2010 – the year in review
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the peak of British cinema-going, when an astonishing 1.6 billion tickets were sold – the equivalent of approximately 36 cinema visits per person per year. Of course, back in 1946 the cinema was the only place in which the British public could watch feature films. Television was still in its infancy (the limited London service was re-introduced that year following its wartime hiatus) and the first trials of videotape recording at the BBC was another six years away. Both television and the VCR had a huge impact on cinema-going in the years that followed, and yet, as this Yearbook shows, our appetite for film has not diminished – in fact, it has increased.
In terms of home entertainment, sell-through DVD and Blu-ray represented the largest single revenue source for film in the UK market, worth £1.3 billion in 2010, although sales of film on video were down 11% on 2009 and Blu-ray has yet to meet expectations. Major shifts in home film consumption are likely with the increased uptake of internet-enabled television unlocking the potential for direct online delivery of films to the television set. The vast majority of film viewings (80%) in 2010 were via television and combining the most popular film viewing medium with direct access to on-demand services will surely be the long-awaited catalyst for Video on Demand.
In 2010, we watched feature films on 4.6 billion occasions, that’s around 81 films per person. We now inhabit a far more complex multi-platform world of digital film consumption and we can experience film through DVD, Blu-ray, on free-to-air and pay television, online, on mobile devices and of course at the cinema, which remains the crucial first step in the lifecycle of a film.
The UK is the third largest film market in the world and the industry makes a substantial contribution to GDP. In 2009, the UK film trade surplus was a record £929 million as the industry exported £1,476 million worth of services, of which £935 million came from royalties and £541 million from film production services. The film and video industries employed 48,500 people in 2010, of whom 30,500 worked in film and video production.
UK cinemas had another strong year, achieving record box office receipts (£988 million) despite the impact of the FIFA World Cup in the summer and the winter’s big freeze. As in 2009, a 3D release led the way with Toy Story 3 becoming the second highest grossing film of all time at the UK box office with earnings of £74 million. UK films attracted a 24% share of the box office, up from 17% in 2009. The audience demand for UK film was evident across the range of platforms. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was the second highest grossing film of the year while independent UK films StreetDance 3D and Kick-Ass both earned over £11 million. Christopher Nolan’s Inception featured in the top 10 box office and video charts while six of the top 10 films on terrestrial television were UK titles, including Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.
It was a record year for inward investment in the UK, with Captain America: The First Avenger, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Sherlock Holmes 2, War Horse and X-Men: First Class shooting here. However, the value of domestic production fell by 22% reflecting the tougher economic conditions facing the independent UK production sector. We have seen a large fall in the median budget of UK films (to £1.2 million for interim Cultural Test certifications) so this year we have extended production tracking to include feature films with budgets under £500,000. This has revealed a huge amount of activity (147 films in 2010 alone) which not only reflects the pressure on budgets but also the impact of digital filmmaking and the wider value of these films in nurturing the filmmaking talent of the future.
UK films’ share of the UK box office
UK box office
£988m 6 – BFI Statistical Yearbook 2011
24%
Public investment, through the Film Tax Relief, Lottery support and broadcasters is of vital importance here – 15 of the top 20 independent films of all time at the UK box office received public money through the Lottery or a broadcaster. Public funding for the UK film sector increased slightly in 2009/10 to £266 million from £256 million the previous year. Within this total, tax relief for UK film production again made the single biggest contribution, at £95 million. Last year we included information for the first time on an increasingly important film activity supported by public investment, film education. There were over 7,000 candidates for A Level film studies in 2010 (up from 6,674 in 2009) and 4,252 students enrolled in higher education film studies courses (up from 3,815 in 2009). By the end of the year there were 6,612 school film clubs across the UK involving 204,972 pupils (up from 2,978 and 92,000 respectively in 2009) and 392 moving image education providers (up from 355 in 2009). The growing reach of film education means more children and young people have an opportunity to watch a wide range of film – encouraging learning, critical understanding and stimulating creativity.
Regular readers of the Statistical Yearbook will notice some additions this year: • A 10-year analysis of market share by country of origin (Chapter 1); • An updated analysis of the theatrical release history and international box office performance of UK films (Chapter 8); • Findings from a major survey of film audiences (Chapters 13 and 15); • New research on low and micro-budget feature film production activity in the UK (Chapter 17). We welcome feedback on the Yearbook and we thank those who gave us their ideas in 2010/11. We can be contacted at rsu@bfi.org.uk. Sean Perkins Acting Head of Research and Statistics Unit Nick Maine Research Executive Stéphanie Little Research and Database Executive
UK filmmaking has an impressive global profile, taking our culture and identity to the world. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 earned almost $1 billion at the worldwide box office in 2010 with Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass the highest grossing independent title. Films based on UK story material have earned almost $20 billion at the global box office since 2001 and more than half of the top 200 films released worldwide since 2001 have featured UK actors in lead or prominent supporting roles. Of course, another measure of a film’s impact beyond the box office is success at major international film festival and award ceremonies. UK films and talent won 24 major film awards in 2010 including Academy Awards® for Sandy Powell (Costume Design for The Young Victoria) and Ray Beckett (Sound Mixing for The Hurt Locker). The King’s Speech won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2010, the first major recognition for a film which in 2011 would gross £45 million in the UK, £256 million worldwide and win seven BAFTA Awards and four Oscars®.
2009 UK film trade surplus
£929m 2010 – the year in review – 7