For a record-breaking third year in a row, the annual total for the UK and Ireland box office has topped the previous year. 2017 saw £1.38bn go through tills across the UK, with The Last Jedi finishing the year as the highest grossing film despite only being on release for just over two weeks.
The cinema box office in the UK and Ireland had a record-breaking year in 2017, with its highest grossing year to date.
According to figures released by the box-office tracker comScore, £1.38bn was spent on cinema tickets, 6.1% up on the previous year. It was not expected to beat 2016, which was a 53-week year (the year includes all Friday-to-Thursday play weeks where the Friday falls into that calendar year).
The record has now been broken in each of the last three years after a small drop of 2.7% in 2014, proving that audiences are still enjoying cinema visits despite the popularity of steaming sites such as Netflix.
And as mentioned, The Last Jedi took the crown for the years top film, a list dominated by fellow Disney releases.
The latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise became the highest grossing film of the year, despite it only being in cinemas for three weeks, having been released on 14 December.
In the final days of the year it crept above the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast in the rankings. Both films are distributed by Disney, which also released Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, which came in fifth.
The Last Jedi is expected to break into the top five films of all time at the UK box office by the end of its run. Fifth position is held by Titanic (£80.3m), behind Avatar (£94m), Bond films Spectre (£95.2m) and Skyfall (£103.2m), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£123.2m).
1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Disney): £73.1m
2. Beauty And The Beast (Disney): £72.4m
3. Dunkirk (Warner Bros): £56.6m
4. Despicable Me 3 (Universal): £47.8m
5. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 (Disney): £41.0m
6. Paddington 2 (StudioCanal): £39.3m
7. It (Warner Bros): £32.3m
8. Thor: Ragnarok (Disney): £31.0m
9. Spider-Man: Homecoming (Sony): £30.4m
10. La La Land (Lionsgate): £30.4m
