Hiya, I posted this a while ago and it got moved to the archive before anyone saw it to reply, could I ask the mods to leave this here for a least a few days so that people might be able to help me this time. Thanks.

 

"Hiya can anyone answer a few questions about the UK Box Office Chart or me? I'm trying to compile a full list of No1s at the UK Box Office from whenever the first chart was until the latest chart.

 

I know that the current chart is compiled by Nielsen EDI (part of Rentrak) and is the one in the archives on imdb and boxoffice mojo and the archives go back to 1998, apart from a few random weeks and some earlier news stories still lurking on the bbc and elsewhere on the web.

I know that the current chart is compiled on weekend receipts (Fri- Sun or poss Fri- Mon on bank hols (or is it just the US one that does that?)). Have the charts always been weekend only in the UK or has any compiler ever done a full week chart. When did Nielsen EDI or a direct predecessor of the same chart first start publishing the weekend charts?

 

Also I ordered from amazon and recieved within 36 hrs (!amazed considering it was free delivery!) a book published by Guiness in 1995 called 'Box Office Hits' which gives all the No1s at UK Box Office since 1969 and the top 10 films at BO for each year from 1945 to 1968. The charts in the book are compiled by Screen International (or it predecessors) and I have no idea if it's a weekend or full week chart, any ideas? Also wikipedia now has articles for the No1 Uk films for every year since 1991, but the years from 1991 to 1994 do not correlate at all with the above book's version of events, at times the no1 film on wiki is not in the top 5 in the book or vice versa. Does anyone know what source(s) wikpedia uses pre 1998 (post 1998 matches imdb as far as I can tell)?

Is the Nielsen EDI chart the direct sucessor of the Screen International one, or just the same one [Like the OCC music charts are the Rceord Retailer's charts)? Or do two rival charts still exist? And finally I see in your archive page a descrepancy between UK Chart, UK-Ireland chart and I've seen elsewhere UK-Malta chart, are these all different charts by the same or different compilers? Sorry to ask so many questions, but maybe someone could point me to a website that answers them (if such site exists). Thanks for any help recieved. "

Who knows where Wikipedia gets its numbers from :lol:

 

The UK Film Council site has great box office stats from 2001 to the present day, if you're looking for those (I mean you did ask for box office charts till the present day right?)

 

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/boxofficearchive

 

(long story on how I came to know this)

 

If you want to find pre-2001 charts, sorry I can't help and good luck.

Hiya, I posted this a while ago and it got moved to the archive before anyone saw it to reply, could I ask the mods to leave this here for a least a few days so that people might be able to help me this time. Thanks.

 

"Hiya can anyone answer a few questions about the UK Box Office Chart or me? I'm trying to compile a full list of No1s at the UK Box Office from whenever the first chart was until the latest chart.

 

I know that the current chart is compiled by Nielsen EDI (part of Rentrak) and is the one in the archives on imdb and boxoffice mojo and the archives go back to 1998, apart from a few random weeks and some earlier news stories still lurking on the bbc and elsewhere on the web.

I know that the current chart is compiled on weekend receipts (Fri- Sun or poss Fri- Mon on bank hols (or is it just the US one that does that?)). Have the charts always been weekend only in the UK or has any compiler ever done a full week chart. When did Nielsen EDI or a direct predecessor of the same chart first start publishing the weekend charts?

 

Also I ordered from amazon and recieved within 36 hrs (!amazed considering it was free delivery!) a book published by Guiness in 1995 called 'Box Office Hits' which gives all the No1s at UK Box Office since 1969 and the top 10 films at BO for each year from 1945 to 1968. The charts in the book are compiled by Screen International (or it predecessors) and I have no idea if it's a weekend or full week chart, any ideas? Also wikipedia now has articles for the No1 Uk films for every year since 1991, but the years from 1991 to 1994 do not correlate at all with the above book's version of events, at times the no1 film on wiki is not in the top 5 in the book or vice versa. Does anyone know what source(s) wikpedia uses pre 1998 (post 1998 matches imdb as far as I can tell)?

Is the Nielsen EDI chart the direct sucessor of the Screen International one, or just the same one [Like the OCC music charts are the Rceord Retailer's charts)? Or do two rival charts still exist? And finally I see in your archive page a descrepancy between UK Chart, UK-Ireland chart and I've seen elsewhere UK-Malta chart, are these all different charts by the same or different compilers? Sorry to ask so many questions, but maybe someone could point me to a website that answers them (if such site exists). Thanks for any help recieved. "

The Wikipedia #1s are not quite right, I do agree - for instance I remember from Ceefax that The Full Monty was the UK #1 film for 9/10 weeks from Sept 97 (and was advertised as such on the film posters) but Wiki does not have at #1 at all!

Thank you both for the replies. I was aware of the ukfilmcouncil archive back to 2001 which gives a top 15 where imdb only gives a top 10, however whenever I choose any particular year from the archive I only see a few weeks worth followed by a error message rather than a full year's data, so either the stie doesn't load too well on a regular dial-up broadband connection or else I'm doing something wrong?

Also I was searching the net for any reference to 'Full Monty' being a box office no 1, but found none. It did possibly become the UK's No1 for total takings, until Titanic wiped the floor with everyone else, but not sure about it being no1 in any given week of it's run in UK cinema's.

I find it really bizarre that although the box office chart shares far more info than the music charts do (eg. takings, no of screens etc), it seems nowhere online does any company want to own up to being the compiler of the charts, now or in the past, or make available any details of the rules or methods for compiling the charts. Comparing with the music charts again the web is positively awash with versions of the chart rules, personal websites all about chart rules and famous exceptions, and references to the compilers past and present as well as the OCCs site, but for the film charts not a sausage. There must have been a definitive chart before the earliest entries in the imdb database (Apr 1998), the beeb was referring to it weekly on Ceefax, but who knows what it was and whether it matches either the source of the book I mentioned covering 1945-1994, or the wikipedia lists pre 1998?