JANUARY

Heath Ledger is found dead in New York; UK co-productions crash in the first year of the tax incentive; Golden Globes ceremony cancelled as writers' strike bites - Atonement and Sweeney Todd win best film honours; SPC buys The Wackness and Frozen River as Sundance ends; Trouble The Water and Frozen River win at Sundance.

FEBRUARY

No Country For Old Men dominates Academy Awards; Jose Padilha's The Elite Squad takes the Golden Bear in Berlin; Hollywood writers return to work; Nordic giant Nordisk buys a 50% stake in Zentropa; Hannah Montana 3D concert film sets US box-office records; Atonement takes the Bafta for best film; co-CEOs Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne quit as New Line is folded into Warner Bros.

MARCH

Anthony Minghella dies; Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine picks up best film, best director and best actress at the Asian Film Awards; UK Film Council announces a $4m Lottery boost for Edinburgh; the UK chancellor closes a $2bn tax loophole used by film investors; Welcome To The Sticks enjoys a phenomenal $32.5m opening in France; Rutger Wolfson is appointed general director at Rotterdam for four years.

APRIL

China-US co-production The Forbidden Kingdom sets the opening day record in China; Guillermo Del Toro to direct Hobbit films; Last-minute additions to the Cannes line-up include Che and Changeling; Disney becomes the second studio after DreamWorks to commit exclusively to 3D animation.

MAY

Sydney Pollack dies; The Class wins the Palme d'Or; Indiana Jones is the second biggest US Memorial Day hit ever; India's Reliance BIG Entertainment backs production vehicles of seven major US stars, reveals 69-film international slate at Cannes and $1bn investment in the film business; Screen Capital International and WMA launch a $100m production fund.

JUNE

UK-based distributor Tartan Films goes into administration after 26 years; Paramount crosses the $1bn mark in domestic grosses in record time; Glen Boreham is the first chair of new super agency Screen Australia.

JULY

Lionsgate secures a five-year $340m revolving credit facility with JPMorgan and Wachovia Bank; Warner Bros' The Dark Knight crosses $300m in record time in North America.

AUGUST

Burn After Reading opens the Venice film festival; Ashok Amritraj unveils global expansion plans for Hyde Park; Warner Bros pushes back Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince to July 2009; Paula Wagner steps down as CEO of United Artists.

SEPTEMBER

Paul Newman dies; Disney announces Johnny Depp will star in Pirates Of The Caribbean 4; DreamWorks closes an investment deal with India's Reliance, paving the way for Steven Spielberg to leave Paramount; Canada's Entertainment One signs a four-year $150m credit facility led by US private bank JPMorgan; Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi form a five-year $250m revolving fund; Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler wins the Golden Lion at Venice; Fox Searchlight picks up US rights for The Wrestler for $4m at Toronto; Stewart Till buys Icon Group as a foundation for international distribution network Stadium.

OCTOBER

Third-quarter box office shows little movement on 2007 numbers; Berlinale announces a doubling of the market registration fee; Universal's Mamma Mia! The Movie crosses $400m; Andrei Kravchuk's Admiral is the biggest ever opening in Russia; Kofic chairman declares the South Korean industry is in a 'great depression'; Screen reveals the digital cinema funding gap threatens the future of European exhibitors.

NOVEMBER

Mamma Mia! The Movie breaks records at UK theatres and on DVD; The Weinstein Company lays off 11% of its workforce; Summit deals enliven a quiet AFM.

DECEMBER

The Screen Actors Guild authorises a potential Hollywood strike; Gomorrah sweeps the board at the European Film Awards; Universal's parent Viacom announces 850 job losses; Slumdog Millionaire stakes its Oscar potential with a National Board of Review win and four Golden Globe nominations; Frost/Nixon, Benjamin Button and Doubt notch up the most Golden Globe nods.