With the financial help of EM Media and Screen Yorkshire (both of which are regional wings of the UK Film council (which has now become BFI,)) and the support of Optimum Releasing (now Studio Canal, and owned by NBC Universal,) "This is England" had considerable success; grossing $82m worldwide (a figure that is rather impressive, given that the budget was only £1.5m.)
The director of "This is England", Shane Meadows (as pictured below) has also directed films such as "A Room for Romeo Bass", "Dead Man's Shoes", and "Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee" (among others.) Due to Meadows' distinctive, social-realist style, he is very much the Auteur. 'Social realism' is a naturalistic form of realism that focuses specifically on social issues and the hardships of everyday life, and Meadows' certainly has the knack for this type of film (as evidenced through "This is England".) Another key feature in a social-realist style film is the protagonist, who's usually of the lower class or a minority; in the case of "This is England", the protagonist is 12 year old boy called Shaun Field, who lives in a poor area with his mum, and who's dad died fighting in the Falkland Wars.
Despite being from an Indie company such as Warp, "This is England" managed to gain significant success; 5 weeks of running time in the UK, shown on up to 151 UK screens, and earning £1.3m in the UK box office. Add that to the rest of the success and earnings from around the world, and you'll see why "This is England" has spawned three mini series continuing the story, and a sturdy fan base.
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Quite good, though some links and some imagery would be useful. We'll develop the point on social realism into a new post. Round off box office figures!!! And provide the source.
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