From Lockdown to Rock-down

FILM fans might currently not be able to enjoy big screen blockbusters during lockdown but they’re certain about which movie legend would help make social isolation a bit more bearable.

Cinemagoers from the South-east would choose Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, as their favourite lockdown partner, according to a study by Showcase Cinemas.

In a nationwide poll, Showcase fans in the South-east chose The Rock – star of Jumanji and Fast & Furious – as the big screen celebrity who they’d most like to be locked down with.

Johnson pipped Chris Hemsworth – famous for playing Thor in The Avengers movie franchise – to the title in a closely fought contest between two of the big screen’s biggest stars.

Men In Black and Independence Day star Will Smith came third in the poll, closely followed by Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lawrence (who both polled 11%).

Twice as many film fans would rather spend lockdown with a funny actor or actress (32%) than a physically attractive actor or actress (15%), the study reveals. While men mostly voted to spend their lockdown with a physically attractive movie star (22.5%), women overwhelmingly opted to spend it with a funny actor (42%).

UK film fans can’t wait to start going to the cinema again, with a quarter of the 2,000 UK adults polled saying they will visit the cinema to get their movie fix within 7 days of cinemas opening after the lockdown. A further 27% say they will be back munching popcorn and watching their favourite movie on the big screen within a month.

Indeed, more than a third (36%) of the nation lists visiting the cinema as one of its most missed activities during lockdown.

Seeing family (61%), going out with friends (56%) and travelling (47%) are the top three things most missed by Brits forced to socially isolate during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Showcase survey.

Mark Barlow, UK General Manager for Showcase Cinemas said: “It’s a difficult time for the whole nation during this pandemic. People are missing seeing family and friends but also much that we’ve always taken for granted like countryside drives, the gym and meals out.

“They’re also missing the cinema. And we can’t wait to welcome them all back to Showcase as soon as we are able to.

“The new James Bond movie – No Time To Die – is the one movie Brits really want to see. Around 47% of those polled listed it as the one movie they really want to see when lockdown is over.”

One in 10 Londoners will visit the cinema on the first day after lockdown ends with a further 23% saying they will visit the cinema more after lockdown than they did previously.

In East Anglia, the movie star most want to spend lockdown with is Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp. But in the East Midlands, they want to be locked down with Will Smith.

In the North-west, film fans want Chris Hemsworth to keep them company during lockdown but in Scotland, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is the lockdown star most would want to be cooped up with.

People in Yorkshire say they miss watching their movies on the huge screen more than anything else about the cinema. A third of film fans in Wales will visit the cinema to watch a blockbuster within two weeks of lockdown being over, while in the South-west more people are missing going out with their friends (60%) than are missing seeing their family (56%) during lockdown.

THE TOP 10 FILM STARS UK WANTS TO BE LOCKED DOWN WITH