Posted in: Movies | Tagged: A Minecraft Movie, Comscore, smurfs, UKCA

UKCA Data: "You Don't Need To Bother Making A Good Film For Kids"

"You Don't Need To Bother Making A Good Film For Kids" because of the massive appetite for family movies, according to newly released UK cinema statistics

Published Tue, 09 Jun 2026 10:47:18 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

ComScore cinema statistics suggest Film For Kids success depends more on family demand than on critical quality.
The Smurfs and A Minecraft Movie earned near-identical ratings from kids, despite very different review scores.
With too few family releases in cinemas, many Film For Kids titles can count on a built-in audience.
Predator: Badlands was loved by kids but underperformed, showing audiences must know a film is for families.

Lucy Jones of the statistical body ComScore has just given a presentation to the United Kingdom Cinema Association (UKCA), which has been giving some candid assessments of last year's box office in Great Britain. How studios and cinemas failed certain films that had high ratings, but not the box office to match. And how Predator: Badlands was the film most loved by kids, but that didn't get the audience it deserved. Especially given the paucity of kids' films, and the fact that quality doesn't seem to be a factor in their success.

And she brought up two examples from 2025, The Smurfs and A Minecraft Movie. The Smurfs got poor reviews, A Minecraft Movie got good ones. But when you asked the kids? They both "got pretty much identical ratings from kids. About 50% of kids said they thought it was great. So, I guess the upshot is you don't need to bother making a good film for kids. There is just a massive appetite from families to go to the cinema. They really want to go. There's never enough kids films. And there is a kind of guaranteed audience for a lot of these films."

That is, of course, if people realise that a film is a kids' film, or a family film. As with Predator: Badlands, they really didn't. I can attest to kids loving terrible films as much as good ones, though. I remember my young ones bullying the wife and me to take them to see The Emoji Movie when they were very young. I stood it for five minutes, then ducked out to see Atomic Blonde in the neighbouring screen instead. My wife has never forgiven me for this. And The Emoji Movie got the ticket money.