In both the UK and US film history cinema admissions have generally been the same.
In 1946 there was a peak in cinema admissions; the average weekly attendance was 31.5 million. As the years went on cinema attendance dropped immensely. In the 1950s the weekly attendance was down to 21.1 million and by the 1960s 9.6 million.
The drastic drop was caused by the introduction of television sets and VCRs. Television viewing in the home was far cheaper than going out and paying expensive prices at the cinema as the entertainment was seen as free. It was also more comfortable than leaving your house to sit in cold cinemas.
The VCR enabled audiences to rent films and watch them in the comfort of their own home. .
One reason for the upturn in cinema admissions is the arrival of the purpose built multiplex cinema. A factor that affected cinema attendances was the supply of cinema screens. As there weren't enough cinema screens there was also not wide variety of films for available for audiences to watch. The multiplex was adapted from the American company American Multi Cinema Entertainment and the first multiplex was opened in Kansas, USA. Usually consisting between eight and fourteen screens the multiplex cinema improves the targeting of audiences. The idea of the multiplex allows more diverse audiences because of the amount of screens available. .
Multiplexes are showing different films from all types of genres-from comedy to science fiction. It gives the audience the freedom of seeing the film at different times in the day as there is more than one screen showing the same film. .
The location of the multiplex cinema is aimed at families, teenagers and adults as there is a range of entertainment in the same leisure complex such as restaurants, shopping outlets, bowling, swimming and nightclubs which means that audiences can spend the whole day at the leisure complex then helping to boost cinema admissions.
