Vancouver: In 2002, direct spending by domestic and foreign film and television producers in British Columbia dropped below the magic $1-billion mark for the first time since piercing the threshold in 1999.

While B.C.’s Ministry of Competition, Science & Enterprise has yet to announce official numbers for 2002 and the BC Film Commission has declined to corroborate the information, data obtained by Playback suggests B.C. generated about $994 million in direct spending, a drop of about 10% from 2001 when volumes totaled $1.1 billion.

Current box-office champion X2: X-Men United, however, provided an X-factor in what could have been a far bigger drop.

The US$120-million action feature, which shot in Vancouver last summer, was part of the estimated $414-million in direct spending by foreign-owned features, a jump of about 28% in that category compared to 2001 and the biggest payout by foreign feature producers to date.

Domestic production, however, was just $164 million in 2002, down 35% from $252 million in 2001 and down 61% from the industry high of $419.4 million in 2000.

The last time B.C.’s volumes were below $1 billion was in 1998 when the industry generated $808 million in direct spending. Foreign features were worth $164.9 million and Canadian production was worth $363.3 million.