\n\tIt really is the year of original voices at the box office.<\/p>\n
\n\tCinema-going in the U.K. and Ireland is currently up 21 percent on 2025. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had year-on-year growth like that since the pandemic,\u201d began Charles Gant, Screen International<\/a>\u2018s box office editor, who was hosting a BFI London Film Festival<\/a> Industry Forum session with cinema programmers on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n \n\tHe was joined by reps for three major players in the country\u2019s theatrical market: Curzon\u2019s head of cinema programme Ben Lyndon, the director of programming at Picturehouse Carol McKay, and programme manager at BFI IMAX Madeleine Mullett. The panel reflected on the state of cinema-going in the U.K., shared insights into audiences\u2019 behaviours and discussed how the lessons learned from recent releases can shape their future programmes, both with mainstream and indie features.<\/p>\n \n\tLike our friends across the pond, British and Irish audiences have responded well to such a vast array of genres on offer, with musical films (Michael, Oasis: Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger), beloved franchise sequels (Toy Story 5, Devil Wears Prada 2, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Practical Magic 2), period adaptations (Wuthering Heights, Sense and Sensibility) and big, auteur-made movies (The Odyssey<\/a>, Disclosure Day) solidifying 2026 as the year we bounced back, finally, post-pandemic.<\/p>\n \n\tBut the biggest takeaway? Original voices have never been so enticing to new audiences. \u201cIf we look at the five years previous to this [and] you look at the top 20 films in each of those years,\u201d began Lyndon, \u201cyou\u2019ll find, on average, less than five original films in that top 20. Compared to 2026, there are currently 12 original films inside that top 20. It isn\u2019t [entirely] an audience shift,\u201d he added, \u201cbut perhaps these franchises have been mined a bit too heavily and customers need a bit of respite, and studios need to pace these out a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLyndon conceded that Disney\u2019s Avengers: Doomsday will, of course, go bananas at the box office, particularly because there\u2019s been a substantial amount of time since the last Avengers outing. But surprise hits like Obsession<\/a>, Project Hail Mary or The Invite have made this year an especially buoying one for the cinephiles among us.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Curzon programmer gave \u201ccredit where it\u2019s due\u201d to A24, who released Kane Parsons\u2019 Backrooms. The horror feature, starring Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor, grossed \u00a34.3 million ($5.7m) in its opening weekend in the U.K. and Ireland, setting a record for the highest-ever debut for an original horror film and giving A24 its best opening weekend in the region.<\/p>\n \n\tLyndon said: \u201cThey\u2019re the kind of major player now in that they\u2019re not a provisional Hollywood studio. They\u2019re still an independent studio, but [they are] overconfident about their own brand. We have to give them credit where it\u2019s due. They have rejuvenated a space that was struggling after the pandemic \u2014\u00a0these mid-range films, a lot of which were going to streaming \u2014 but the hype that they\u2019re able to generate online is driving customers back towards the cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnother key topic of discussion at the box office panel was PLFs (Premium Large Formats), with Mullett beaming about the year that IMAX is having. (London\u2019s BFI IMAX, which seats around 500, is the number one IMAX screen globally at the 2026 box office \u2014\u00a0out of over 1,800 IMAX screens around the world.) <\/p>\n