UK box office takings up by 50%

UK box offices have taken £1.65 billion worldwide, up a massive 50 per cent since last year.

According to recent figures, the UK Film Council said the last decade has also seen a 50 per cent increase in UK box office takings while last July was the biggest single month of cinema-going in Britain for almost 40 years.

The Council put it down to the popularity of Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, The Simpsons Movie and Transformers.

UK films accounted for 29 per cent of the total UK box office, up from 19 per cent in 2006.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix was the biggest film of the year at the UK box office, earning more than £49 million. Other big British hits included Atonement, Hot Fuzz and Mr Bean's Holiday.

In total, the 20 biggest UK films grossed £244 million at the UK box office in 2007, an increase of 62 per cent on 2006 when it was £151 million.

Internationally, UK films took £1.65bn worldwide, equal to 700 million admissions across the globe and an increase of 50 per cent on 2006's figure of £1.1bn.

John Woodward, chief executive officer of the UK Film Council said: "These statistics show that in the UK we make films in every genre from comedy to fantasy to thrillers.

"The real success story of UK film is that we not only make big budget films like Harry Potter but we also make hugely successful smaller, independent films such as Control and This is England.

"What's more if we look ahead, despite the tough economic outlook, everyone is optimistic about what the box office will look like at the end of this year."

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