 2006 (£52.5m box-office)
2) The Full Monty – August 1997 (£52.2m)
3) Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace – July 1999 (£51.1m)
4) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – July 2007 (£49.4m)
5) Shrek 2 – July 2004 (£48.2m)
6) Jurassic Park – July 1993 (£47.8m)
7) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – June 2004 (£46.1m)
8) Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End – May 2007 (£40.2m)
9) Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – May 2005 (£39.4m)
10) The Simpsons Movie – July 2007 (£38.7m)
In summer (May–August) 2007, distributors launched 162 films in UK cinemas, one-third of the year’s total. A similar number of releases is expected in summer 2008.
In order to encourage consideration of extra cinema visits, FDA is today (April 18, 2008) launching two initiatives to highlight the wide range, premium quality and sheer fun of the summer 2008 line-up:
- A one-minute compilation trailer, presenting glimpses of 28 films for UK cinema release in May–August 2008 and aiming to whet appetites for the season as a whole. Classified “U”, the trailer will play on 3,000 cinema screens from next Friday, April 25, and online.
- Free distribution of one million copies of Focus, a movie preview magazine, to members of the public – the largest movie magazine giveaway ever undertaken in the UK. Running to 16 pages, Focus includes a centre-spread calendar of early summer releases for easy reference.
752,000 copies will go out w/c 21 April via postcode-targeted doordrop to family households in cinema catchment areas. The remainder will be sampled at mainline rail and London Underground stations and in health clubs and selected cinemas around the country.
Anwar Brett, editor of Focus, said: “Cinema is a wonderfully powerful medium for telling stories, offering fresh perspectives for audiences on every occasion. And above all this is a season for heroes and heartache, triumphs and disasters, twists and turns, when audiences up and down the country are invited to consider their own preferences and make an extra cinema visit or two in a terrific summer of big screen entertainment.”
FDA Chief Executive, Mark Batey, said: “The survey indicates that, for most of us, our summers are partly but increasingly defined by the experience of the films we see in cinemas. This summer’s line-up is a mouth-watering mix of sequels and originals, with top-flight films from the UK, Europe and Asia as well as the innovative action, witty humour and sparkling romance audiences have come to expect and enjoy.
“The compilation trailer offers virtually an A to Z whistle-stop tour of the summer, from Adulthood and Angus, Thongs through to WALL-E and Wanted via many stars in between. Whatever their tastes, cinemagoers are in for a memorable summer at the movies.”