British and Irish Cinema Revenue Reach a Post-Covid Peak as The Minecraft Film Leads the Year's Box Office
Cinema revenue across Britain and Ireland has seen its highest annual performance in the post-Covid era, with A Minecraft Movie finishing 2025 as the number one film of the year.
A Steady Climb in Earnings
Figures released by box-office analysts show that cinema takings in the UK and Ireland totalled £1.07bn. This shows growth of 1% on 2024’s total of £1.06bn. At the same time, there was a small drop in the amount of films released: 1,092 in 2025, versus 1,124 in 2024.
This result marks the best figure since 2019, which saw £1.35bn in total revenue. That was shortly before the steep decline of the physical cinema box office the following year, to £323.7m, as Covid restrictions hit hard. Cinema revenues bounced back to £595.5m in 2021, and £980.7m in 2022, only returning above £1bn in 2023, with a total of £1.06bn.
Industry Rebound and Changing Tactics
The numbers of films on release suggest that the production pipeline, impacted by the pandemic and subsequent film industry strikes in 2023, has regained strength. It is, in fact, exceeding pre-pandemic levels; in 2019, 938 films were released.
Notably, though, a strategic shift appears to be underway. In 2025, 224 films were recorded as “saturation” releases (playing in over 250 venues simultaneously), compared with 200 in 2024 and 188 in 2019. According to reports that Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale had the widest opening in the UK in 2025, with over 750 cinemas.
The Year's Box Office Champion
The most successful film of 2025 in the UK and Ireland was the gaming adaptation A Minecraft Movie. Its online buzz, featuring the “chicken jockey” scene, has resulted in box office supremacy, with a total of £56.88m.
“Although it saw only a small year-on-year increase in box office, 2025 clearly represented a major milestone in the sector’s recovery after the challenges of recent years. There is strong confidence that the coming months will see significant further progress.”
The film also topped the 2025 North American box office but came in fifth at the worldwide box office, far below the global leader, the Chinese animation Ne Zha 2.
British Productions and Event Cinema
Among UK-made films, the fourth Bridget Jones film, Mad About the Boy, ended the year as the most successful at the UK and Irish box office, taking £46.4m. It came significantly before Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and 28 Years Later in second and third place.
The figures also revealed the ongoing popularity of “event cinema” releases, which took a total of £44m (4.1% of the total). This category included 10 films earning more than £1m. Among these was the highest-grossing run for a stage production; the film of the West End production Six the Musical amassed £6.2m.