Diversity in film audiences

The following statistics, taken from the UK Film Council Statistical Yearbook 2018, give a picture of audiences for film in the UK.

  • Films in 34 different languages (including English) were released in the UK in 2017.
  • Hindi was the foreign language with the greatest number of film releases – 52.
  • Less than 1% of screens are in rural locations.
  • London had the highest number of screens (21.7% of the UK total), followed by the Midlands and Lancashire.
  • Only 7.3% of screens were dedicated to ‘specialised’ (non-mainstream) programming, with 0.3% showing South Asian films.
  • Minority ethnic groups were over-represented among buyers of cinema tickets, rental films and pay-per-view, and under-represented among buyers of retail DVDs/videos.
  • Disabled people were under-represented in the film audience, except as buyers of retail DVDs/videos.