Movies brighten the economic picture

The success of films such as the Inbetweeners, pictured, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and The King's Speech meant the UK film industry contributed more than £4.6bn to the economy last year, according to a report released today.

The study, carried out by Oxford Economics, shows that while UK film directly contributed £1.6bn to the economy last year, this figure rises to £4.6bn when taking into account other factors such as the boost it gives to tourism and trade.The direct contribution of £1.6bn is up from around £1.5bn last year, although lower than the 2009 figure of more than more than £1.7bn. The report was commissioned by the British Film Institute and film studios Pinewood Shepperton.