February delivers decent hold to leave 2026 UK-Ireland box office just 1% behind 2025

February 2026 came in 18% down on last year at the UK-Ireland box office, with the year-to-date total now 1% behind 2025 at the same stage.

That represents a decent outcome considering February 2025 was driven by a strong £38.3m performance from Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, with Wuthering Heights, GOAT and Scream 7 helping to bridge the gap.

February 2026 brought in £82.2m compared to £101.1m from February 2025. The year-to-date is now at £193.9m, just behind the £195.5m at the same stage in 2025, and 32% up on the same stage in 2024.

All figures provided by Comscore

Emerald Fennell’s literary adaptation Wuthering Heights led the way for the month with £22m, including £7.6m on Valentine’s Day weekend, for Warner Bros. That marked the second-highest opening for a romance title post-pandemic, behind the £10.2m of Mad About The Boy. It is currently the highest-grossing release of 2026, ahead of Universal’s Hamnet (£18.5m), and has passed literary adaptations including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (£20.4m), Angels & Demons (£18.8m) and The Great Gatsby (£15.8m).

Released on the same weekend, Sony animation GOAT is up to an energetic £12m, having started with £2.2m. It has passed the totals of 2025 animated releases including The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants (£8.9m) and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle (£6.9m).

Paramount’s Scream 7 took third place for the month with £5m on its first week of release. It recorded the biggest opening of the franchise at £3.3m, and could top £10m across its run with a couple of good weekend holds.

Three 2025 releases remained in the February 2026 top 10 after lengthy cinema runs: Disney’s Zootropolis 2, which received a school half-term boost to take £3.3m in the month for £36m total; Lionsgate’s The Housemaid, which added £2.9m as part of a stunning run and £32m total, as the distributor’s second-highest-grossing release of all time; and Disney’s Avatar: Fire And Ash, adding £1.2m in February.

Despite having released on Boxing Day 2025, The Housemaid leads the year-to-date chart with £23.4m in the 2026 date range. Wuthering Heights is second, with two UK titles making the top 10, both UK-US co-productions: Hamnet, and Sony’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

The first weekend of March sees a broad spread of titles including Gothic romance thriller The Bride!, animation Hoppers, and UK comedy Mother’s Pride.

Titles with strong box office potential in the rest of the month include Studiocanal’s inheritance comedy How To Make A Killing from March 11; Sony sci-fi Project Hail Mary, starting previews from March 14; and Disney horror sequel Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come from March 20.

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