As the dust settles and embers slowly die out in a troubled London it is with a big ‘well, duh’, that I bring you the news that this week’s box office numbers are looking a little uhealthy.
With the combination of punters understandably preferring to have a night in this week and a large number of cinemas closing in the capital, not to mention Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham, theatrical revenue dropped 16% on Monday and 27% on Tuesday compared to the same days last week Variety report.
This may be due, in part, to Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part Two’s lull in ticket sales as it moves into its fourth week of release, but with two huge blockbuster films in cinemas this week in the shape of Captain America: The First Avenger and Super 8 the chances are that the riots have taken their toll on the cinema-going public. After all, Odeon-UCI had 24 theatres closed across the country (19 being in London and the surrounding suburbs), including Odeon West End in Leicester Sq.
Let’s hope all this madness ends soon so the country can get back outside and into a darkened cinema room.
Report by Richard Parkin.
