UK and Ireland box offices beat the slump in cinema revenues in 2005, increasing revenue on 2004.

Takings increased by 1% here, while the US and Canada saw sales drop by 4%, Poland by 30% and Germany 18.1%.

According to Screen Daily, who reported the figures from Nielsen EDI, the rise in the UK would be even larger if it were not grouped with Ireland.

The success is thought to be due to a string of British-themed movies, such as Wallace and Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, Harry Potter and Narnia.

In November, Film Distributors' Association's chief executive Mark Batey commented that British cinemagoers were spending more than others in Europe. We were enjoying "a good crop of homegrown stories," he said. "They haven't had a similar boost from local French films or local German films."