By Caitlin Constable
Cinema owners enjoyed a strong opening weekend in the UK, with the biggest box office takings since cinemas were first forced to close 14 months ago.
502 cinemas opened their doors in May, in part of stage 3 opening of lockdown, which included indoor hospitality, international travel, and theaters.
"We had the best opening three months of the year we’d ever had in 2020," says Vue Manager, Liam, "thanks to Little Women, David Copperfield, Star Wars. It’s upsetting to hear people spout the narrative that streaming was going to end cinemas anyway, because that clearly wasn’t true."
Even though films are being released in theaters as well as being released on streaming sites, such as Cruella being released on Disney Plus, they are still more successful in theaters than those on streaming sites.
When the pandemic struck, cinema was in rude health. Across the UK, box office admissions in 2018 and 2019 were the highest they had been since 1970.
"We had the best opening three months of the year we’d ever had in 2020"
Liam (Vue Manager)
Data suggests that people are in fact very keen to get back to the cinema, in the same way that many of us are desperate to eat elsewhere, socialize elsewhere, do anything and everything outside our own four walls.
'It didn't help that for the brief period between lockdowns last year that cinemas were allowed to open, there were so few films for them to show. Studios chose to delay, presumably hoping that things would get back to normal much faster than they did, and the majority of last year’s big hitters were not released at all, including the new Bond film, but with the cinemas reopening, this time for good, studios are deciding to now release the films like Black Widow, Cruella and Ghostbusters: Afterlife so 2021 is looking very promising especially after the last few weekends," says Phil Clapp, chief Executive of the UK Cinema Association.
Due to lockdown rules, cinemas can only allow 50% capacity into screens, but even with this rule in place films have been selling out. Social distancing rules in places which allows for one seat to be left empty between each household which has proved to be a success, in which the customers hope is a rule that stays even after the Covid rules have been lifted completely.
"2021 is looking very promising especially after the last few weekends"
Phil Clapp (Chief Executive, UK Cinema Association)
Emilie Thorpe, 20, said ‘I felt really comfortable in the cinema as a result of the social distancing in place. I was never really interested in going to the cinema pre lockdown, however since restrictions have been lifted, going to the cinema has been something that I was really excited to do.’
The Disney's Cruella was released this May bank holiday, and has been extremely popular making over $42.6 million in box office reports and it's one monumental ride. There's some fire, a dramatic dress change, and Dalmatians.
For those that haven't been following along with the social media teasers, and the trailer and gradual news drips, Disney announced nearly two years ago that Emma Stone was cast as Cruella de Vil in its latest live-action film. Centered on the life of the infamous Disney villain, the film is set against an '70s backdrop, and will serve as an “origin” story for Cruella.
Fans can expect the movie to focus on a young grifter named Estella. Described as clever and creative, the aspiring fashion designer “befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets.”
Estella's life later takes a dramatic turn, thanks to a chance meeting with Baroness von Hellman, “a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute," played by Emma Thompson.