Cinema Of The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a significant film industry for over a century. While film productiion reached an all-time high in 1936, the 'golden age' of British cinema is usually thought to have occurred in the 1940s, during which the directors David Lean, Michael Powell, and Carol Reed produced their most highly acclaimed work. Many British actors have achieved international fame and critical success, including Michael Caine, Sean Connery and Kate Winslet. Some of the most commercially successful films of all films have been produced in the United Kingdom, including the two highest-grossing film series (Harry Potter and James Bond).
The identity of the British industry, and its relationship with Hollywood, has been the subject of debate. The history of film production in Britain has often been affected by attempts to compete with the American industry. The career of the producer Alexander Korda was marked by this objective, the Rank Organisation attempted to do so in the 1940s, and Goldcrest in the 1980s. Numerous British-born directors, including Alfred Hitchcock and Ridley Scott, and performers, such as Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant, have achieved success primarily through their work in the United States. Many British films are co-productions with American producers, often using mixed British and American crews and casts.
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.
Read more about Cinema Of The United Kingdom: Art Cinema, Film Technology
Famous quotes containing the words cinema, united and/or kingdom:
“Compare ... the cinema with theatre. Both are dramatic arts. Theatre brings actors before a public and every night during the season they re-enact the same drama. Deep in the nature of theatre is a sense of ritual. The cinema, by contrast, transports its audience individually, singly, out of the theatre towards the unknown.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“In the larger view the major forces of the depression now lie outside of the United States, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by these outside forces.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God—the rest will be given.”
—Mother Teresa (b. 1910)