Production spend in the UK in the first quarter of 2025 was nearly three times the spend of the equivalent period in 2024, according to figures published today (May 1) by the BFI.
The number of films starting principal photography during the first quarter of 2025 was 37, 15 more than was first reported for the first quarter of 2024, with a production spend of £632m.
This is the third highest first quarter since records began in 2003, and nearly three times the £211m that was reported for Q1 2024 productions.
There were 15 inward investment films in production in Q1 2025, with a UK spend of £592m (94% of the total UK production spend on film).
Inward investment films that started shooting in Q1 2025 included Warner Bros’ Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow, directed by Craig Gillespie and staring Mily Alcock, Emily Beecham and Jason Momoa; Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell and starring Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi and Shazad Latif, also for Warner Bros; Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, starring Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel and James Corden for Department M; and Masters Of The Universe for Amazon MGM Studios, directed by Travis Knight and starring Morena Baccarin, Idris Elba and Alison Brie.
A further nine features were co-productions with a UK spend of £13.6m (2% of the total UK spend), including Miss Pirie And Miss Woods, directed by Sophie Heldman, a UK/Germany/Switzerland co-production between Edge City Films, Heimatfilm and Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion, staring Flora Nicholson.
Thirteen local UK features started production in Q1 2025 (compared with 12 as first reported in Q1 2024) and contributed £26m of total spend, representing a 9% increase from Q1 2024’s figure of £24m. Homegrown UK films that started filming in Q1 2025 included Animol, directed by Ashley Walters and starring Stephen Graham and Sharon Duncan-Brewster; and Tinsel Town, directed by Chris Foggin, starring Alice Eve, Rebel Wilson and Kiefer Sutherland.
UK spend on film production in the latest 12-month period (April 2024 to March 2025) was up 71% on the revised figure for the equivalent period across 2023-2024. The 2023-4 figure was first reported as 183 films, but has now been revised to 287 films, owing to a time lag in data. UK spend on film production in 2023/2024 has also been revised from £1.24bn at first release to £1.53bn.
Inward investment was nearly double that of the previous 12 months (up 98%) and local UK spend was down 2%. Spend on co-productions was down 42% year-on-year. However the co-production figure for 2023-4 was the highest in the past decade and was driven primarily by a small number of unofficial co-productions, according to the BFI.
In the 12-month period, as a share of total UK spend on film in 2024, inward investment accounted for 89%, local UK productions for 7%, and co-productions for 4%.
HETV
UK spend on feature-length single productions – including inward investment and local UK projects financed by broadcasters and streaming platforms – may be captured in the statistics for high-end television (HETV), as these productions may apply for certification to access the UK’s HETV tax relief, if they are unable to express theatrical intention.
In the last 12 months (April 2024 to March 2025) there were 25 feature-length single episode HETV productions with a combined UK spend of £446m. Reallocating these projects to the film category increases the number of films to 239, which is the lowest adjusted figure seen in the last five years (2021-2 being the highest, at 473), and increases the film spend by 14% to £3.06bn, which is just 3% less than the adjusted UK spend for HETV.
Total UK spend on HETV programming starting principal photography during Q1 2025 was £990m from 39 productions. This is an increase on the £691m in spend from 37 projects that was first reported for Q1 2024 and is the second highest spend for a Q1 period since the introduction of the tax relief in 2013. Inward investment and co-productions accounted for 81% of the UK spend on HETV production starts in Q1 2025 and 51% of the number of programmes.
There were 19 local productions (49% of programmes) with a UK production spend of £192m (19% of total spend).
Inward investment HETV productions starting principal photography in Q1 2025 included Netflix’s Run Away, Apple TV+ series Criminal Record, BBC/HBO’s Industry and Amazon MGM’s Jack Ryan. Local UK HETV productions starting filming in Q1 2025 included Blue Lights, Brassic, Trigger Point and Silent Witness.
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