Indie Brit pix nab record U.K. share

LONDON -- Independent British films hit their greatest ever recorded share of the market in the U.K. box office this past year, because of photos like "Mess Tailor Soldier Spy," "The Inbetweeners" and "The King's Speech." Based on independent research in the British Film Institute, the share of the market of indie U.K. photos in the local B.O. was 14% -- the greatest ever on record. Stellar is a result of "King's Speech" and comedy "Inbetweeners," which both made $71 million, along with a $22.3 million gross for "Mess Tailor" counseled me key motorists within the Brit indie surge. It had been a great year for U.K. movie theaters generally with admissions up 1.4% year-on-year at 172 million. U.K. B.O. sitting at $1.64 billion, up 5% from 2010, even though some of the is credited towards the 2.5% hike in Vat, which start working at the beginning of 2011. Share of the market for those U.K. photos, including "Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" and "Sherlock Houses: A Game Title of Shadows," paid for for 36% from the total box office, up from 24% this year. Total purchase of U.K.-based film production arrived at $1.99 billion, which $1.6 billion originated from worldwide productions lensing within the territory. Overall invest in worldwide productions was up 3%. While invest in film production in Blighty overall was up, the entire quantity of U.K. photos created with budgets of just one million ($789,000) or even more fell to 71, lower from 78 this year. 90-eight photos were made on budgets below $789,000, getting the entire quantity of U.K. feature photos created this year to 169, lower on 2010's 262 photos. However, the amount of U.K. co-productions elevated by 1 / 3 to 40, while co-productions recorded a U.K. spend of $93.a million. BFI Boss Amanda Nevill noted that although the outcomes were positive overall, "will still be a frightening time for filmmakers attempting to raise finance to create independent films within this tough economic system.Inch Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com