19.

5 Leading film production companies in the UK and Europe

Looking at film production only, we see that 11 out of the top 20 European independent production companies in 2008 were French
(up from nine in 2007), four Italian, two German, two Nordic, and one British. As in previous years, the list was topped by Constantin
Film AG of Germany, the maker of Perfume, Downfall and the Fantastic Four and Resident Evil films. Europacorp (France) and
Filmauro (Italy) came second and third. The UK is under-represented in this table due to the frequent use of special purpose vehicles
(companies set up to make a single film) and the US studio connections of a number of the UK’s leading production companies.

Table 19.12 Top 20 independent film production companies in Europe, 2008

Rank Company Nationality Operating revenues €000

1 Constantin Film AG DE 248,500

2 EuropaCorp FR 207,318
3 Filmauro IT *121,994
4 Gaumont FR 105,100
5 Nordisk Film AS NO *98,700
6 Ingenious Film Partners LLP UK *97,930
7 Pathé Production FR *90,357
8 Odeon Film AG DE 89,768
9 AB Svensk Filmindustri SE 78,890
10 Cattleya IT 62,979
11 Fidélité Films FR *62,202
12 La Petite Reine FR *56,840
13 Galatée Films FR 54,570
14 Fandango IT *40,227
15 Pan Européenne Production FR **37,301
16 Produire à Paris FR 36,518
17 MK2 SA FR 36,335
18 Melampo Cinematografica IT 36,034
19 UGC YM FR 35,765
20 Pulsar Productions FR 33,649

Source: European Audiovisual Observatory, 2009 Yearbook, Table T.16.3.

*Indicates 2007 revenues.
**Indicates 2006 revenues.

Drawing on the UK Film Council’s production database and public information, Table 19.13 presents the top 16 production
companies involved in the production of films in the UK over the three-year period 2007 to 2009. Film and Music Entertainment came
top of the list with 10 films, followed by Matador Pictures with eight and Working Title and Revolution Films with seven each.

Table 19.13 also illustrates the range of budgets for UK films. At the low end, Warp X and Slingshot were each involved in the
production of four films with an estimated combined budget of £4 million. At the upper end, Heyday Films, working with Warner Bros
(UK) on the Harry Potter films, was involved in four productions with a combined budget of several hundred million pounds.
Table 19.13 Top 16 production companies involved in UK production, 2007–2009
Estimated combined
Number of budget
Production company films £million Selected titles

Film and Music White Lightnin’, Donkey, Mission London,Reykjavik Whale

10 12
Entertainment Watching Massacre, The Italian Key
Book of Blood, The Last Princess, Wild Target, Dread,Jackboots
Matador Pictures 8 17
on Whitehall
Green Zone, The Soloist, Wild Child, Nanny McPheeand the Big
Working Title Films 7 170
Bang, The Boat That Rocked
The Killer Inside Me, Genova, Red Riding 1974,1980 and 1983,
Revolution Films 7 20
The Unloved
Vertigo Films 6 13 Bronson, The Firm, StreetDance 3D, The Heavy
Palm Tree Entertainment 6 5 Sisters Grimm, Back Burner, Inside Out, Seven Crosses
Easy Virtue, Dorian Gray,
Fragile Films 5 30
St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold,
Celador Films 5 20 Slumdog Millionaire, Centurion, The Scouting Book for Boys
Black and Blue Films Ltd 5 8 Devil’s Playground, Dead Cert, Just for the Record
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Harry Potter and theHalf-Blood
Heyday Films Ltd 4 *
Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The Weinstein Company 4 90 Nine, The King’s Speech, Shanghai
Potboiler Productions 4 24 Blindness, Happy-Go-Lucky, Slave
Ruby Films 4 14 Tamara Drewe, Chatroom, Fish Tank
Sixteen Films 4 14 Route Irish, Looking for Eric, Summer
Warp X Films 4 4 Hush, Donkey Punch, She a Chinese
Slingshot Productions 4 4 Tormented, French Film, Faintheart

Source: UK Film Council.

Companies ranked by number of films produced, then by estimated combined budget.
‘Estimated combined budget’ is the sum of the estimated budgets of all the films associated with the named company. It is not a measure of that company’s
contribution to the budget. Most films had a number of production companies associated with them and funding came from a variety of sources including equity
investment, US studio investment, distributor minimum guarantees and television pre-sales.
The table includes all those companies associated with four or more films over the three-year period.
*The estimated combined budget of Heyday’s films is in the order of several hundred million pounds, but the estimate has been omitted to avoid disclosing the
budgets ofindividual Harry Potter films.