Film Exhibition- British Cinema

When Cinema first came into existence in Britain, it was silent and it was normal to have a live musical accompaniment with inner titles. It wasn't until 1927-1929 when fully synchronised sound arrived, by then half of Britain's population went to the cinema at least once a week. Alongside the main film audiences would also watch 'B' pictures and newsreel often complimented by live entertainment. By 1939, there were 5500 cinemas in Britain; they were very grand and elaborately designed. In 1946 Cinema was at it's peak of attendance at 1600 million, it then sharply declined in 1950s resulting to 200 million in 1971. Introduction of television, by 1961 there were 11 million sets and cinema admissions fell by 75%.

As a result of post-war poverty, audiences couldn't afford to go to the cinemas and this increased entertainment tax on theatre and cinema tickets. After the war, there was little availability to build and repair cinemas. In 1947-1948 US film distributors boycotted Britain's cinema as they wanted to import Hollywood films; but Britain had to fall back on old, poor quality films because of this cinema never recovered. Video hire in the 1980s was a further blow to the cinema. But things started to improve, the rise of 'multi-plex' cinemas first opened in 1985 you could watch more films; these were positioned at out of town sites so it would be easily accessible by cars. Now there's a wide range of films with 8-12 different screens with improvements in technology such as; surround sound, digital film and 3D. In 1983 there were 60 million admissions to 2011 where there's now around 170 million admissions. With the improvements in technology, over 10 years ticket prices have risen up by 10%. Higher ticket prices are justified as you get a 'better' experience as 3D films are more expensive and a better experience in relation to computers, TVs and phones etc. This makes it more engaging to not make cinema attendance to decline.