Despicable Me 2 Tops UK’s Box Office in 2013
The Minions
Gravity, The Hobbit, Les Miserables, The Hunger Games – they’re all great films but what do they have in common? Well let me enlighten: None of them grossed as much in the UK as Universal’s critically acclaimed sequel, Despicable Me 2 which made a staggering £47.5m at the UK box office. BFI announced today that it was the UK’s no.1 highest earning film of 2013.
Source: BFI (click image for article)
As if this wasn’t enough for the animation community to celebrate and gloat over, it was one of four animated films to be in the top ten. Frozen (#5), Monsters University (#7) and The Croods (#10) made 2013 a brilliant year to be an animator and lover of animated films. With two of these, Frozen and The Croods, being original creations and not having to rely on ready tailored characters from sequels, it just goes to show how much animation is appreciated by audiences in the UK.
Sven and Olaf
The BFI also reported that there has been more than a 14% increase in the total spent in the UK film production sector. Going from £945m to £1.075bn and with the tax cuts in place for higher end productions, the UK has all it needs to start producing new animated content for films, from financial backing to public backing. If UK producers and directors take the risk and move away from the US then who knows? We could see a home-grown film top the list in future years – better still, an animation. The UK has always been a pioneering force in the world of animation and this could very well lead to more studios like Aardman taking the plunge and taking on the commercial feature film world.