U’K. Box Office is Now on Fire!!!

U.K. Box office experienced the highest amount of revenue in the first quarter of a year in 2006 comparing to the first quarter revenue of last four years. In 2006, U.K. Box office earned $346 million which is now likely to be surpassed this ongoing year as many big releases are going to happen in the same period of this year. Among this Aishwarya Rai starrer Provoked has been released today in a big cinema of England. Regarding the increasing revenue of U.K. Box office Variety reported:

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.

"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.

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.

I think this is a good news for the English producers as well as the directors as people are coming to the theaters and enjoying the movies. I think the movie Provoked will also turn out a huge boom in the U.K. Box office as well as in Bollywood.