UK cinemas enjoy box office boost in August

UK cinemas enjoyed their busiest August for five years, according to data out on Monday.

Roughly 18.1m cinema tickets were sold in August, up 26% on the same month last year, according to Digital Cinema Media (DCM).

The summer months usually see a slew of film releases for younger cinemagoers, and 2016 was no exception with Finding Dory, The BFG and Ice Age: Collision Course all launched, with Ghostbusters for slightly older audiences, followed such films as Suicide Squad and David Brent: Life On The Road in August.

DCM said the main reason for the outperformance was that the standard of films this summer was much higher than last August, while also giving some credit to the rise of the staycation due to the weakness of the pound.