Apocalypse again for British films: Grim evidence that US crisis has spread to homegrown movies.

(From The Guardian)

Byline: FIACHRA GIBBONS, ARTS CORRESPONDENT

The streets of London are eerily empty of Hollywood stars, tumbleweed blows through the vast sound stages of Pinewood and Shepperton, and all of a sudden you can get a table at the Ivy restaurant.

No, it's not a scene from Trainspotting director Danny Boyle's vision of a very English apocalypse, 28 Days Later, but the latest stretch of the boom-and-bust rollercoaster ride of the British film industry.

Figures compiled by Screen International, the film business bible, today confirm what hundreds of out-of-work actors, technicians and crews have been complaining of for months: the industry is in freefall.

After a disastrous drop in the number of Hollywood blockbusters shot here last year - inward investment was down a staggering $480m (pounds 310m) on the previous …