3D leads the way as film ticket sales go through the roof

Cinema ticket sales have soared this year on the back of hit films in digital 3D, with a blockbuster autumn of home-grown entertainment set to boost audiences further.

Box office takings for the first eight months of 2010 hit £786 million, up eight per cent on the same period last year, after audiences fell for the charms of movies such as Toy Story 3. The third instalment of the children's drama is the second biggest film in Britain of all time after Avatar.

Film distributors claim the public's love affair with the immersive experience of 3D lies behind the rise in revenue — although ticket prices for 3D digital films are higher than for the normal format to reflect the extra cost of making them.

Mark Batey, chief executive of the Film Distributors' Association, said: "The experience of 3D digital in cinemas is not replaceable elsewhere. It is laser-sharp, crystal clear, rock steady. Watching films on television just isn't the same at all."

London now outstrips cities such as Paris in the number of digital screens with almost half of its cinemas having at least one. Britain has the highest number in Europe, partly on the back of a drive by the UK Film Council.

And there are 13 more 3D films to come before Christmas. They include an adaptation of Gulliver's Travels starring Emily Blunt and Jack Black, filmed at Pinewood and in London, and the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The American, with George Clooney, is due out and it is a strong season for British films — including Made in Dagenham, starring Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike and Bob Hoskins, which tells how women at the Ford factory in east London fought for equal pay.