(Alliance News) - The dual offerings of Barbie and Oppenheimer prompted the biggest weekend for UK cinema-going since 2019, according to the UK Cinema Association.
Greta Gerwig's film about the Mattel doll, played by Margot Robbie, having an existential crisis and Christopher Nolan's epic about the "father" of the atomic bomb, generated almost GBP30 million at the UK box office, the group, which represents the interests of UK cinema operators, said.
Cinema chain Vue said a fifth of its customers had purchased tickets to see both films in a double bill dubbed by social media as Barbenheimer.
More than 2,000 of Vue's Barbie screenings were sold out, according to the company.
Tim Richards, chief executive and founder of Vue International, told the PA news agency: "We knew it was going to be a big weekend based on the advanced bookings, which were also the biggest since the pandemic.
"The numbers are phenomenal. We had over 500,000 customers come to Vue on the weekend alone. We had 4,000 sold-out sessions, 2,000 sold-out sessions for Barbie alone.
"But I think that it's not just about Barbie and Oppenheimer, it's just a return to cinema.
"Our customers never left us, we just haven't had movies. If you look back in the last 12 months, we have set records with Avatar, one of the highest grossing movies in history.
"We've got Tom Cruise, at 60 years old, and Top Gun: Maverick delivered 1.5 billion dollars, the biggest movie of his career.
"And you look at smaller movies, you look at a black-and-white film, Belfast, to deliver one of the highest-grossing black-and-white films in the modern era.
"So it's a supply issue, and not a demand issue – our customers are desperate to go out and watch a great movie with others."
Richards said Pixar film Elemental, Cruise offering Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, and Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones finale Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny also received a bump this weekend, aided by the poor weather.
Cinemas now face the prospect of a halt in the supply chain as Hollywood's writers and actors are on strike.
Richards said that, while the summer blockbusters have already been released or are ready to go, the effects of the strike will be felt further down the line.
He said: "This does not feel or seem like a short-term issue, and the stakes are high on both sides. So we're hoping for a short strike and a quick resolution."
In the short term it is the cost-of-living crisis that could pose a more immediate issue.
He said: "We are a big consumer of energy and our costs have gone up, probably disproportionally, and we've done our very best not to pass those costs on to our customers because we are aware of the pressures that our customers are undergoing.
"We are aware of the difficulties they have and continue to have with high inflation, high utility costs, and it's tough for everyone.
"For families we've got special pricing for Saturday and Sunday mornings, we have ticket prices at over half our cinemas at GBP4.99 and we've done our very best to make it as accessible as possible for our customers."
source: PA
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