UK Box Office Information

Well, 2007 is officially done and dusted and what a year for film it was!!! We have seen sequels in all shapes and sizes (Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix, Spider-Man 3, Shrek The Third, Ocean's Thirteen, The Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard 4.0, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Rush Hour 3, and who could forget Mr Bean's Holiday to name but a few), as well as a record breaking month for admissions (21.8m achieved in July) and one of the highest box office weekends recorded (the weekend of July 27th saw £28.2m taken at the box office, including previews).

All of this meant that Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix became the highest grossing film of the year (£49.4m including previews) as well as having the highest opening weekend (£13m), making it the 2nd highest opening of all time and the 11th highest grossing film on record. In other record breaking news, Shrek The Third became the 3rd highest grossing animated film of all time taking £38.6m including previews, followed by The Simpsons Movie with £38.56m. Phew, what a year!!

As for the box office chart, Will Smith saving the world in I Am Legend (Warner Bros.) tickled everyone's fancy over the Christmas break as it remains top of the chart with a box office total of £18.5m to date. Meanwhile, Hilary Swank continues to receive love letters from beyond the grave of her husband Gerard Butler in P.S I Love You (Momentum) which is in 2nd place with £2.8m. Enchanted (Disney) continues to bring a smile to everyone's face as it is in 3rd place with £13.8m to date, and the schoolgirls of St. Trinians (Entertainment) are causing more trouble in 4th place with £7.7m. The Golden Compass (Entertainment) also remains strong at the box office with £23.5m to date.

The only new entry this week comes from Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee and having already won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, it has also been tipped for Oscar nods at the Feb. 24th glittery ceremony (if unlike the Golden Globes it goes ahead!) Lust, Caution (Universal) opened in 10th place this weekend with £241k (including £13k previews) and is an espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai, in which a young woman, Wang Jiazhi, gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee.

Interesting film fact of the day: Lust, Caution director Ang Lee won the Best Achievement in Directing Academy Award in 2006 for in recognition of Brokeback Mountain which went on to win a further 2 Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.