UK cinema attendances 'on the up'

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the top-grossing UK film

The number of people going to UK cinemas rose by 4% in 2007, after two years which saw attendances decline, the UK Film Council has said.

A total of 162 million tickets were sold at the box office last year.

Around the world in 2007, British films generated �1.65bn ($3.3bn) in cinemas - up by 50% on a year earlier.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the top-grossing British production, followed by The Bourne Ultimatum and The Golden Compass.

In the UK itself, seven of the top 20 films at the box office were home-grown.

And more revenue was generated in British cinemas in July 2007 than in any other month in the past 40 years.

TOP 10 UK FILMS WORLDWIDE Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (UK/US) - worldwide gross of �470m ($937m) The Bourne Ultimatum(UK/US) - �222m ($442m) The Golden Compass (UK/US) - �127m ($254m) Mr Bean's Holiday - �113m ($226m) Stardust (UK/US) - �67m ($134m) 1408 - (UK/US) �61m ($122m) Casino Royale (UK/US/CZE) - �50m ($99m) Fred Claus (UK/US) - �48m ($96m) Hot Fuzz (UK) - �41m ($81m) Hannibal Rising (UK/FR/IT) - �41m ($81m) Source: Variety

The council's figures suggested comedy was the most popular genre, with a 22% share of UK box office takings.

The top films with women were Hairspray, Miss Potter and Enchanted, while 300, Transformers and Die Hard 4.0 were the favourites among men.

And 60% of the British population went to the cinema at least once in 2007, with almost 20% seeing at least one film a month last year.

"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 indie films such as Control and This is England," said John Woodward, the council's chief executive.

And he was optimistic about the ability of the cinema to overcome the current economic downturn, saying film "really does seem to win through in tougher times".

But the future was "not without challenges", he added.

"Winning film investment is going to be tough with the fallout from the US writers' strike and the looming actors' strike, while the threat of film piracy looms larger as broadband download speeds become faster."

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