The industry hit the highest spend on record for films in 2025. What might this mean for the cinema business in 2026?
Last year the UK spent a total of £6.8 billion on film and high-end television programme production, according to data recently released by BFI Research and Statistic Unit. Film spending hit £2.8 billion in 2025, which is 22% higher than in 2024 (£2.3 billion) and 75% higher than 2023 (£1.6 billion).
In 2025, 78% of the production cost was spent on US studio/streamer backed films, which was the highest amount of spending in the sector since 2021. The number in 2025 (£2.16 billion) is also 50% higher than the amount spent on the sector in 2024 (£1.44 billion).
US studio groups include NBC Universal, Paramount Motion Pictures Group, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group and Warner Bros Entertainment while Amazon, Apple and Netflix are the main US streamers.
Some of the highest grossing films shot in the UK and backed by US studios last year were Wicked: For Good, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Jurassic World Rebirth and upcoming shoots in the UK include Avengers: Doomsday, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, Star Wars: Starfighter and Spider-Man: Brand New day.
Spending on non-US studio/streamer-backed films in 2025 was the lowest in the last five years, with only £607 million spent on co-productions, domestic features and inward investment features in the UK – a significant decrease from that of 2024 (£816 million), which had the highest rate in five years.
Despite the low investment on independent UK films, some of them did numbers at the box office last year. The highest grossing British independent films of 2025 were We Live in Time, The Salt Path and I Swear, which also won two BAFTA awards in 2026.
The number of films produced, however, contrasts the amount spent on each sector. In 2024, out of the 317 films produced in the UK, only 21 were US studio/streamer-backed films while 296 films were backed by non-US studio/streamer groups. Despite the higher number of independent UK films, the industry’s investment on them was less than the amount spent on UK films backed by US studios, which continued in 2025 as well.
In 2025, the number of films produced in the UK fell to 193. However, the number of US studio/streamer backed UK films slightly increased to 25, whereas the number of non-US studio/streamer-backed UK films dropped to 168. Spending for independent UK films dropped down to its lowest in the last five years, however, UK films backed by US studios saw the highest spending compared to previous years.
The data shows an increasing trend in the UK film industry to spend more on US-backed productions compared to non-US-backed independent films. Despite more films being made by non-US studio groups in the UK, the US studio-backed UK films, which are less in numbers, are getting most of the budget for films.
The 2025 data reflects higher spending on US-backed franchise films, which is expected to continue into 2026. Despite box office hits like Paddington in Peru and Conclave in 2024, the industry fell short in investing more on independent UK films. However, the financial success from award winning films like I Swear could encourage the UK film industry to invest more on independent creative projects in 2026.
Culture Minister Ian Murray told BFI: “From Wicked and Hamnet to Bridgerton and Slow Horses - some of this year’s most successful films and high-end television were made in the UK. The creative brilliance of our independent film sector shone with films like Pillion and The Ballad of Wallis Island, and the tax measures we have introduced will only strengthen this part of the industry further in the years to come.”
