Less than half of cinemas showed A Quiet Place 2 with subtitles

• Just 41% of UK cinemas offered subtitled showings during the film’s opening week (June 3-9).
• Around half were before 6pm, with just a handful at the weekend.
• The National Deaf Children's Society said the decision was a letdown for deaf people, calling for an experience that was accessible to everyone.
• Deaf student Holly Parker, 19, said she was “angry and disappointed.”

Less than half of UK cinemas offered subtitled showings of new blockbuster A Quiet Place 2 during its opening week, new figures reveal.

The highly anticipated sequel, which sees deaf actress Millicent Simmonds return in her leading role as deaf character Regan, was captioned in just 40% of the country’s cinemas from June 3-9.

According to the UK Cinema Association, around 690 cinemas have now reopened their doors after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. However, figures from Yourlocalcinema.com show that just 277 had any subtitled showings.

The news is a huge blow to deaf fans of the franchise, especially as around half of the subtitled screenings were scheduled before 6pm, making it difficult for people in work to attend.

There were just three subtitled showings across the UK on a Friday or Saturday night, according to the figures.

The National Deaf Children's Society said that cinemas were letting down deaf customers and called for them to offer the same big screen experience to everyone.

Around 12 million people (one in six) in the UK are deaf or living with a hearing loss.

Beccy Forrow, Campaign Lead at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said:

“Deaf people are just as entitled to enjoy the thrill of the cinema as hearing people, but they’re still not being provided for.

“Half of cinemas didn’t provide any subtitled showings and those that did were unwilling to offer them at convenient times. It’s a sad yet familiar story for millions of deaf people across the UK, where subtitles are now a holy grail instead of something they can rely on.

“Cinemas have no doubt struggled during the pandemic, but increasing the number of subtitled showings could actually attract a brand new group of customers.

“There are millions of deaf cinema fans out there, so it’s time that the industry started offering the same big screen experience to everyone.”

Holly Parker, 19, is a profoundly deaf university student. She spoke of her frustration.

“It’s extremely disappointing, especially as you’d expect that they would know the huge positive impact this film could have on deaf people.

“When I went to the screening of the first A Quiet Place, it had been labelled as a subtitled screening. Even though there are very few spoken lines, we were absolutely shocked and disappointed to see halfway through the film that the screening in fact didn’t have any subtitles. We had been extremely excited to see it because of the deaf representation and to be disappointed like that was awful.

“I’m extremely let down and angry to see that the same sort of thing is happening again for the sequel. Imagine how much more disappointed all those kids will be when they can't even watch it.”

Kara Gillespie, 15, from Motherwell, Scotland said:

“A Quiet Place was the first movie I ever watched that has made me proud to be deaf. The second one was fantastic too, but I was really disappointed and frustrated when it didn’t have subtitles.

“It’s incredibly important that deaf people are shown to the world in movies and by doing so, deafness will be more normalised. To enjoy this film though, lots of deaf people like me will need subtitles.

“It’s always so difficult to find subtitled screenings, so we need cinemas to help us out and offer more of them. Otherwise, we risk being left out of trips to the cinema and missing out on the experience altogether, which just isn’t fair at all.”