UK box office forecast to top £1bn in 2025 after year-on-year fall

In a year marked by release delays after the strikes, Deadpool & Wolverine was a box-office highlight, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. Photograph: Jay Maidment/AP

The UK box office is forecast to surpass £1bn next year for the first time in six years, but cinema bosses still say moviegoing will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2026.

The pace of the hoped-for recovery at the box office was disrupted by the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes last summer, which delayed the release of a number of blockbusters.