History. 2 of 9: Never Say Never (388 cinemas, 2011) and Piece by Piece (347, 2024); the other seven opened in 195 or fewer.
Hunch. The Guardian reported on 21 October that Cineworld widened ticket sales from about 40 cinemas to 35 more, a month before release.
The cinemas market resolves on the number of cinemas in the same BFI report: YES if the film plays in 250 or more UK cinemas on its first weekend, and NO if fewer. If no number appears in BFI reports by 2 December or in Variety or Deadline, or the film does not open that weekend, the market is void.
We looked for cases where a documentary came in the top ten of the weekend chart in its first country and opened in UK cinemas at least a week later. We found nine such films since 2004, eight of them first shown in the US. Each time we checked where it ranked in its first UK weekend, using the British Film Institute’s weekend tables.