Keira Knightley and JK Rowling have helped the British film industry enjoy its best 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 talent.

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

Success: The British film industry has boomed, part in thanks to Atonement, starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy

The film council 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 £49 million in Britain 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 (£22million) and Hot Fuzz (£20million) proved popular, as did the movie Stardust (£15 million), St Trinian's (£12 million) and Atonement (£12 million), which starred Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

Industry boost: Mr Bean, starring Rowan Atkinson, took £22million, while Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, starring Daniel Radcliffe, took £49million

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

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.

Of the top 200 films at the worldwide box office from 2001-2007, 30 were based on stories and characters created by British writers. Those films have earned in excess of $14 billion.

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Girl power: The St Trinian's remake, starring Gemma Arterton and Russell Brand, took £12.2million, making it the second most successful independent British film ever

John Woodward, chief executive officer of the film council, said: "These statistics show that in the UK we make films in every genre from comedy to fantasy to thrillers and British films took more than $3.3 billion across the globe last year.

"The real success story is that we not only make big budget films like Harry Potter but we also make hugely successful smaller indie films such as Control and This Is England.

"Last year we had a great crop of British films and a good year at the box office and the two are connected because the British public buy more tickets when there are more home grown films.

"We've got more to look forward to this year with a Bond and a Potter, as well as Brideshead Revisited, How To Lose Friends And Alienate People and Keira Knightley in The Duchess all due in cinemas soon."

But he warned: "The future is not without challenges; winning film investment is going to be tougher with the fallout from the US writers' strike while the threat of film piracy looms larger as broadband download speeds become faster."