Record High Annual Box Office for UK in 2017
Despite suffering some of the lowest weekends in years courtesy of under-performing August releases and a pre-The-Last-Jedi slum in December, the UK box office hit another record high in 2017, accumulating £1.378billion ($1.87billion) across the 12 month period.
The final figure is up 3.6% from 2016’s total of £1.33billion ($1.8billion) and makes 2017’s annual box office total the highest in the history of the region. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been confirmed as the highest-grossing movie of the calendar year despite receiving a wide release only 3 weeks removed from the start of 2018, with its total overcoming that of Disney live-action remake Beauty and the Beast at the last hurdle to accumulate approximately £68,263,774, around 5% of the annual total.
Here are the official top 5 highest-grossing movies in the UK in 2017:
Disney were the most prominent studio in the region, earning 19.2% of the total market – approximately £265million ($359million) – from 16 releases, with Warner Bros earning 16.2% from 31 releases and Universal earning 15.6% from 30 releases to make up the top three. Notably, Disney’s percentage of the overall box office in the UK for 2017 was down from the 21.88% the company earned in 2016, though when analysed in conjunction with the company’s purchase of Fox, Disney would own a remarkable 34.3% share of the UK box office receipts in 2017.
In terms of British films, Christopher Nolan’s Warner Bros release Dunkirk was the highest grosser, earning £55.8million. The 2nd highest-grossing British film in the region was Studiocanal’s long-awaited family movie sequel Paddington 2 which earned £37.5million (making it the 6th highest-grossing film of the year).
Of the 5 highest-grossing titles released under North American banners, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Guardians of the Galaxy are said to have had a lot of British involvement behind the scenes, particularly with regard to visual effects. Meanwhile, Beauty and the Beast was headlined by two British stars.
