Investment in new UK film production hit £1.16 billion ($1.85 billion) in 2010, a record for the British film industry, new figures showed on Thursday.
Data from the UK Film Council showed that inward investment from international filmmakers, typically major Hollywood studios locating productions in Britain, reached £929 million, an increase of 15% over 2009.
These films included Captain America: The First Avenger, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two and John Carter of Mars.
Spending on domestic feature films in 2010 fell to £174 million, however, compared with £224 million the previous year.
Box office takings in the UK and Ireland rose two percent from 2009 to £1.08 billion, with Toy Story 3 in the top slot with earnings of 74 million pounds, ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One at 51 million.
The Film Council did not provide admission figures.
The market share of British films, including UK-US productions), hit 23% in 2010, up from 17% the year before. 3D films grossed £237 million last year, a 24% market share up from 16% in 2009.
Tim Cagney, managing director of the UK Film Council, said the figures underlined the importance of the movie business to the British economy. The council is being abolished as part of government cuts aimed at reducing the budget deficit.
"The figures ... show how difficult it is to raise finance for making independent British films and, with four of the top 10 grossing UK independent films funded by the UK Film Council, the ongoing value of public investment in new British films and talent," he said in a statement.
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