Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Elf and Home Alone among festive hits attracting people back to cinemas

Cinema openings are limited by Covid-19 restrictions (Gareth Fuller/PA)
Cinema openings are limited by Covid-19 restrictions (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Seasonal classics Elf and Home Alone are among the films helping to coax people back into UK cinemas, new figures show.

Both movies appear in the latest box office top 10, along with other favourites Die Hard and The Grinch.

But the gross takings for each film reveal just how few screenings are still available to customers.

The 2003 festive comedy Elf topped the chart for the weekend December 4 to 6, grossing £48,244 from 96 cinemas.

Second-placed Home Alone, first released in 1990, was showing at 81 venues and took £36,878.

The 1988 action blockbuster Die Hard made it to ninth place, thanks to box office takings of just £16,980 from 64 cinemas.

Originally released in the middle of summer, Die Hard has since acquired status as a festive film thanks to its plot taking place on Christmas Eve.

SHOWBIZ BoxOffice
(PA graphic)

Just outside the top 10 were two more seasonal regulars: 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol (11th place) and 2003’s Love Actually (12th).

The figures, published by the British Film Institute (BFI), cover all cinemas that are currently open in the UK together with venues in the Republic or Ireland.

Box office takings in Ireland are traditionally included with figures for the UK.

Cinemas continue to be affected by the different levels of Covid-19 restrictions that are in place around the country.

In Tier 3 areas of England, for example, cinemas must remain closed.

This currently includes places such as Greater Manchester, Kent, South & West Yorkshire and the whole of the North East.

Cinemas must also close in areas that are within Levels 3 and 4 of the restrictions in Scotland.

Venues belonging to the cinema chain Cineworld remain shut right across the country, pending financial agreements to secure its future.

And many blockbusters have had their release date postponed from 2020 to 2021, such as the latest James Bond film No Time To Die.

Wonder Woman 1984 is still due to get a theatrical release this Christmas, however.

The BFI figures show that the total amount grossed by the top 10 films for the period December 4 to 6 was £246,409.

This compares with £9.5 million grossed by the top 10 films for the equivalent period in December 2019.

Here is the full box office top 10 for December 4 to 6:

1. Elf £48,244 (96 cinemas)
2. Home Alone £36,878 (81 cinemas)
3. Wolfwalkers £26,171 (64 cinemas)
4. A Christmas Carol £22,366 (88 cinemas)
5. Two By Two: Overboard! £21,952 (108 cinemas)
6. Honest Thief £21,818 (58 cinemas)
7. Pixie £18,824 (49 cinemas)
8. The Grinch £17,377 (65 cinemas)
9. Die Hard £16,980 (64 cinemas)
10. Katherine Jenkins: Christmas Spectacular £15,799 (82 cinemas)