The late 1970s was an unusual period for the British film industry. On the one hand the decline in admissions was reversed (albeit temporarily) and box-office returns increased. Annual cinema admissions hit a low of 107 million in 1976 before rising to 108 million in 1977 and 127 million in 1978. This upturn was attributed in large measure to the popularity of American blockbusters such as Star Wars (the top film at the British box office in 1978), Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Grease and Saturday Night Fever. The total paid at the box office increased from £75 million in 1976 to £118 million in 1978: this was due partly to rising ticket prices as well as the upturn in admissions. The capital invested in the British production sector was also increasing: again this was partly a consequence of inflation, but it also reflected the preponderance of bigger-budget films later in the decade. In 1976, for example, total production investment in Britain amounted to £58 million in 53 films: this was nearly twice the amount for the previous year and was attributed to a ‘combination of galloping inflation and the huge budget of Joseph Levine's A Bridge Too Far’. The most active producers in Britain in 1976 were EMI (five films), United Artists (four including the Bond picture The Spy Who Loved Me), ITC Films and Twentieth Century–Fox (with three each). Over the next three years the trend was upwards: £74 million in 1977 (58 films), £94 million in 1978 (58 films) and nearly £100 million in 1979 (61 films). These figures included American films shot in Britain that did not qualify for British quota, such as Star Wars.