Tim Richards CBE, CEO of cinema company, VUE discusses the state of the box office over the summer.

The CEO of Vue stated that the cinema industry has shown resilience, continuing to attract audiences even as other leisure sectors face economic challenges. While acknowledging the impact of the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, he noted that cinemas are not experiencing the same level of consumer belt-tightening seen elsewhere.

Recent box office successes, such as Disney's 'Lilo and Stitch' and the Chinese film 'Ni Za Tu', have demonstrated strong demand across genres and demographics. Although there were about 20% fewer film releases due to production delays, audience numbers have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, with several films breaking records. The CEO anticipates a quieter period ahead but remains optimistic about upcoming releases.

VUE CEO: Film industry strong despite other leisure sector weakness

Well, I think as an industry, we have been counter-cyclical to economic downturns for over 100 years. And one thing that we were not immune to was the pandemic and the Hollywood strikes, unfortunately. But we're not seeing that right now. I mean, we're seeing a little bit of softness, but we're not seeing the kind of belt tightening that when I speak to other leisure CEO companies, you start to see a little bit of belt tightening out there. We're not seeing that. For films right now, we are still a very competitive form of out-of-home entertainment. And if you look at more high-priced leisure activities out of home, whether it be a leisure park or whether it be a football or sports fixture or anything else, I think going out and having an amazing time for two hours at a cinema is very kind of competitively priced. Tim, a lot of the movies so far really set up to entertain the kids. But what's coming down the track? Because I've got to say, I'm looking forward to A Wicked, the second part. Well, I mean, I think, I mean, I will say one thing. There was actually two movies this year that broke the billion dollar mark. One was Lilo and Stitch, the incredible Disney film, which kind of caught a lot of us, even kind of old timers, off guard. And that's just part of our business. But the other one is Ni Za Tu, which grossed $2.2 billion, the Chinese film. And it was not only the highest grossing animated feature of all time in history, it was also the highest grossing film of all kinds in China. So it's been kind of an interesting year. But we've seen this year, this year has really come in where we thought it was going to be in the post-strike period, it was very slow to get production ramped up again. And to the point where literally the studios weren't really producing films until late winter, early spring of 24. So some 14, 15 months ago. And we're starting to see that film ramp up right now. So we knew that this year was going to be approximately 20% fewer films released. And there's a direct relationship between the number of films and box office almost on a pound by pound basis. So we were looking at coming in this year at around 20% less than kind of pre-pandemic levels. But we've seen films break record of every genre for every demographic. And that's what's exciting about our business. I mean, this year, we've seen Lilo and Stitch and Minecraft on one side, right through to the kind of the Marvel films, the Superman reboots, and all the way down to Salt Path. I mean, when Salt Path, the movie, you know, a brilliant, fantastic little homegrown talent film, like Salt Path, when it grosses almost 10 million pounds, you know, that audience are so hungry for more movies. So we've seen all of our audiences return this summer and last quarter of 2024. We were very close or pass to pre-pandemic levels. So we but we're entering in referral period right now. It's going to get quiet. Unfortunately, great movies coming up.

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