The UK box office earned £1.076 billion in 2010, up 2% from 2009. Toy Story 3 was the highest grossing film of the year, making almost £74 million. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One was the second highest grossing film with over £50 million. Overall, 3D films accounted for 24% of market share in 2010, up from 16% in 2009, with Toy Story 3 earning 72% of its total gross from 3D screens.

1. The UK box office in 2010
UK Film Council Research and Statistics Unit
20 January 2011
The UK and Republic of Ireland gross box office was £1,076.6 million in 2010, up 2% on
2009. Toy Story 3 became the second highest grossing film of all time behind Avatar with
earnings of almost £74 million. The penultimate film in the Harry Potter series, Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One was in second place with a gross box office of
just over £50m. Tim Burton's 3D Alice in Wonderland earned over £42 million while
Christopher Nolan's Inception grossed almost £36 million. Shrek Forever After was one of
three 3D films in the top five and one of eight in the top 20. There were ten sequels and
franchise instalments in the top 20.
Table 1: Top 20 films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland, 2010
Title Country Box office Distributor
of origin Gross
(£m)
1 Toy Story 3 USA 73.79 Walt Disney
Studios
2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One* UK/USA 50.64 Warner Bros
3 Alice in Wonderland USA 42.54 Walt Disney
Studios
4 Inception UK/USA 35.80 Warner Bros
5 Shrek Forever After USA 32.31 Paramount
6 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse USA/Can 29.75 eOne Films
7 Sex and the City 2 USA 21.65 Warner Bros
8 Iron Man 2 USA 21.18 Paramount
9 Clash of the Titans UK/USA 20.20 Warner Bros
10 Despicable Me* USA 19.86 Universal Pictures
11 How to Train Your Dragon USA 17.26 Paramount
12 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang UK/USA 16.53 Universal Pictures
13 Robin Hood UK/USA 15.44 Universal Pictures
14 Little Fockers* USA 15.28 Paramount
15 Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn UK/USA 13.04 20th Century Fox
Treader*
16 The Karate Kid USA 12.38 Sony Pictures
17 Streetdance 3D UK 11.62 Vertigo Films
18 Kick-Ass UK/USA 11.60 Universal Pictures
19 The Princess and the Frog USA 11.14 Walt Disney
Studios
20 Paranormal Activity 2 USA 11.01 Paramount
Source: Rentrak EDI
Box office gross = cumulative gross up to 9 January 2011.
Films with an asterisk (*) were still being exhibited on 9 January 2011.
UK and Republic of Ireland are a single “territory” for film distribution purposes.
1

2. A total of 28 3D films were released in 2010 grossing £237.4m - a 24% market share, up
from 16% in 2009. The top 3D release in 2010 was Toy Story 3 which earned 72% of its
total gross in 3D. The first UK produced 3D film, Streetdance 3D grossed £11m from 3D
screens, 95% of its total revenue. Four of the top ten 3D films were animated titles.
Table 2: Top 10 3D releases, 2010
Title 3D gross Total 3D as Number Distributor
(£m) gross % of of 3D
(£m) gross sites
1 Toy Story 3 53.3 73.8 72 409 Walt Disney
Studios
2 Alice in Wonderland 32.2 42.5 76 337 Walt Disney
Studios
3 Shrek Forever After 21.5 32.3 67 404 Paramount
4 Clash of the Titans 15.6 20.2 77 339 Warner Bros
5 Despicable Me* 14.2 19.9 71 412 Universal
Pictures
6 How to Train your Dragon 12.4 17.3 72 324 Paramount
7 Streetdance 3D 11.0 11.6 95 345 Vertigo Films
8 The Chronicles of Narnia: The 8.8 13.0 68 351 20th Century
Voyage of the Dawn Treader* Fox
9 Saw 3D 8.2 8.2 100 383 Lions Gate
10 Gulliver's Travels* 7.4 10.9 68 375 20th Century
Fox
Source: Rentrak EDI
Box office gross = cumulative gross to 9 January 2011.
Films with an asterisk (*) were still being exhibited on 9 January 2011.
Note: the 3D figures do not include IMAX screenings, although IMAX revenues contribute to the total gross.
Table 3 shows the top 10 independent UK films released in 2010. The highest grossing
title was Streetdance 3D, followed by Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass and Roman Polanski's
The Ghost (a UK/France/Germany co-production). Made in Dagenham was one of four UK
Film Council funded films in the top 10.
2

3. Table 3: Top 10 independent UK films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland, 2010
Title Country Box Distributor
of origin office
Gross
(£m)
1 Streetdance 3D UK 11.62 Vertigo Films
2 Kick-Ass UK/USA 11.60 Universal Pictures
3 The Ghost UK/Fra/Ger 4.09 Optimum
4 Made in Dagenham UK 3.67 Paramount
5 Four Lions UK 2.93 Optimum
6 Tamara Drewe UK 2.58 Momentum
7 Burke and Hare UK 2.35 Entertainment
8 Another Year* UK/USA 1.66 Momentum
9 London Boulevard* UK/USA 1.35 Entertainment
10 Solomon Kane UK/Cze/Fra 1.32 Entertainment
Source: Rentrak EDI, UK Film Council RSU analysis
Box office gross = cumulative gross up to 9 January 2011.
Films with an asterisk (*) were still being exhibited on 9 January 2011.
UK and Republic of Ireland are a single “territory” for film distribution purposes.
The list of UK qualifying films backed by US studios was topped by Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows Part One, followed by Inception and Clash of the Titans (Table 4). Nanny
McPhee and the Big Bang earned £16.5m while Sir Ridley Scott's Robin Hood grossed
£15.4m.
Table 4: Top 10 studio-backed UK productions released in the UK and Republic of Ireland,
2010
Title Country Box office Distributor
Of Gross
origin (£m)
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One* UK/USA 50.64 Warner Bros
2 Inception UK/USA 35.80 Warner Bros
3 Clash of the Titans UK/USA 20.20 Warner Bros
4 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang UK/USA 16.53 Universal Pictures
5 Robin Hood UK/USA 15.44 Universal Pictures
6 Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn UK/USA 13.04 20th Century Fox
Treader*
7 Gulliver's Travels* UK/USA 10.88 20th Century Fox
8 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time UK/USA 8.86 Walt Disney
Studios
9 Green Zone UK/USA 5.71 Universal Pictures
10 The Wolfman UK/USA 5.01 Universal Pictures
Source: Rentrak EDI, UK Film Council RSU analysis
Box office gross = cumulative gross up to 9 January 2011.
Films with an asterisk (*) were still being exhibited on 9 January 2011.
UK and Republic of Ireland are a single “territory” for film distribution purposes.
The theatrical market share of UK films (Table 5) was 22.6% which included 17% from
films wholly or part-financed by US studios but featuring UK cast, crew, locations,
facilities, post-production and often UK source material. Independent UK films took a
3

4. 5.5% share of the UK box office. The fluctuating pattern of UK market share is underlined
in Figure 1 with the annual figure dependent on a small number of high-grossing titles.
The average UK market share for the decade was 24%, with US studio-backed films
accounting for 18% and independent UK films 5.5%.
Table 5: Theatrical market share of UK films by studio and independent titles, 2001-2010
Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Market share of UK films 21.2 16.1 12.5 19.5 26.2 14.4 21.8 25.4 8.5 17.1
produced with US studio
backing (%)
Market share of UK 3.8 6.5 3.4 3.9 6.9 4.7 6.8 5.7 8.2 5.5
independent films (%)
Total UK film market 25.0 22.6 15.9 23.4 33.1 19.1 28.6 31.1 16.7 22.6
share (%)
Source: UK Film Council
2010 market share calculation based on grosses up to and including 9 January 2011
Figure 1: UK film share of the UK theatrical market 2001-2010
35
30
25
Market share (%)
Market share of UK
20
independent films (%)
15
Market share of UK films
10 produced with US studio
backing (%)
5
0
Source: UK Film Council
4

5. Notes
1. Gross box office data supplied by Rentrak EDI.
2. Country of origin is allocated by the UK Film Council Research and Statistics Unit. For the
purposes of this analysis, a UK film is one which is certified as such by the UK Secretary of
State for Culture, Media and Sport under Schedule 1 of the Films Act 1985, via the Cultural
Test, under one of the UK’s official co-production agreements or the European Convention
on Cinematographic Coproduction; a film which has not applied for certification but which
is obviously British on the basis of its content, producers, finance and talent; or (in the case
of a re-release) a film which met the official definition of a British film prevailing at the time
it was made or was generally considered to be British at that time. Most UK films in the
analysis (including the major UK/USA films) fall into the first group – films officially certified
as British.
3. UK admissions data for 2010 were unavailable at the time of writing.
Pre-release Access
Under the terms of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, statutory 24 hours pre-release
access to this statistical release was granted to the following:
Stephen Bristow, Head of Government Relations
Tim Cagney, Managing Director
Carol Comley, Head of Strategic Development
Tina McFarling, Head of Industry Relations
Eleanor Melinn, Web & Communications Co-ordinator
Oliver Rawlins, Head of Communications
Hugh Muckian, Film Branch, Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Gayle Douglas, Senior Press Officer, Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Statistical contact details
This release was prepared by Sean Perkins, Research and Statistics Unit, UK Film Council,
sean.perkins@ukfilmcouncil.org.uk, tel 020 7861 7503.
(end)
5