Nostalgia rules as 80’s stars dominate UK screens this summer

Today, the British Association for Screen Entertainment & the Official Charts Company can reveal the top-selling DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD & Digital Download releases across June and July feature stars of the 1980’s and 90’s.

After Kate Bush (63) claimed Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart back in June with her 1985 release Running Up That Hill, recent weeks have seen the prestigious Number 1 spot on The Official Film Chart claimed by the likes of Tom Cruise original Top Gun; Sandra Bullock starring rom-com action-adventure The Lost City; and family favourite video-game sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2, starring Jim Carrey.

The success of these titles is great news for older audiences, who are returning to the cinema post-pandemic, as nostalgia rules the big and small screen.

Tom Cruise, who turned 60 last week, stars in the original 1986 fighter-jet epic, Top Gun, which has seen an explosion in popularity with the release of its phenomenally successful big screen sequel Top Gun: Maverick. The sequel has now grossed over £70m at the UK Box Office, as film fans took the original 1980’s hit to number one for three weeks in June.

Currently the UK’s Number 1 film, Sandra Bullock (57) leads an all-star cast in the comedy-adventure The Lost City, which featured Brad Pitt (58) and Channing Tatum (41) in the jungle-adventure nod to 80’s classic Romancing the Stone. The Lost City was also co-produced by Bullock’s production company, Fortis Films, and claimed the Number 1 spot last week.

MORE: View the latest Official Film Chart Top 40 in full

Meanwhile, comedy heavyweight Jim Carrey (60) stars in the adventure-comedy Sonic the Hedgehog 2, giving a dastardly performance of villain Doctor Robotnik from the incredibly popular video game that first launched in 1991.

Across the pond, Yellowstone, the most-watched cable TV show in America last year, is led by Kevin Costner (67), star of 1980’s favourite Field of Dreams, among others. The neo-Western is currently in its fourth season and a flagship of the recent Paramount+ launch in the UK last month.

And while the biggest film of the year so far on the Official Film Chart shows Tom Holland-starrer ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ dominating 2022 at the mid-way point, cinema legends Keanu Reeves and Daniel Craig represent for the older generation once again in The Matrix Resurrections and No Time To Die respectively.

Liz Bales, Chief Executive of the British Association for Screen Entertainment, said, “As we’ve witnessed across 2022, the renaissance of home entertainment continues. The success of these films demonstrates that there really is something for everyone for those at home for sofa movie nights.

"The brilliant thing about the nostalgia we are currently seeing for the 80’s and 90s’, whether it’s the original Top Gun hitting and keeping the top spot in the chart for 3 weeks, or Stranger Things season 4 on Netflix with its iconic Kate Bush soundtrack, is that the breadth of titles available across the Home Entertainment landscape in all formats opens up the original films to the fans that loved them the first time, and to new audiences, too.”