Wizard time for Brit film industry
Wizard time for Brit film industry
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Age: 18
Position: Forward
Country: Argentina
Caps: 6
Goals: 1
Club: Barcelona
Former clubs: Gr |  |
Tuesday, 23, May 2006 08:39
Films made in the UK enjoyed their highest proportion of global box office takings ever in 2005, with Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire top of the class.
New figures from the Film Council show that over the last 12 months, British-made and part-UK financed movies earned $2,599 million (£1,380 million) in cinema ticket sales, twice the amount recorded in 2003.
The latest adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter contributed $808 million (£430 million) to the total figure, with other popular literary adaptations Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also making the top ten.
Speaking the Cannes film festival, culture secretary Tessa Jowell said she the success of UK-produced films was a "fantastic story" in its own right.
However, although it was a bumper year for films financed by both the US and Britain, with a market share of 15.8 per cent in terms of box office takings, movies produced exclusively in the UK had a ticket sales proportion of just 0.8 per cent.
Ms Jowell claimed that the introduction of a simplified tax credit system in late 2006 would allow more films to be produced and financed solely in the UK.
Meanwhile, despite scoring the second highest ever opening weekend at the worldwide box office, controversial Hollywood film The Da Vinci Code failed achieve the same resonance with British cinemagoers, taking a still respectable £9.5 million in its opening three days, making it the 15th highest UK film opening in history.
