British and Irish Box Office Earnings Hit a Post-Pandemic High as A Minecraft Movie Tops 2025 Charts

Cinema revenue across Britain and Ireland has recorded its best annual performance in the post-Covid era, with A Minecraft Movie closing out 2025 as the top-earning film of the year.

A Gradual Recovery in Revenue

Data from industry analysts show that ticket sales in the UK and Ireland totalled £1.07bn. This represents an increase of 1% on 2024’s total of £1.06bn. At the same time, there was a minor decline in the number of films released: 1,092 in 2025, compared with 1,124 in 2024.

This result is the highest total since 2019, which saw £1.35bn in total revenue. That was just prior to the precipitous drop of the physical cinema box office the following year, to £323.7m, as Covid restrictions had a devastating impact. Cinema revenues recovered to £595.5m in 2021, and £980.7m in 2022, only exceeding £1bn in 2023, with a total of £1.06bn.

Pipeline Recovery and Changing Tactics

The numbers of films on release suggest that the movie-making engine, affected by the pandemic and subsequent film industry strikes in 2023, has recovered. It is, in fact, topping pre-pandemic levels; in 2019, 938 films were released.

Importantly, however, a strategic shift appears to be occurring. In 2025, 224 films were recorded as “saturation” releases (playing in over 250 venues simultaneously), versus 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 top-earning film of 2025 in the UK and Ireland was the game-to-screen translation A Minecraft Movie. Its viral impact, notably from the “chicken jockey” scene, has led to 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 key advance in the sector’s recovery following the challenges of recent years. There is great optimism that the coming months will see significant further progress.”

The film also topped the 2025 North American box office but placed fifth at the worldwide box office, far below the global leader, the Chinese animation Ne Zha 2.

Homegrown Hits and Event Cinema

Among British productions, the fourth Bridget Jones film, Mad About the Boy, finished 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 underscored the continuing strength 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.