U.K. box office blossoms

Gross to grow to $2.17 billion by 2011

By ALI JAAFAR

LONDON — All the signs are sunny for Blighty's box office.

The U.K. posted its strongest first quarter takings in four years, bringing in $379.4 million from 166 films, compared with $346 million in the same period in 2006, according to figures from Nielsen EDI.

News of the upturn in box figures coincided with a report predicting a surge of growth in the U.K. cinema market. British cinemagoers are set to pay nearly $2.17 billion for movie tickets by 2011, according to predictions made by Dodona Research. U.K. B.O. totaled $1.63 billion last year.

The rollout of digital technologies in the exhibition sector across the U.K. is likely to be main factor behind the bullish numbers.

"We think it's going to go up as a result of new cinemas and the onset of digital technologies. 3-D is going to make a sizeable difference too," said Dodona's Karsten Grummitt.

"Even though the DVD market is a kind of problem for the studios, the increase of film downloads will yield higher margins for studios as they won't have to pay middlemen or the costs of production and distribution."

Easter weekend also is shaping up to be B.O. bonanza with a brace of big releases. Fox rollout Danny Boyle sci-fi epic "Sunshine," while Paramount have Will Ferrell laffer "Blades of Glory" going for gold.

While the four-day Easter weekend (Monday is a public holiday for the Brits) augers well, ironically for "Sunshine" unseasonably sunny Blighty weather may offer a cloudier outlook at the box office.

"We have high hopes for the film and the reviews have been very supportive but the weather is a factor we're having to entertain," says Christian Grass, executive VP of Fox, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Paramount execs are also hoping warm weather doesn't turn their high hopes for "Blades of Glory" into mush, while also predicting that 2007 could be U.K.'s biggest ever.

"There's big box office potential when you have a look at the films coming out in the summer. It's unprecedented that to have so many blockbusters coming out in the same period," said Par's international topper Andrew Cripps.

Away from the big studio duo, Easter sees a clutch of arty fare released. Eros has Aishwarya Rai starrer "Provoked," Optimum brings out "The Caiman," while Soda Pictures has "Close to Home" unspooling on two screens.

"'The marketing campaign for 'Close to Home' was intense with lots of grass roots marketing and press in targeted publications so we're hopeful the film will be protected against factors out of their control, like people leaving the city for Easter holidays and the good weather," said Gerova, Soda's publicity topper.