Cinema of the United Kingdom

Cinema of the United Kingdom
Harry Potter statue in Leicester Square, London
No. of screens	4,264 (2017)[1]
• Per capita	7.3 per 100,000 (2017)[1]
Main distributors	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures StudioCanal Universal Pictures Pathé 20th Century Studios Entertainment One[2]
Produced feature films (2017)[3]
Total	285
Fictional	213 (74.7%)
Animated	5 (1.8%)
Documentary	66 (23.2%)
Number of admissions (2017)[4]
Total	170,600,000
• Per capita	2.9
Gross box office (2017)[5]
Total	£1.38 billion
National films	£515 million (37.4%)

Cinema of the United Kingdom
List of British films
British horror
1888–1919
1920s
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s
1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
By Country
Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
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The oldest known surviving film (from 1888) was shot in the United Kingdom as well as early colour films. While film production reached an all-time high in 1936,^[6] the "golden age" of British cinema is usually thought to have occurred in the 1940s, during which the directors David Lean,^[7] Michael Powell,^[8] and Carol Reed^[9] produced their most critically acclaimed works. Many British actors have accrued critical success and worldwide recognition, such as Audrey Hepburn, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Glynis Johns, Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine,^[10] Sean Connery,^[11] Ian Mckellen, Joan Collins, Judi Dench, Julie Andrews, Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Peter O’Toole and Kate Winslet.^[12] Some of the films with the largest ever box office returns have been made in the United Kingdom, including the fourth and fifth highest-grossing film franchises (Harry Potter and James Bond).^[13]

The identity of the British film industry, particularly as it relates to Hollywood, has often been the subject of debate. Its history has often been affected by attempts to compete with the American industry. The career of the producer Alexander Korda was marked by this objective, the Rank Organisation attempted to do so in the 1940s, and Goldcrest in the 1980s. Numerous British-born directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott,^[14] and performers, such as Charlie Chaplin^[15] and Cary Grant, have achieved success primarily through their work in the United States.

In 2009, British films grossed around $2 billion worldwide and achieved a market share of around 7% globally and 17% in the United Kingdom.^[16] UK box-office takings totalled £1.1 billion in 2012,^[17] with 172.5 million admissions.^[18]

The British Film Institute has produced a poll ranking what they consider to be the 100 greatest British films of all time, the BFI Top 100 British films.^[19] The annual BAFTA Awards hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts are considered to be the British equivalent of the Academy Awards.^[20]