MUMBAI: Casino Royale and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest have been included in the top 10 highest grossing films at the UK box office, taking more than £50 million each in 2006.

According to figures released by the UK Film Council, Casino Royale is the most commercially successful James Bond film to date, taking just three weeks to surpass Die Another Day’s final total of £36 million. Only eight other films have ever broken through the £50 million barrier, says a release.

The UK Film Council’s new research and statistics bulletin, which provides the latest data and market intelligence on film in the UK, says that the top 20 UK films grossed £151 million at the box office in 2006 with Casino Royale, The Da Vinci Code, Flushed Away, The Queen, Stormbreaker, Children of Men, The History Boys and The Wind that Shakes the Barley being the most popular. 

The bulletin also reveals that a total of £762 million was taken at the UK box office in 2006, one per cent down on 2005, while admissions stood at 157 million, down five per cent on last year, partly due to World Cup fever and record temperatures.

There has also been a gradual decline in the number of films shown on television channels like BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4 over the last 10 years – down from 2807 in 1997 to 2011 films in 2006, the research indicates.  One in five films broadcast on television last year was British.  However, the proportion of recent UK films (less than eight years old) shown on the main networks has increased over the last five years from 2.8 per cent in 2002 to 5.2 per cent last year. Recent British films shown on BBC1 have more than doubled in five years from 3.8 per cent in 2002 to 8.2 per cent in 2006.

Among the top ten highest grossing films at the all time UK box office are Titanic, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Casino Royale, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Full Monty and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.