Production Starts Surge 83%

The April edition of the Sohonet Screen Production Index confirms that March was one of the strongest months for scripted production starts in years, with new productions entering principal photography up 83% on March 2025 and up 12% on March 2022, the industry's peak reference point. For the full Q1, the count came in 40% ahead of Q1 2025. The picture emerging for the rest of 2026 is increasingly optimistic.

An Imbalanced Quarter

Q1 2026 was a strong quarter overall, but it was unevenly distributed. A full 51% of the quarter's production count fell in March alone, highly unusual compared to historical norms (39% in Q1 2025, 35% in 2024, 29% in 2022). January and February both came in below the monthly average despite outperforming their 2025 comparators, with a number of productions that had been expected in February pushing their start dates into March.

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Two Stories Worth Watching

The US secured 46% of new productions tracked in March, up from 35% in February, with California accounting for 46% of domestic starts at its highest quarterly value since Q3 2022 - a potential early indicator of geographical rebalancing back toward the state. The UK, by contrast, continues to underperform after a strong 2025, with Q1 starts weak both in absolute terms and relative to other geographies. A string of XL tentpole projects are expected in the coming months, and our next Focus report will explore whether this represents a temporary lull or something more structural.

At the studio level, Paramount/Skydance posted its biggest single month in terms of budget since before the 2023 strikes, contributing to the studio's biggest quarter since Q3 2022 - though its forward pipeline for the remainder of 2026 looks comparatively light, possibly reflecting caution around the pending WBD transaction.

Some Good News …

Our smoothed budget measure rose 8% in March, reversing February's unexpected dip and coming in 12% ahead of March 2025. Our expectation is that this figure will grow throughout H1 2026 and likely through to Q3 - and with our incomplete 2026 slate already showing 7% more XL productions than tracked across the entirety of 2025, the forward pipeline supports that view. Q2 is currently predicted 38% ahead of Q2 2025 and just 12% below the Q2 2022 peak. All of our available indicators point to 2026 being a significantly better year than 2025.

The Sohonet Screen Production Index tracks scripted, live-action productions entering principal photography each month from major studios and production companies across the US, UK, and Canada. A free two-page Snapshot is published monthly; the full Insight report, including regional breakdowns, studio analysis, and forward pipeline data, is available by subscription.

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[Learn more about the Screen Production Index]

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