Author: SD

The world’s biggest pop star has done it again as the one-weekend-only theatrical release of Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl blew away the competition to open top in North America on an estimated $33m. What makes the number all the more remarkable is two weeks ago nobody had even heard of the film until AMC Theatres Distribution announced the limited engagement, partnering with Variance Films to release in 3,702 cinemas including non-AMC sites. It is unprecedented for any film to storm to the top of the charts with two weeks of marketing, demonstrating once again the…

UK-Ireland box office takings in September 2025 were up 18% on the previous year, as the year-to-date recovered from a slow August and runs 9% ahead of 2024. Total revenue for September 2025 was just over £71m, 18% up on the £60.3m of September 2024. The release of one high-grossing title last year – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice with £21.6m – was trumped by two decent figures this year. Warner Bros’ horror The Conjuring: Last Rites became comfortably the highest-grossing in the nine-film Conjuring universe with £16.8m; and Universal’s Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale took £14.7m. UK-Ireland September 2025 top 10  Rank Title (origin)Distributor  Release date September totalTotal  …

Searchlight Pictures has scheduled a December 25 limited release in 70mm for its new acquisition of Mona Fastvold’s Venice world premiere The Testament Of Ann Lee. Amanda Seyfried stars in the musical drama as the titular head of the 18th century Shaker movement, who was proclaimed the female Jesus Christ by her followers. Lee emigrated from England to New York state and established a US-set utopia based on equality, communal living, and celibacy. The Quaker offshoot also revelled in song and dance. The cast includes Thomas McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Tim Blake Nelson, and Christopher Abbott. Fastvold co-wrote the screenplay with…

European films that have received distribution grants from Creative Europe’s Films on the Move scheme generated on average €1.70 at the box office for every €1 invested, according to new research. For every €1,000 in grant funding, it reported an extra €1,700 in box office takings and an additional 16 showtimes generated. Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle Of Sadness generated the highest return from a €985,000 Films on the Move grant, taking €19.3m at the European box office outside its national release, a return of 19.6 times on the award. Further successful grant outcomes include to Anatomy Of A Fall (€14.4m box office vs €757,000 grant)…

Oscar- and Bafta-winning actress and activist Jane Fonda is reviving the Committee For The First Amendment as constitutional rights granting freedom of speech and the press come under attack in the United States. The reimagined Committee is based on its precursor dating back nearly 80 years when Hollywood stars of the day protested anti-Communist hearings. It has released a statement signed by more than 550 figures from the entertainment industry decrying what it called a “coordinated campaign” by the US federal government “to silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry”. At time of writing, signatories…

US actors guild SAG-AFTRA has weighed in on the growing controversy surrounding the AI-generated actress Tilly Norwood, which talent agencies are now circling for representation. “SAG-AFTRA believes creativity is, and should remain, human-centred,” the guild said in a statment issued on Tuesday morning. ”The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.” The statement continued: “To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer programme that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation.”It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and,…

President Donald Trump has renewed calls for a tariff on films made outside the US in a social media post today. On his Truth Social platform, he said: “Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing “candy from a baby.” California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!” “Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States. Thank you for your attention to…

Director Paul Thomas Anderson scored the best North American opening weekend of his career as One Battle After Another delivered another number one debut for Warner Bros on an estimated $22.4m. Overall Friday-Sunday box office amounted to an estimated $76m as 2025 year-to-date reached $6.6bn through Sunday, Comscore reported, to lead 2024 at the comparable stage by 4.2%. Anderson’s Oscar-tipped action adventure earned an A CinemaScore and opened in 3,634 locations. The reported $130m price indicates there is some way to go until it breaks even above $200m worldwide – the film earned around $26.1m internationally – however, this is an excellent…

Entries for the 2026 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each title on this page.  The 98th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 15, 2026 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features. Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 1, 2025. A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to be announced on December 16, 2025, with the final five nominees announced on…

San Sebastian’s Creative Investors Conference, organised in association with CAA Media Finance and Screen contributing editor Wendy Mitchell, in her capacity as festival adviser, brought together a wealth of top US and international executives to talk about how they are adapting and thriving in a fast-changing market. When the thorny topic of AI came up, many said they were using it as a useful tool to “create efficiencies” while not letting it anywhere near the creative side of the business. Screen highlights nine other major themes discussed during the two-day conference. Powerhouse priorities Top execs from Fremantle, Vuelta Group, Mediawan and TF1…