British film - doing rather well?
Since I'd mentioned "Bride and Prejudice" in my previous post, I thought I'd bring up something I'd noted in mediaville: that British film is doing rather well at the UK box office - 45% better, according to The Guardian, which reports: "Box-office takings for the top 20 British films totalled £176m [$320 million] in 2004, compared with £121m in 2003. And the number of UK films taking more than £3m at the box office jumped to 16 in 2004, from eight in 2003."
The success was largely due to "big-budget co-productions such as "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", as well as the popularity of smaller films such as "Shaun of the Dead", "Bride and Prejudice" and "Layer Cake". Among the other strong Brit performers was "King Arthur" (£7m), "Thunderbirds" (£5m), and "Alfie" (almost £5m). Many of these films have also done well internationally (though "Thunderbirds" and "Alfie" kind of bombed in the States). Also, on closer inspection, most of these films - including "Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" - were really co-productions (mostly with the U.S.), so I wonder just how "British" this British resurgence really is. On the other hand, British film has often been criticized for being too insular and too small-minded. This was expecially so in the 1950s.
I guess my thoughts on this are this: If there is to be any sustained resurgence of the British film industry, it has to be on global - and by global I mean American - terms. The American connection - and American financing - is what gave British film international exposure in the late '50s & '60s, post-"Bridge on the River Kwai," and that's what can do it again. That's not to say that British films can ignore the rest of the world - they can't and shouldn't. But, at least for most of the time, they do have to recognize Hollywood as the prime locus of power through which postcolonial British cultural values (as seen in their movies) need to be refracted before widespread reception by the rest of the world. In other words, for "British" films to really be seen as successful internationally, they have to pass muster with the Americans first. I think "Bride and Prejudice," "Bridget Jones" and last year's "Love, Actually" are good examples of that. Still, as long as there's some room left for "small" British films, and wonderful "insular" films such as "Vera Drake", I can live with that.
The success was largely due to "big-budget co-productions such as "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", as well as the popularity of smaller films such as "Shaun of the Dead", "Bride and Prejudice" and "Layer Cake". Among the other strong Brit performers was "King Arthur" (£7m), "Thunderbirds" (£5m), and "Alfie" (almost £5m). Many of these films have also done well internationally (though "Thunderbirds" and "Alfie" kind of bombed in the States). Also, on closer inspection, most of these films - including "Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" - were really co-productions (mostly with the U.S.), so I wonder just how "British" this British resurgence really is. On the other hand, British film has often been criticized for being too insular and too small-minded. This was expecially so in the 1950s.
I guess my thoughts on this are this: If there is to be any sustained resurgence of the British film industry, it has to be on global - and by global I mean American - terms. The American connection - and American financing - is what gave British film international exposure in the late '50s & '60s, post-"Bridge on the River Kwai," and that's what can do it again. That's not to say that British films can ignore the rest of the world - they can't and shouldn't. But, at least for most of the time, they do have to recognize Hollywood as the prime locus of power through which postcolonial British cultural values (as seen in their movies) need to be refracted before widespread reception by the rest of the world. In other words, for "British" films to really be seen as successful internationally, they have to pass muster with the Americans first. I think "Bride and Prejudice," "Bridget Jones" and last year's "Love, Actually" are good examples of that. Still, as long as there's some room left for "small" British films, and wonderful "insular" films such as "Vera Drake", I can live with that.
posted by hdougie at 9:08 AM
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