Hollywood-backed U.K. films repped 10% of world’s box office

LONDON — Pics produced in the U.K. took an 11.4% share of the global box office last year, the lowest since 2009, according to figures just released by the British Film Institute.

B.O. revenue for British films in 2013 totaled $4.1 billion compared with $5.3 billion in 2012, which repped a 15.3% share.

As in past years, the vast majority of the B.O. revenue was generated by U.K. films that were wholly or partly financed by U.S. studios, but featured U.K. cast, crew, locations, facilities, post-production and often U.K. source material. These U.S. studio-backed U.K. films repped 9.8% of the global box office, which compared with 13.4% in 2012. Nevertheless, the 2013 tally is still an impressive figure, and testament to the allure of U.K. facilities, crews and tax credit for Hollywood producers.

Independent British films took a 1.6% share of global B.O. in 2013 compared with 1.8% in 2012.

The highest earning pic at the global B.O. to qualify as British was “Fast & Furious 6” with $789 million, followed by “Gravity” with $708 million, and “Thor: The Dark World” with $641 million.

The highest grossing independent U.K. film was “Red 2” with $148 million, followed by “Rush” with $90 million, and “Philomena” with $89 million.

U.K. films had an 11.9% share of the market in U.S./Canada, 5.7% in Japan, 11% in Korea, 9.9% in France, 9.6% in Germany, and 14.6% in Australia.

Leo Barraclough – Variety – MARCH 21, 2014