Czech cinemas took in an all-time record 1.2 billion crowns in sales in 2007, according to Czech Film Distributors ' Association (www.ufd.cz), and attendance was the highest since 1994. About 12.8 million people visited the cinema in 2007 compared with 11.5 million in 2006.

2008 will be record year for Czech cinematography, with 32 full-length features scheduled for release. That‘s the highest number since the former Czechoslovakia split in 1993 and nearly double the 18 films that were released in 2007, according to Czech Union of Film Distributors (www.ufd.cz).

A big-budget film about convicted murderer Jiří Kajínek has been postponed after producer Petr Jákl canceled a contract with Ivan Fíla, who wrote the script and was also set to be director of the movie.

Two men operating in the Czech film industry have been convicted of stealing a copy of the big-budget Juraj Jakubisko film Bathory while it was being edited earlier this year.

Czech film production will get a huge financial boost in the next three years thanks to legislation signed by Czech President Václav Klaus.

German-based RWE Group, which owns gas company RWE Transgas in the Czech Republic, plans to continue its support for new Czech films in 2008 by spending more than 25 million crowns (€938,000).

Czech film distributors and publishers have a new and growing source of revenue: cheap DVDs placed in newspapers, tabloids and life-style magazines.

One of the largest U.S. film distributors, Sony Pictures, has picked up rights for the Czech film I Served the King of England by director Jiří Menzel.

Czech cinemas and Czech distributors expect record cinema attendance this year after more than 10 million people visited Czech cinemas through October - already a 1.4 million increase from 2006.

In another blow to the fortunes of the Czech Republic's film industry, production of fhe latest sequel of the Chronicles of Narnia franchise (www.narnia.com), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, will take place in Malta and New Zealand.