Mrs Brown saves box office as cinemas take hit during summer

An unlikely alliance of a foul-mouthed Dublin stall holder and a rag-tag group of intergalactic outlaws have joined forces to save Irish cinemas this summer.

While Tinseltown is reeling from word that the summer’s US box office take is its worst in eight years, there are no such concerns on this side of the Atlantic where both Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy have combined to boost the number of movie-goers flocking to cinema screens.

While industry analysts Rentrak have revealed that this summer’s US box office takings have been the lowest since 2006, marketing company Wide Eye Media say that Irish cinema admissions are up by 1% on last year for the period of January-July 2014.

Cinema admissions for July 2014 were up by a 12% on the same month last year here, with the release of Brendan O’Carroll’s big screen comedy at the end of June highlighted as a major contributing factor to the increase.

Mrs Brown’s Boys is the top-selling film of 2014 at Irish cinemas, and has grossed €4.8m in Ireland alone.

Having also generated almost €18.5m at the British box office, David Burke of Universal Pictures International Ireland said the distributor is thrilled with its performance.

“We are anticipating that Mrs Brown’s Boys will emerge to be the number one film of the year. Irish cinema audiences have truly embraced ‘Agnes the Big Screen Star’.”

Meanwhile Trish Long, of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Ireland said Guardians of the Galaxy is still packing cinemas, over a month since its release.

“We couldn’t be happier with how Irish audiences have embraced Guardians of the Galaxy which has already exceeded €2.7m at the Irish box office and in its fifth week is still riding high.”

The success at the box office is all the more remarkable as it came despite a drier than normal summer, with the majority of summer rainfall totals noted across the country below recorded averages.

Met Éireann says 2014 was Ireland’s 11th-best summer of the last 50 years.

Wide Eye Media forecasts admissions will continue to be strong for the remainder of the year, with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies; Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey; and Jennifer Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 set to hit Irish screens by the end of the year.

Meanwhile Mrs Brown’s Boys fans will have a chance to see one of their favourite stars in more glamorous surroundings this Sunday as Jennifer Gibney joins the line-up of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Jennifer, real-life wife of Brendan O’Carroll, plays his daughter Cathy in Mrs Brown’s Boys and will join a host of celebrities in the BBC show, including EastEnders star Jake Wood and Judy Murray, tennis coach and mother of tennis star Andy Murray.