|
MORE YEAR-END FIGURES RELEASED
UK AN ADVANCED SCREEN MARKET
NETFLIX RULES STREAMING…
“TRANSACTIONAL IS VITAL”
STEELBOOKS BOOST 4K REVENUE
BRITISH CREATIVITY RULES
BASE LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
COMMENTARY FROM RESEARCH EXPERTS…
BASE: “GROWTH DRIVEN BY DIFFERENT MODELS…"
“2025 A LANDMARK YEAR” BOX OFFICE UP IN JANUARY WICKED HERE FOR GOOD IN MARCH
VISIONS HOME VIDEO LAUNCHES…
…COMMENT FROM NEW LABEL
CRITERION UNVEILS MARCH AND APRIL
SPIRIT HAS MORE BITE WITH DRACULA SET
EUREKA UNVEILS APRIL
AMAZON’S MELANIA COMMENT
SPOTTED OUT AND ABOUT
SUPPORT THE RAYGUN
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK 
If you can't read this newsletter or see the ads, please click here.
It was a good week for… Box office up in January alongside more strong figures from 2025 boosting optimism for the year ahead…
It was a bad week for… AI footage of Brad Pitt versus Tom Cruise draws fire from US trade body but makes creatives very nervous…
We have been watching… Loads of titles for our Film Stories reviews, including the first three form Vertigo’s Visions Home Video imprint, all of which make a strong start for the label…
The British Association for Screen Entertainment, better known round these parts as BASE and sister organisation DEGI have released a raft of new data and figures for the past year, going beyond the UK and Ireland and taking a global view, as well revealing forecasts for the year ahead. The headlines make for fascinating reading. They include some that have appeared elsewhere, but reading them together, it paints an irresistibly positive image of the industry as a whole. The UK entertainment industry, which takes in streaming, transactional and pay TV home entertainment, cinema, games, and music, had a record-breaking year in 2025 and was worth £34 billion. This represents an eight per cent increase the previous year. Of that total consumer spend, visual home entertainment accounted for 17 per cent. On a worldwide level, home entertainment is now worth a whopping $349 billion, according to figures from NBC Universal Internal Analysis using data from across the board. The US is still the largest individual territory, but international markets now account for 60 per cent of total revenue and are growing faster than the American market. Territories that have less mature markets, such as India, Poland and the Netherlands as well as parts of Asia Pacific, are driving that growth. And, the report added: “At the same time, established markets such as Japan demonstrate the enduring value of strong local content, while newer platform entry in markets including Poland and the Nordics has delivered incremental growth by expanding access and choice. Together, these dynamics reinforce the importance of international, market-specific strategies as a central driver of future industry growth.” In the UK, the report noted, and as covered here previously, the home entertainment market rose by 10 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and was at a record level of £5.7 billion in 2025. This, BASE and DEGI noted, highlighted this country’s reputation as one of the “most advanced and dynamic screen-consumption markets”, but also showed the potential for international territories too. With, as noted previously, box office continuing to rise slowly back to pre-pandemic levels, Gower Street Analytics has predicted that global theatrical receipts will rise to $35 billion this year, a forecast which would represent a five per cent YoY increase and a second successive year of positive growth. International excluding China will be five per cent ahead of 2025, worth $18 billion, while other regions such as North America (11 per cent), Latin America (nine per cent) and EMEA (seven per cent) are all forecast to rise.
Meanwhile, streaming continued to dominate, with more than 20 million UK households subscribing to at least one service, up almost 500,000 YoY, with 70 per cent of viewers watching series and films via SVoD. Netflix was the biggest, with 17.6 million subscriptions (Wednesday was its most popular show) followed by Amazon’s Prime Video (13.6 million) and Disney+ (7.5 million). There was growth for Discovery (3.2 million), Apple TV (2.8 million) and Now TV (2 million). Ad streaming services continue to grow too – with 23 million ad-supported subscriptions by the end of the third quarter of 2025, while more than half of all SVoD subs are now ad-supported. Worldwide, four in 10 Netflix subs and 44 per cent of Disney+ subs are on ad-supported schemes. Almost 60 per cent of UK adults now pay for at least one streaming service, even though almost the same amount of consumers, 55 per cent, say they dislike ads, but prioritise saving money. Research agency Fabric said 69 per cent of UK SVoD customers opt for an ad-plan, which, BASE noted, highlighted the option to pick a lower‑cost subscription model “drives incremental revenue and widens access for consumers”. This figure is higher than Australia (48 per cent) but lower than Italy (73 per cent). Meanwhile, Prime Video had the most new paid-for sign-ups, at 17 per cent, ahead of Disney+’s 16 per cent. A third of UK SVoD subs are now taken as part of bundling plans. The planned launch of HBO Max this year will, BASE said, “drive more change in the market”. Also on streaming, BASE further noted the growth of live and event-based programming, pointing to the NFL Christmas GameDay broadcast and the finale of Stranger Things Season 5, as well as, beyond streaming, the success of The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl event theatrical release, the latest from pop superstar Taylor Swift. It also further noted the growth of sports streaming – in the UK seven per cent of sports rights spend came from subscription streamers.
Elsewhere, transactional entertainment (buying and renting across digital and physical) is vital in “maintaining revenue continuity across the release lifecycle”. The report added: “Premium VoD (PVoD), Premium EST (PEST), standard EST/VoD, Blu‑ray and DVD together form the commercial bridge between cinema and subscription monetisation, giving audiences choice while sustaining robust returns for studios and distributors.” Premium content now accounts for more than 20 per cent of transactional spending, a figure set to rise at a growth rate of four per cent this year and will make up 25 per cent of transactional spending by the end of 2026. Last year aw 79 films released “fresh from cinemas”, up from 62 per cent in 2024. Perhaps more surprisingly, the theatrical to premium window was 44 days, up 10 per cent on 2024’s 40 days. It then takes a further 40 days to arrive on standard EST, one day shorter than the previous year. Premium successes included Wicked, Gladiator II, Conclave, Downton Abbey: The Finale and Superman. EST get 7.4 per cent in value and digital rental increased by 1.7 per cent as, BASE said, consumer understanding of availability grew. The combined digital sales market rose 3.5 per cent and was worth £382 million, the overall transactional market in the UK, taking in both physical and digital, use by one per cent to £531 million. Futuresource has forecast digital transactional to grow by 3.6 per cent in value terms this year, a figure driven by EST growth, which is expected to use by seven per cent and will account for more than half of transactional spend. Futuresource Screen Trends said the UK is the third biggest worldwide market behind the US and Germany, which grew less in 2025. Principal analyst at Futuresource Consulting James Duvall said: “2025 has proved to be another year where the UK transactional sector has played an important role in engaging audiences, and the outlook for 2026 is extremely promising.”
As noted here previously, the final week of 2025 saw 2.2 million unit sales and rentals, and physical formats remained “resilient”. Blu-ray value rose by 3.2 per cent in 2025, with Superman flying ahead and leading the charge – it was number one on the Official Blu-ray chart for the year. The 4K UHD Blu-ray market grew by 19.5 per cent, mainly on the back of collectors buying limited editions and Steelbooks. Only one in 10 4K Blu-ray titles had a Steelbook version, yet these made up 18 per cent of 4K revenue, thanks to their higher ticket average consumer retail price of £32 per unit. Again, as noted before, Downton Abbey The Finale “reminded retailers of the strength of the DVD market selling 56 000 DVD units in its first two weeks of release in December 2025”. In the TV category, four of the top sellers were shown first on streaming channels and HBO’s House Of The Dragon dominated the proceedings for the third year on the bounce, while Doctor Who: The Savages was the second bestseller despite first airing in 1966, almost 60 years ago.
BASE also highlighted the success of British creativity in terms of production and talent, pointing to Wicked and its sequel Wicked For Good, Gladiator II, Conclave, Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy. The Substance and Jurassic World: Rebirth, also noting the return of original IP with the likes of A Minecraft Movie (more than £56 million at cinemas, £7 million revenue on EST and VoD), Sinners (£16.1 million at cinemas and £3.2 million from EST and VoD) and I Swear (£6 million box office, £584,000 EST and VoD). Wicked helped Universal become the country’s largest distributor at both theatrical and home entertainment, with a 17.8 per cent home entertainment market share, while the aforementioned A Minecraft Movie, the biggest box office hit of the year, helped Warner become the second largest home entertainment studio, with 17 per cent market share.
BASE also looked ahead to 2026, saying that stabilised window models would help grow the business, while there would also be further experimentation with live-event streaming and “curated content discovery”, pointing towards Letterboxd’s Video Store digital offering. BASE added: “Audience attitudes towards a preference for human curation over algorithmic recommendation will continue to evolve, influencing platform design, introducing new players to the market, and renewing interest in nostalgia and franchise storytelling.” It also noted a strong theatrical slate, including new films from existing IP, taking in the likes of Toy Story, The Devil Wears Prada and Star Wars, will help not only box office worldwide, but also transactional and streaming both with drafting and post-theatrical releases. And, the report added: “Cross-platform and channel partnerships like Odeon and Prime Video’s Go Big And Go Home will continue to innovate the sector, forging even closer ties between the theatrical and Home Entertainment estates, delivering increased value perception for distributors, retailers and exhibitors, and discount rewards for entertainment consumers.” BASE also pointed to growth on platforms from YouTube – 66 per cent of Internet users are engaged with YouTube monthly, 41 per cent daily with more than half of 18-53 year olds watching daily – and social media, where $32.5 billion was spent on influencer marketing, up 35 per cent YoY – highlighting the “expanding role of creator‑driven content in today’s entertainment landscape and the importance of future collaboration across the Home Entertainment sector”.
The BASE and DEGI report came with further commentary from BASE and associates across the board. Max Signorelli, Consumer Research Lead, Media & Entertainment, Omdia, said: “Consumer expectations of their media services are rising in tandem with their still increasing spend. Although near invisible and seamless to the consumer, the media and entertainment partnerships and distribution channels that increasingly define the global industry are more relevant and powerful than ever before. Particular investment priorities will include new, international productions and formats (K-wave, microdramas etc.), content discovery (TV platform and AI-enhanced search) and enhanced, intertwining features (cross-platform productions and shoppable TV).” Craig Armer, Global Strategic Insight Director, Worldpanel by Numerator, said: “There are now more British households using VoD services than ever before, driven by the success of Ad-Supported Tiers in the SVoD category providing an accessible price point for new consumers. Worldpanel’s new monthly tracking of consumer engagement with transactional digital formats indicates that this audience is also in growth, with more than 5 million British adults purchasing at least once in the nine months to December 2025. Transactional consumers generate important incremental revenue for Home Entertainment, as the average transactor is already very engaged with the wider VoD category. Occasions such as movies nights with the family, or unwinding by watching a film, are times when consumers choose to buy or rent in addition to their subscriptions. Positively, there is still plenty of headroom for further growth. Understanding which VoD consumers could be converted into transactional, and how to do this effectively, will be essential to carry this year’s performance into 2026.”
Further comment came from BASE itself. Head of insights at BASE and DEGI Yasmin Nevard said: “As we look back across 2025 and into 2026, the direction of travel for the screen entertainment industry is clear: growth is being driven not by a single model, but by how well different models work together. Our data consistently shows that theatrical, transactional and streaming are most powerful when they are complementary rather than competitive, with transactional continuing to act as a vital value bridge, extending engagement and sustaining revenue across the release lifecycle. Underpinning this growth are significant shifts in both the market and consumer behaviour. Changes to windowing, pricing, distribution and partnership models are reshaping how and when audiences engage with content, while viewing habits, discovery pathways, and expectations of ease continue to fragment. Understanding the full consumer journey, and where these market shifts create friction or opportunity, has become increasingly complex and important. Technology, including AI-driven curation and recommendations, will play a role in responding to this, but it is clarity of insight that will determine success. At BASE and DEGI our role is to bring that clarity. By combining robust market data with a deeper understanding of audience attitudes and behaviours, we are developing a more nuanced segmentation that moves beyond broad demographics and reflects how people actually engage with film and television. Alongside this segmentation work our broader insight programme draws on international perspective and learning from adjacent industries to help members identify real growth opportunities, sharpen discovery, and apply innovation, including AI, in ways that are effective, responsible and commercially meaningful.”
And finally. chief executive of BASE and DEGI Liz Bales said: “2025 was a landmark year for UK and International Home Entertainment, and the global entertainment industry stands united behind creativity and commercial innovation. In the UK we are a sector evolving at lightning speed with strength and agility, powered by collaboration. As we move into 2026 the next chapter of this exciting industry story is being written. With stable market conditions, revenues across cinema, physical, and digital platforms will continue to grow confirming that consumers value choice, and that diversified release strategies deliver consistent, sustainable growth. Audiences will continue to engage passionately with great stories if we continue to deliver them in exciting ways that match the pace and reality of their lives. I want to thank all the UK and International BASE and DEGI Members for their partnership and vision in 2025, and their belief in what can be this year and next. We are now a force of over 100 Member and partner organisations, and these results clearly show that together we are stronger.”
A few more figures and January ended on a high as, propelled by the likes of The Housemaid, box office was 18 per cent up on January 2025, with cinemas raking in receipts of more than £111 million in the month, up from the previous year’s totals of over £94 million. What’s more, it’s 30 per cent up on the 2024 figure of £85.2 million. The Housemaid is currently Lionsgate’s fourth biggest release in the UK, bested only by assorted a brace of Hunger Games franchise films and musical powerhouse La La Land.
Another box office biggie for the month of January was, of course, the end of 2025’s big hit Wicked: For Good and Spirit has just announced the musical will be released across 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on March 9. The release comes from Spirit’s ongoing partnership with Universal and features not one but two versions of the hit sequel, the standard film and a special sing-along version for fans to join in with the tunes. There is a raft of further special features, including a clutch of deleted scenes, a 50-minute-plus Making Of, a wealth of featurettes and a commentary from director Jon M Chu. It makes for a massive day for physical media on March 9, as also announced for the same day is Zootropolis 2, the latest record-breaking animated outing from Disney, released via Elevation.
The Raygun’s Tim Murray has spent the past week or so working his way through a stack of Blu-rays for our physical media reviews for Film Stories magazine and among those have been a trio of the first releases from the Visions Home Video label, the new imprint set up by Vertigo Releasing. We’ve seen Good Boy, last year’s dog-friendly horror film seen, a supernatural presence tale seen through the eyes of a pooch called Indy, as well as a newly remastered Dogtooth, Yorgos Lanthimos’ early feature set in his native Greece, as well as the first title under the new banner, Dogma, and mightily impressed we were too. We’ve also been speaking to Andrew Dillon, who’s overseeing the label at Vertigo, about Visions, its aims and ideals. As he answered, the label’s first release, Dogma, Kevin Smith’s long unavailable allegorical tale, had just been released. “We’ve just got our hands on the first retail units for Dogma,” said Dillon, “and couldn't be happier with how they turned out, as of right now, it's the number one selling new release title in the UK and Ireland. It’s a fantastic first title under this range and we'll be looking to continue in this vein.” Dogma is currently sitting at number four in the Official Film Chart.
Talking about the ideals behind Visions Home Video, Vertigo’s Andrew Dillon said: “We wanted to be able to directly release elevated physical versions of the right films on our slate and build a brand that spoke to the quality of what we were offering. We'll continue to release alongside Visions under the Vertigo Releasing heading as we have done historically but this will be for the more vanilla titles that don't necessarily support the limited description.” Vertigo has been releasing titles under its own steam, as well as licensing some to the likes of Second Sight and this in part proved the inspiration. Dillon said: “We’ve been in the physical media business directly and indirectly for many years but have in recent years really seen the value in the high quality, limited market and we have titles that consistently perform strongly here (Revenge, Dog Soldiers to name but a few).” As for marketing the releases, Dillon said: “As an end-to-end distributor all our Visions releases will benefit from the wider marketing campaign that we build for our releases, and we'll be ensuring that our physical releases are factored into the campaigns from the outset. Taking Dogma as an example this was released with a theatrical re-release campaign that carried on through to the digital and physical release of the title.” More in the next issue of Film Stories.
More forthcoming announcements now and a double drip from Criterion with two months’ worth, taking in March and April. As ever, here’s Spirit’s John Partridge, JP, outlining the spring additions to the Collection. He said: “A front-loaded month of March from Criterion with all three releases out in the first two weeks. On March 2 comes a welcome 4k UHD release for the Coen brothers’ existential noir thriller The Man Who Wasn’t There about a barber (Billy Bob Thornton) and his possibly cheating wife (Frances McDormand) in a twisted tale of blackmail in black and white. One week later sees the 4k UHD debut of John Hughes’ iconic exploration of adolescence The Breakfast Club in a definitive version with hours of extras. Finally on the same day comes one of the best classic westerns of all time – 3.10 to Yuma on 4k. A nerve-wracking cat and mouse siege film that sees Van Heflin’s cattle rancher forced to hold Glenn Ford’s captured outlaw in a rickety sheriff’s office whilst waiting for the 3.10 train to Yuma and Ford’s bloodthirsty gang to break him out, not knowing which will arrive first. Essential viewing.”
On to April from Criterion and JP continued: "Criterion’s April offering kicks off on the 13th with Hong Kong powerhouse director Tsui Hark’s new spin on the classic Shaw Brothers one-armed swordsmen series – The Blade. Both dazzling and brutal in 4K UHD, it is a scathing reappraisal of the wuxia genre’s code of honour and masculinity. Following on April 20, director Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise arrives on 4K UHD. With its delightfully risqué dialogue, swoon-worthy couture, and high deco style, the film is a pinnacle of comic-romantic sophistication that fizzes like the finest champagne. Finally, on April 27, Gilda comes to 4K UHD. Directed by Charles Vidor, the film features a sultry Rita Hayworth in her most iconic showstopping role.”
Also landing shortly from Universal, like Criterion also via Spirit, is a raft of classic Dracula, with the 4K UHD boxset of the Dracula Legacy Collection released on March 30. Spirit’s JP, again, said: “The new boxset includes the entire Dracula cycle of Universal Monsters films. Dracula’s Daughter (1936) is a direct sequel with Edward Van Sloan reprising his role as Helsing, hunting Dracula’s Daughter who is trying to arrest her vampiric curse. Son Of Dracula (1943) sees the Wolfman Lon Chaney Jnr playing the Count in an interesting subversion of vampire tropes in which Dracula is maybe being manipulated by a third party. House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula (1944, 1945) predate the Marvel Cinematic Universe by 65 years and see Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman meet for the first time. The set is rounded out with the two Bela Lugosi films – the original James Whale classic and the spoof Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein. This definitive collector’s edition is exclusive to the UK and includes new artwork, a 40-page booklet, poster and 10 beautiful reproduction lobby cards. Expect the other Universal Monsters legacy collections to be released on 4k over this year and next.”
You might have noticed all the brouhaha surrounding arguably the year’s most talked about film, Melania. We’re not going to get involved too much here, but we will merely quote Amazon MGM Studio’s head of domestic theatrical distribution Kevin Wilson who said: “Melania’s strong theatrical performance is a critical first moment that validates our wholistic distribution strategy, building awareness, engagement, and provides momentum ahead of the film’s eventual debut on Prime Video. Together, theatrical and streaming represent two distinct value creating moments that amplify the film’s overall impact. Audience response is already validating this approach, with exit data showing strong intent to rewatch on Prime Video and meaningful interest in the forthcoming docuseries. That interest is further amplified by the theatrical marketing halo we consistently see drive increased awareness and viewership once films launch on Prime Video, reinforcing long-term value across the movie’s entire lifecycle.” SPOTTED OUT AND ABOUT
 In a smart move to highlight the late February release of Scream 7, Paramount Brough a piece of Woodsboro, where the slasher films have been based, to Soho, taking over Stormzy’s House Party venue in the West End to invite press, influencers and the public along to a specially created immersive event. Star Neve Campbell turned up, resulting in loads of social media activity…
Meanwhile, Wuthering Heights buses (below) are all over the country, as Warner pushes the boat out for the Emerald Fennell adaptation…
  The Raygun, is 15 years old and continues to report on the home entertainment industry and its ever-changing face. To ensure we can continue to bring you the latest news, opinion and analysis from a business we love and care passionately about, you can support our independent journalism by donating to us via Ko-fi… Thank you.
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
This trailer comes in two versions, one colour…
https://youtu.be/b-Blr0_koQA?si=SD0uqhB7SU_LC5bM And one black and white…
Red roses for me… Obsessing over this…
Tales from the booth…
More minions…
Not for the faint-hearted…
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
You're on The Raygun newsletter mailing list, which has been running for eight years, because you requested it, have been recommended to us or sent us emails. You can unsubscribe at any time, if you're daft, using the link elsewhere or by emailing as below. But of course, you don't want to do that, do you? We don't share your information with anyone else, we don't like cookies and we're the good guys. We care because you do… To subscribe to The Raygun newsletter, please email info@theraygun.co.uk
with subscribe in the subject matter
To unsubscribe, email info@theraygun.co.uk with unsubscribe in the subject
line
For editorial or advertising queries, contact tim@theraygun.co.uk
The Raygun,
31 Corrib Court,
49 Crothall Close,
London N13 4BG
|
 | Powered by YMLP.com | |
| | ||