Child wizards, Greek warriors and a green ogre helped boost UK and Ireland box-office sales by 11% in the first eight months of the year, according to figures published today.
A total of £576m was taken at box offices in the UK and Ireland between January and the end of August, with Shrek 2 and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban the most popular films.
A better crop of blockbusters than last year, coupled with the wettest summer for nearly half a century, sent British audiences flocking back into the cinema after a poor year in 2003.
Figures from the UK Film Council's mid-year review show that cinema visits rose 10% to 117.4m trips. Big-budget sequels such as Spider-Man 2 and Shrek 2 helped draw in the summer crowds. In July, cinemagoers made 18.4m trips, while in August there were 17.4m visits.
The figures suggest that 2004 could present a bumper harvest for film-makers. Last year the combination of good weather, cheap air fares and a rather paltry selection of films left the box-office total for the year at £742m, a fall of £13m on 2002, when cinema attendance hit a 30-year high.
"Cinema-going remains one of the most popular forms of entertainment in this country," said the UK Film Council's chief executive, John Woodward. "The summer months in particular proved to be a sizzler."
London remains the most popular cinema-going city, accounting for a quarter of all tickets sold in the first eight months of 2004.
Among the top UK films, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Troy headed the list. Both were funded by Warner Bros but qualify as British because they were largely shot and edited in the UK.
Despite its critical mauling, King Arthur, the swords-and-sorcery epic starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley which was shot extensively in Ireland, came in at number three.
The low-budget romantic comedy with zombies, Shaun of the Dead, however, proved a hit with critics and audiences. The film, starring and co-written by Simon Pegg, came in at number four.
Tim Willis, head of film at Pact, the trade body for independent producers, said the funding environment for independent film-makers was "extremely tough" but the investment from Hollywood studios in production infrastruc ture was vital. "The inward investment that these films generate, and the economic multiplier effect of that, is huge. It is something that everyone would welcome."
The number of UK films shown on British terrestrial television, a statistic closely watched by the Film Council, increased by 51%. However, it said UK films represented 4.5% of all films shown.
"While it's encouraging to see an increase in the number of recent British films shown on television, it's a small im provement on a low base. The proportion of recent British films on television overall remains low. Decisive action is needed by broadcasters in the investment in and depiction of British films," said John Woodward, chief executive of the Film Council.
Pact wants the BBC to commit at least 50% of its £73m acquisitions budget to British films. The corporation spent less than £10m on British features in 2003-04, according to research commissioned by Pact.
