CatVideoFest UK & Ireland: a live test, not a proven result.

CatVideoFest is a 70-minute compilation programme of cat videos, released as a cinema event rather than as part of the normal release calendar. It is distributed in the United States by Oscilloscope Pictures (Oscilloscope Laboratories). A UK and Ireland cinema release is scheduled for October 2026, with more than 60 cinemas currently confirmed.

The release model attaches a local charity element to each screening, alongside shared marketing assets and a public cinema-finder so audiences can locate a participating venue. Certification for the UK release is with the BBFC and the certificate has not yet been issued.

The interest for operators is structural rather than thematic. It is a short, flexible, family-friendly booking that can sit outside the normal calendar; it gives a local charity a practical role in promoting a screening rather than a passive donation; and it comes with ready-made creative and a shareable digital layer, including cinema-specific pages.

These are all things a cinema could test with other titles. CatVideoFest is a convenient vehicle for testing them together, at low programming risk.

There is measured evidence from the United States. It indicates audience appeal and cinema uptake in that market. It is US performance, not UK or Ireland evidence, and it does not demonstrate demand in the UK or Ireland.

• Domestic US box office: approximately $942,186.
• Worldwide box office: approximately $1.10m.
• Opening weekend: approximately $568,414.
• Opening / widest release: 255 theatres.
• Running time: 70 minutes.
• US distributor: Oscilloscope Pictures / Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Figures as reported by The Numbers and Box Office Mojo, reviewed 1 September 2026. Box office totals are revised over time.

The UK and Ireland project is a live test. The questions it is set up to examine are:

• Whether a short, low-risk event booking can attract an audience outside the normal release calendar.
• Whether a local charity partner materially widens promotional reach compared with cinema channels alone.
• Whether cinema-specific landing pages and a public cinema-finder measurably help audiences convert.
• Whether playful digital engagement produces sharing that reaches new households.
• Whether the model is repeatable for other event titles.

None of these questions has an answer yet. Nothing on this page should be read as a claim about UK or Ireland admissions, funds raised, conversion, repeat visits or audience growth.

The standard model pairs each participating site with a local cat or animal charity, with a share of net box office from ticket sales going to that partner, or a site-specific agreed equivalent where one has already been arranged. Larger circuits may operate on different commercial terms with an equivalent charitable element.

The intent is that the charity has a reason to promote the screening to its own supporters, which is a different mechanism from a donation made after the fact. Charity partners are still being confirmed site by site, and ticket links are not live everywhere.

After the October 2026 release we intend to report, where the data is available and reliable:

• Number of participating UK and Ireland sites that actually played the title.
• Admissions and box office by site, against a stated comparison or baseline.
• Funds raised for local charity partners.
• Traffic and conversion from the cinema-finder and cinema-specific pages.
• What operators reported qualitatively, labelled as reported rather than measured.

If the results are weak or inconclusive, we will publish that. If a measure turns out not to be reliably collectable, we will say so rather than substitute a proxy.

CatVideoFest UK & Ireland is being supported by Action Marketing Works Ltd, which also operates Cinemas in Action.

This page is published in the Live Projects section and is deliberately kept out of Explore Ideas. It carries no evidence label, because our evidence labels describe assessed third-party initiatives. Should we later publish an assessed write-up of this project, it will carry the disclosure and an evidence label reflecting what was actually measured.