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Story by Jack Foley |
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PETER Parker, James Bond, Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins have all helped
to ensure that 2002 was a very good year at the UK Box Office, with early
figures showing a 10% rise in ticket sales on 2001, according to Screen Daily.
The cinema admissions boost comes just months after the UK Film Industry also
announced an upturn in overseas investment and proves that the UK is slowly
beginning to emerge from the low of 2001, caused by the foot-and-mouth crisis
and September 11.
It also bucks the European trend, as France, Italy and Germany have all seen
a decline in ticket sales over the past 12 months.
Sales in the UK, however, have rocketed from 156 million in 2001 to 176 million
last year - 20 million more that last year, and two million more than industry
experts had predicted following a promising start to the year.
The large number of Hollwyood blockbusters is viewed by many as the reason
for the success, with the likes of Star
Wars: Attack of the Clones, Minority
Report and Ocean's Eleven also
helping to set the cash registers ringing, as well as the year's highest-grossers,
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and
Spider-Man.
In fact, Spider-Man helped cinemas record the highest figures for June since
1972, despite the World Cup taking place at the same time.
The total gross sales for UK of $1.2bn (£750m) make it the largest market,
with Germany second at $977m (£611m).
RELATED STORIES: Foreign film investment soars in 2002. Click here
for story...
Click here for details of the collapse
of Film Four...
Click here for Lord Puttnam's views on
the UK film industry...
