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BFI RESEARCH AND STATISTICS STATISTICS PUBLISHED JUNE 2016 UK TALENT AND AWARDS Image: Amy courtesy of Altitude Film Distribution UK TALENT AND AWARDS UK actors, directors and writers consistently win acclaim at the global box office and international awards ceremonies. In 2015, UK talent and story material continued to reach enthusiastic audiences and showcase our culture and identity to the world. FACTS IN FOCUS Of the top 200 global box office successes of 2001-2015, 36 films are based on stories and characters created by UK writers. Together they have earned $30 billion (£20 billion) at the worldwide box office. Five of the top 20 global box office successes of the last 15 years are based on novels by UK writers. British acting talent has played lead or supporting roles in 81% of live action titles in the top 200 films of the last 15 years. UK directors were behind 31 of the 200 highest earning films of the last 15 years with Harry Potter director, David Yates, topping the box office league. UK films and talent won 26 major film awards in 2015/16, including six Oscars® and 11 BAFTAs. UK TALENT AND AWARDS UK TALENT UK STORY MATERIAL The global box office performance of UK films and foreign productions which draw on UK source material is a good indicator of the international impact and exposure of British culture. Of the top 200 grossing films released worldwide between 2001 and 2015, 48 are UK qualifying films, and UK-originated story material provided the inspiration for 36 films, a feat bettered only by US story material. Collectively these 36 films have earned $30 billion (£19.6 billion at the 2015 average exchange rate) at the global box office. Novels by British writers have provided the source material for five of the top 20 grossing films worldwide since 2001 (Table 1). Also appearing in the top 20 is The Dark Knight Rises which features the character Batman created by American Bob Kane, but the story for this film was written by British writer/director Christopher Nolan. Table 1 Top 20 grossing films worldwide, 2001-2015 Rank Title Country of Gross US distributor UK story origin box office material (US$ million) (writer) 1 Avatar USA 2,788 20th Century Fox 2 Star Wars: The Force Awakens UK/USA 2,066 Walt Disney 3 Jurassic World USA 1,670 Universal 4 Marvel Avengers Assemble USA 1,520 Walt Disney 5 Fast & Furious 7 USA 1,516 Universal 6 Avengers: Age of Ultron UK/USA 1,405 Walt Disney 7 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 UK/USA 1,342 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling 8 Frozen USA 1,277 Walt Disney 9 Iron Man 3 USA/China 1,215 Walt Disney 10 Minions USA/Fra 1,159 Universal 11 Transformers: Dark of the Moon USA 1,124 Paramount 12 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King USA/NZ 1,120 New Line Novel by JRR Tolkien 13 Skyfall UK/USA 1,109 MGM/Colombia/Sony Based on novels by Ian Fleming 14 Transformers: Age of Extinction USA/China 1,104 Paramount 15 The Dark Knight Rises UK/USA 1,085 Warner Bros 16 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest USA 1,066 Buena Vista 17 Toy Story 3 USA 1,063 Walt Disney 18 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides UK/USA 1,046 Walt Disney BFI Statistical Yearbook 19 Alice in Wonderland USA 1,026 Walt Disney Novel by Lewis Carroll 20 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey USA/NZ 1,021 Warner Bros Novel by JRR Tolkien Source: BFI RSU 2016 3 Looking just at films based on UK story material, the top 20 grossing films adapted from stories or characters created by UK writers during the period are listed in Table 2. Eighteen are adaptations of novels by UK authors and two are from original screenplays. Table 2 Top 20 grossing films worldwide based on stories and characters created by UK writers, 2001-2015 Rank Title Country Gross US UK story of origin box office distributor material (US$ million) (writer) 1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: UK/USA 1,342 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling Part 2 UK TALENT AND AWARDS UK TALENT 2 The Lord of the Rings: USA/NZ 1,120 New Line Novel by JRR Tolkien The Return of the King 3 Skyfall UK/USA 1,109 MGM/ Based on novels Columbia/Sony by Ian Fleming 4 Alice in Wonderland USA 1,026 Walt Disney Novel by Lewis Carroll 5 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey USA/NZ 1,021 Warner Bros Novel by JRR Tolkien 6 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone UK/USA 975 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling 7 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: UK/USA 960 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling Part 1 8 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug USA/NZ 959 Warner Bros Novel by JRR Tolkien 9 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies USA/NZ 956 Warner Bros Novel by JRR Tolkien 10 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix UK/USA 940 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling 11 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince UK/USA 934 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling 12 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers USA/NZ 926 New Line Novel by JRR Tolkien 13 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire UK/USA 897 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling 14 SPECTRE UK/USA 881 MGM/ Based on novels Columbia/Sony by Ian Fleming 15 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets UK/USA 879 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling 16 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship USA/NZ 872 New Line Novel by JRR Tolkien of the Ring 17 Inception UK/USA 826 Warner Bros Original screenplay by Christopher Nolan 18 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban UK/USA 797 Warner Bros Novel by JK Rowling 19 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, USA/NZ 745 Walt Disney Novel by CS Lewis the Witch and the Wardrobe 20 Interstellar USA 675 Paramount Original screenplay by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan Source: BFI RSU 2016 BFI Statistical Yearbook BFI Statistical Yearbook 4 Of the 36 films from the top 200 based on UK stories and characters, the majority (89%) were based on AND AWARDS UK TALENT the work of current and classic authors such as Ian Fleming, CS Lewis, JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien (Figure 1). Three new films based on stories and characters created by UK writers appear in the list – SPECTRE, Fifty Shades of Grey and Kingsman: The Secret Service. Figure 1 Origin of UK story material in the top 200 films at the worldwide box office, 2001-2015 % Novel 89 Original screenplay 8 Musical 3 Source: BFI RSU UK ACTORS Nearly two thirds (126) of the top 200 films at the global box office since 2001 have featured British actors in either lead/title roles (56) or in the supporting cast (70). If animated titles are removed (44 titles), then British acting talent has played lead or supporting roles in 81% of the top live action films of the last 15 years. The global prominence of UK acting talent is reflected in Figure 2, which shows the top 12 British actors based on appearances in the top 200 films and ranked by total box office gross. The Harry Potter films feature heavily in this chart. At the top of the list is the late Alan Rickman thanks to appearances in nine of the top 200 films including the Harry Potter series and Alice in Wonderland. In second place is Ian McKellen who has appeared in 11 of the top 200 films, including all three Lord of the Rings films, The Hobbit trilogy and the three X-Men films that feature in the top 200. Third in the list is Andy Serkis, whose ground- breaking motion capture performances have contributed to the Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes and the Hobbit films as well as King Kong and 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Orlando Bloom is next thanks to appearances in five Tolkien adaptations plus three Pirates of the Caribbean films and is followed by the three regular young stars of the Harry Potter franchise – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. The only other female actor to feature in the list is Helena Bonham Carter who has appeared in nine of the top 200 films, including four Harry Potter films, The King’s Speech and Les Misérables. BFI Statistical Yearbook 2016 5 Figure 2 Top 12 UK actors featured in the top 200 films at the worldwide box office, 2001-2015 (number of appearances in brackets) Gross box office (US $ billion) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 UK TALENT AND AWARDS UK TALENT 2 1 0 ) ) ) ) (9) (7) fe/Emma Andy Serkis (9 lph Fiennes Alan Rickman (9 Ian McKellen (11) Gary Oldman (7 Ra Orlando Bloom (9) Christopher Lee (9Richard Griffiths (7) Danielatson/Rupert Radclif Grint (8) W Helena Bonham Carter Worldwide gross 8.7 8.6 8.6 8.0 7.7 7.1 7.1 6.9 6.7 6.6 from films in top 200 (US$ billion) Source: BFI RSU Notes: Includes actors who have made four or more appearances in the top 200 films, either in lead/title role or supporting role (not including voices in animated films). UK DIRECTORS Thirty-one of the 200 highest grossing films at the global box office between 2001 and 2015 were helmed by British directors (Figure 3 and Table 3).