British and Irish Cinema Takings Reach a Post-Pandemic High as A Minecraft Movie Tops 2025 Box Office
Cinema revenue across Britain and Ireland has seen its highest annual performance since the Covid pandemic, with A Minecraft Movie finishing 2025 as the top-earning film of the year.
A Steady Recovery in Revenue
Statistics published by experts show that ticket sales in the UK and Ireland amounted to £1.07bn. This represents an increase of 1% on 2024’s total of £1.06bn. Concurrently, there was a small drop in the amount of films released: 1,092 in 2025, compared with 1,124 in 2024.
This result marks the best figure since 2019, which saw £1.35bn in total revenue. That was shortly before the precipitous drop of the physical cinema box office the following year, to £323.7m, as Covid restrictions had a devastating impact. Box office takings bounced back to £595.5m in 2021, and £980.7m in 2022, only exceeding £1bn in 2023, with a total of £1.06bn.
Industry Rebound and Changing Tactics
The volume of cinematic releases suggest that the movie-making engine, impacted by the pandemic and subsequent film industry strikes in 2023, has rebounded. It is, in fact, surpassing pre-pandemic levels; in 2019, 938 films were released.
Significantly however, a change in approach appears to be occurring. In 2025, 224 films were recorded as “saturation” releases (playing in over 250 venues simultaneously), against 200 in 2024 and 188 in 2019. Figures show that Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale had the widest opening in the UK in 2025, in more than 750 cinemas.
The Year's Top Film
The highest grossing film of 2025 in the UK and Ireland was the game-to-screen translation A Minecraft Movie. Its online buzz, featuring the “chicken jockey” scene, has resulted in box office the top spot, with a total of £56.88m.
“While growth was modest year-on-year in box office, 2025 clearly represented a significant further step in the sector’s recovery after the challenges of recent years. There is great optimism that the coming months will see substantial more growth.”
The film also topped the 2025 North American box office but finished fifth at the worldwide box office, well behind 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 well ahead of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale and 28 Years Later in second and third place.
The figures also revealed the enduring appeal 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.
