The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 (see 1889 in film) by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890 (see 1890 in film). It is generally regarded that the British film industry enjoyed a 'golden age' in the 1940s, led by the studios of J. Arthur Rank and Alexander Korda.

A history of British cinema

The history of British cinema over the past forty years is one ups-and-downs, successes and failures. Here are just a few of them.

The 'swinging sixties'

The 1960s was a great decade for British films, there was a worlwide interest in British fashion, youth culture and the British. British directors started making films showing 'Swinging London' such as A Hard Day's Night starring with the Beatles, and Alfie starring Michail Caine as a working-class cockney. This attracted money from the United States into the British cinema. The first James Bond film in 1962 was the beginning of the most successful series of films in British cinema history. European directors like the young Polish director Roman Polanski came to 'Hollywood, England'.

The bad seventies

In the 1970s, everything changed. The Americans spent too much money on making films, had several box-office failures and went back to america, leaving the British cinema industry without any money. Big British film companies even started putting money into American films.

The mixed eighties

The 1980s saw the success of films like Chariots of Fire, and the great epic Ghandi. Howevere, the story of the British cinema in the 1980s was really about the relationship between the cinema and TV. TV channels started putting money into the film industry and even making films such as My Left Foot. Some people saw it as the beginning of a new relationship between the cinema and the TV industries - but others said that the arrival of TV meant the end of the cinema.

The successful nineties

In the 1990s, four Weddings and a funeral hit the big screen and was very successful around the world. This was followed by big hits like Sliding Doors and Notting Hills. Some people claimed that British cinema was back.

Nowadays

The big blockbuster films that are made in Britain tody, such as Billy Eliot look British and sound British, but are almost mad by American money and often by American directors. The question is, is there anything that can trylly be called the British film industry? The film industry remains an important earner for the British economy. According to a UK Film Council press release of 20 January 2011, £1.115 billion was spent on UK film production during 2010.

The British film industry and Hollywood

Many Hollywood films with a British dimension (based on British people, stories or events) have had enormous worldwide commercial success. Six of the top seven highest-grossing films worldwide of all time have some British historical, cultural or creative dimensions: Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Harry Potter movies. The second culturally American film on the list, Star Wars at number 9, was filmed principally in the UK. Adding four more Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films, plus three about a Scottish ogre in British fairy

tale setting (Shrek), and about two-thirds of the top twenty most commercial films, with combined cinema revenues of about $13 billion, had a substantial British dimension.^

British influence can also be seen with the 'English Cycle' of Disney animated films, which include Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Robin Hood, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, The Rescuers and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The British film industry has a complex attitude to Hollywood. It has been argued that the size of the domestic British cinema market makes it impossible for the British film industry to successfully produce Hollywood-style blockbusters over a sustained period without U.S. involvement. Hollywood also provides work to British directors, actors, writers, production staff and studios, enables British history and stories to be made as films, and opens up the U.S. and world markets to a limited participation by some in the British film industry. On the other hand, the loss of control and profits, and the market requirements of the US distributors, are often seen to endanger and distort British film culture.

British actors and actresses have always been significant in international cinema. Well-known currently active performers include:

•    Catherine Zeta-Jones Jude Law Julie Walters Bob Hoskins Kate Winslet Anthony Hopkins Christopher Lee Hugh Grant Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Craig Keira Knightley Orlando Bloom Ewan McGregor Patrick Stewart Robert Pattinson Rowan Atkinson

The British directors Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean are among the most critically acclaimed of all-time, with other important directors including Charlie Chaplin, Michael Powell Carol Reed and Ridley Scott. Many British actors have achieved international fame and critical success, including Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Charlie Chaplin, Sean Connery, Vivien Leigh, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers and Kate Winslet Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been produced in the United Kingdom, including the two highest-grossing film franchises (Harry Potter and James Bond). Ealing Studios has a claim to being the oldest continuously working film studio in the world.

Despite a history of important and successful productions, the industry has often been characterised by a debate about its identity and the level of American and European influence. Many British films are co-productions with American producers, often using both British and American actors, and British actors feature regularly in Hollywood films. Many successful Hollywood films have been based on British people, stories or events, including Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and the 'English Cycle' of Disney animated films.

In 2009 British films grossed around $2 billion worldwide and achieved a market share of around 7% globally and 17% in the United Kingdom. UK box-office takings totalled £944 million in 2009, with around 173 million admissions. The British Film Institute has produced a poll ranking what they consider to be the 100 greatest British films of all time, the BFI Top 100 British films. The annual British Academy Film Awards hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts are the British equivalent of the Oscars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema oftheUnitedKingdom

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