Britain's £1.5bn box office record

Keira Knightley and JK Rowling have helped the British film industry enjoy its best ever year, earning a record £1.65 billion around the world.

British films including Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix and The Golden Compass achieved global success as audiences at home and abroad flocked to cinemas to watch movies showcasing homegrown UK talent.

The scale of the British takeover was revealed in a new report from the UK Film Council published today. It revealed that around 700 million people worldwide bought tickets to see British films in 2007 - twice as many as in 2006.

UKFC calculates that the top 20 UK films grossed £244 million at the British box office - an increase of more than 60 per cent on 2006.

UK movies also accounted for almost a third of all cinema tickets sold in Britain, up from one in five the previous year.

The most successful British movie of the year was the latest Harry Potter film, based on JK Rowling's book, which earned £49million in the UK alone.

Other top films included another adaptation of a popular children's book, The Golden Compass (£26 million takings in the UK). Comedies Mr Bean's Holiday (£22 million) and Hot Fuzz (£20million) proved popular, as did the Sienna Miller movie Stardust (£15 million), St Trinian's (£12 million) and Atonement (£12 million), which starred Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

The Bourne Ultimatum, much of which was filmed in London, is also included on the top 10 list, taking £23million.

Its report also highlights the success of Lottery-funded films over the past decade and the input of British writers on the film industry around the world.

The top three independent UK films of the last decade - Gosford Park (£12.3 million), St Trinian's (£12.2 million) and Bend It Like Beckham (£11.6 million) - were all co-funded by the UK Film Council.