Rowan Atkinson's comedy Johnny English has led the local top 10 box office hits for the first six months of this year and is edging close to becoming one of th biggest films of all time.

The top 10 best grossing films, issued by KRS Film Distributors between January 1 and June 17, saw the fantasy film Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers place second, while the real-life drama Catch Me if You Can place third.

KRS general manager Charles Pace said Johnny English, which opened on April 11 and is still running, was vying to place as the fourth best film of all time.

Comedies were always extremely popular and of the 84 films released in the six-month period, there were eight comedies, all of which placed in the top 20 box office hits.

"Comedies always come out on top and Rowan Atkinson is a favourite. His other film Bean: The Ultimate Disaster had also raked in a good sum and is holding the fifth position as all-time favourite," Mr Pace said.

The romantic comedies Two Weeks Notice and Maid in Manhattan, as well as the action comedy The Tuxedo also did extremely well.

Meanwhile, the longest-running film was the musical Chicago which remained on the cinema screens for 14 weeks.

The box office results had some surprises and it was disappointing to see the critically acclaimed film The Ring coming in 17th place.

The memorable film No Man's Land on the situation in Bosnia Herzegovina during 1993, the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides, fared even worse with just 267 people going to watch it.

Speaking about overall cinema admissions for the past six months, Mr Pace said KRS had witnessed a nine per cent increase over the same period last year.

"This is quite a feat, especially when considering that the election and EU referendum had served as distractions - we have to attribute the increase to a mix of good films," he said.

Discussing the box office hits Mr Pace said the entire results were likely to change completely by the end of the year and Johnny English was expected to face stiff competition from The Hulk which opens on July 30.

Other films expected to be a hit before the year is out include Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Terminator 3, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which was partly shot in Malta.

Meanwhile, cinema lovers will have the opportunity to watch some of this summer's blockbusters for just Lm1.25 during National Cinema Day, being held on July 5.

Mr Pace also announced that the Children's Cinema Day would be held on August 30.