Blockbusters push up cinema admissions

UK cinema admissions were up 15 per cent year-on-year in July despite the heatwave and poor attendance in the first four months of the year, according to the latest Cinema Advertising Association figures.

Summer blockbusters including Batman Forever, Judge Dredd and Casper boosted cinema attendance to 10.7 million in July.

Further releases, including Die Hard with a Vengeance, Waterworld and Mel Gibson’s latest adventure Braveheart, are expected to boost August and September figures.

The movie industry is confident ad revenue will exceed last year’s level. Advertising Association figures indicate that cinema ad revenue was 52m in 1994.

“The low audiences earlier in the year were definitely a blip,” says Rank Screen Advertising sales manager Andy Williams. “A key reason was that the release of many major blockbusters was scheduled for the second half of the year.”