Brit films sweep UK box office

Updated 14.02 Tue Nov 13 2007

Keywords: Transformers, Simpsons, Harry Potter, British films

Hot Fuzz and the latest Harry Potter movie are just some of the homegrown flicks which boosted UK box office takings this year.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the biggest domestic movie of the year, grossing £49.2 million.

The market share for British films so far is 27 per cent, up 19 per cent on 2006

According to new figures from the UK Film Council, the market share for British films so far is 27 per cent, up 19 per cent on 2006.

Meanwhile, cinema attendance this year was almost 117 million by the end of August, a rise of 12 per cent on the same period last year.

July was the biggest month for cinema-going since January 1970, with 21.8 million tickets sold.

The last weekend of that month was also the highest grossing weekend in UK cinema history, with the release of The Simpsons movie and Transformers boosting box office takings.

John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council, said: "It's been a strong half year of consolidation for film production in the UK.

"Currently, domestic films are steady and we've had strong inward investment from the US again this year. When you couple that with the incredibly strong box office for British films, you can see that the underlying trends are healthy."