UK and Ireland cinemagoing is running 21% ahead of 2025—the strongest year-on-year jump since before the pandemic. But the more telling detail from Thursday’s BFI London Film Festival industry panel is what audiences are choosing: original stories, not just recycled franchises.
Original films move into the top 20
Curzon head of cinema programme Ben Lyndon put a number on the shift. Across each of the five previous years, the UK top 20 contained on average fewer than five original films. So far in 2026, 12 original titles are sitting inside the top 20.
He attributed the change less to a sudden taste reversal than to studios over-mining franchises and leaving audiences hungry for fresh material. Surprise performers include Obsession, Project Hail Mary and The Invite.
What the data says
- UK/Ireland box office is up 21% on 2025
- 12 of the top 20 films are original titles
- A24’s Backrooms opened at £4.3m
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day has £99.8m; The Odyssey has £87.1m
A24 turns online buzz into box office
A24’s horror film Backrooms, directed by Kane Parsons and starring Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofor, opened to £4.3 million ($5.7 million) in the UK and Ireland. That is the highest debut ever for an original horror film and A24’s best opening weekend in the region.
Lyndon credited the studio for reviving a middle tier that was drifting to streaming. As he put it, A24 has “rejuvenated a space that was struggling after the pandemic” by generating online hype that brings people back to cinemas.
Premium formats become a programming strategy
BFI IMAX programme manager Madeleine Mullett said London’s BFI IMAX is the top-grossing IMAX screen globally in 2026, out of more than 1,800. She linked the premium-format surge to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer—a drama about a nuclear physicist that proved IMAX could sell serious storytelling, not only spectacle.
That shift, she argued, opened the door for Sinners, Project Hail Mary and One Battle After Another. The risk is marketing alignment: Lyndon said he is currently contesting trailers that tell non-PLF audiences to “Experience it in IMAX”, which pushes customers away from the very screens paying for the film.
The titles setting the pace
Spider-Man: Brand New Day has grossed £99.8m and The Odyssey £87.1m in the UK and Ireland, making them the defining releases of 2026. Picturehouse director of programming Carol McKay said Nolan’s epic is already Picturehouse’s number four film of all time.
For media planners and marketers, the lesson is to stop treating “original” as niche. Audiences are showing up for distinct voices when the release calendar gives them air, and premium formats can be priced and positioned as part of the campaign, not an afterthought.
The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs Oct. 7-18.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
