UK Box Office Suffers First Fall in 12 Years

[TexasStooge]

LONDON, England (Reuters) - Ticket sales at the British box office fell for the first time in more than a decade in 2003, mirroring a movie-going downturn in North America where receipts and attendance both dipped.

Industry analysts said the UK fall could be due to the sweltering British summer and even the war in Iraq, but that it was likely only a "blip."

A spokesman at British movie charts compiler Screen International said on Monday that early estimates revealed a drop in gross cinema takings in the UK and Ireland for the first time in about 12 years.

Official numbers are expected to show a slight drop from the record 812 million pounds in British ticket sales in 2002. Attendance figures for 2003 were expected to show a tumble of about 10 million to 166 million from the previous year.

The sales drop came despite the release of blockbusters in the "Lord of The Rings" and "Matrix" trilogies and the pulling power of "Love Actually," a romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant.

In North America, sales fell 0.5 percent last year to $9.27 billion from $9.317 billion in 2002. Attendance -- the number of tickets sold -- slumped by 4.5 percent to 1.53 billion from 1.6 billion in 2002, an unusually steep slide.

"The movie industry in Britain has been growing steadily since about 1984 and Britain has one of the strongest bases of film fans in Europe," said a spokeswoman at the Film Council, a government-backed body for film in the UK.

"The 2003 numbers certainly do look like a blip," she said.

Some sequels, including the follow-ups to the "Matrix" trilogy and "Charlie's Angels," disappointed, while other big productions such as "The Hulk" failed to pull huge crowds. But 2003 was not without its winners.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," the second installment in the epic fantasy trilogy, released at the end of 2002, commanded top spot on the British box office chart with nearly 40 million pounds in ticket sales.

Coming in at a surprise number two was the Disney animated adventure "Finding Nemo," which netted 37.2 million pounds in sales over the year.

"The Matrix Reloaded," the second in the "Matrix" sci-fi trilogy, piled up 33.3 million pounds for the number three spot. "Love Actually," a tapestry of love affairs starring Hugh Grant, earned 29.6 million pounds for fourth.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," a swashbuckling adventure starring Johnny Depp, rounded out the top five after plundering 28.1 million pounds.