Sean Perkins: The Stats Yearbook
Add a Comment July 25, 2008 | 3 comments
I'm Sean Perkins, Research Executive at the UK Film Council, and for the last six years I've been involved in the production of the Research and Statistics Unit's annual Statistical Yearbook, which presents a comprehensive overview of film in the UK and UK film around the world.
Some really interesting things emerged in 2007.
Whether at the cinema, on TV, online or via mobile devices, there are more ways than ever before to watch film. For the first time, we have estimated the total audience for film in the UK, combining all elements of audience data from the film value chain. In 2007, the total audience for film in the UK was 4.3 billion, which represents around 78 film-viewing occasions per person per year. Clearly, film continues to have a major impact on British cultural life.
British films did well both domestically and internationally in 2007. The UK film share of the UK box office increased to 29% (from 19% in 2006) with strong performances across a range of genre.
UK films were seen by huge audiences around the world. The UK film share of global cinema takings increased to 12%, or US$3.3 billion, equal to approximately 700 million admissions.
There are many other interesting insights into the state of our industry and you can find them all in the web version of the Yearbook.
A few questions have been raised about what exactly constitutes a British film? The British Film Commissioner has made the case very succinctly in a letter to the Times.
But for those of you interested in a bit more detail, since our first Yearbook in 2002/03 we have consistently applied the legal definition of a UK film i.e. one which qualifies as an official co-production (either through the European Convention or through one of the bilateral co-production treaties) or as a Schedule 1 film (now via the Cultural test). We also classify as UK the small number of domestic films which do not apply for certification but are clearly British.
On the inward investment side, the Harry Potter franchise is defined as a UK/USA collaboration, with finance from Warner Bros but with British source material, characters, studio facilities, locations, post production, cast and crew. Perhaps it's easy to regard these collaborations as a recent product of globalisation, but this is a well-established relationship: MGM Studios invested heavily in British production in the 1930s, and quintessentially British films such as Goodbye, Mr Chips and The Citadel were products of that collaboration. Similarly, David Lean's epics Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia were financed by Columbia.
The positive news is that these statistics reveal the strength of cinemagoing in the UK, the huge amount of talent both in front of and behind the camera and the status of the UK as hub for global film production.
On behalf of RSU, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our data suppliers for allowing us to publish the statistical results. We hope you find the Yearbook useful and we welcome feedback so if you have any comments or suggestions then feel free to contribute below.
Although the Yearbook is our main publication we also produce updates and reports on our website throughout the year. Production data, theatrical data and recent project findings are updated in our Statistical Bulletins (published twice yearly in March and September) and you can also find weekly box office reports online.
We also provide research data and market intelligence to anyone with an interest in UK film or film in the UK via our enquiry service. RSU also contributes monthly articles to Cinema Business magazine.
Comments / Responses
Nice
Gintaras | October 9, 2008 @ 20:02Very nice article
Best site
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Increase of film accessibility
Film Fatale | November 12, 2008 @ 16:26