Daniel Craig in Skyfall. The 007 flick helped UK film takings in 2012 but a lack of big-hitting movies hurt takings last year.

Research company Rentrak attributes 1% fall in revenues to lack of 'big hitter' such as a James Bond or Harry Potter movie

The absence of James Bond from British cinema screens saw UK and Republic of Ireland box office takings in 2013 fall by the largest amount in more than 20 years. Studios failed to produce a hit on the scale of Skyfall, 007's 2012 outing, with cinemas taking £1.17bn in 2013, down 1% on the previous year. It is the biggest dip since research company Rentrak began tracking box office returns in 1991.

Rentrak blamed the drop on the lack of a "big hitter" such as Skyfall, which with takings of £100m was the UK's highest-grossing film ever. This year's biggest movies were animated sequel Despicable Me 2, which took £47.2m, Les Misérables (£40.8m), and Iron Man 3 (£37.2m). The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (£34m) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (£32.5m) rounded out the top five.

Lucy Jones of Rentrak said 2013 had been a strong year at the box office, but nothing had matched Skyfall's appeal for an audience beyond the usual teenage cinema-goer. "Something like Skyfall is a phenomenon because it makes older people go. It makes people go who haven't been to the cinema in five years," she said.

"We had a similar situation in 2011 with The King's Speech, when older audiences were motivated to go to the cinema, many for the first time in years. And in 2013 we just had the kind of films we normally have. We had family films and animation and action films, but we didn't have one that captured that audience who don't normally go."

Jones said that cinemas this year could expect audiences for "known products" such as Godzilla, although she did not foresee anything in the Skyfall league. "We have no more Harry Potter, we have no more Twilight, we don't have a Bond this year, so obviously there will be some films that take us by surprise."

Despite the growing popularity of downloading films at home and "bingeing on box sets", people continue to go to the cinema, she said: "It is social … and it is still a cheap night out."