Author: SD

Niels Swinkels, EVP and managing director at Universal Pictures International, (UPI) has been promoted and will add president of international distribution at Focus Features to his role. Los Angeles-based Swinkels joined Universal in 2004 as marketing director and was appointed vice president of sales & distribution for the EMEA region in 2006, becoming SVP of the region in 2009. He served four years as managing director of the UK & Ireland before he was named EVP international distribution in 2014, and was promoted to his current role in January 2021. In his new role, announced on Tuesday morning by Veronika…

Wicked franchise director Jon M. Chu has signed on to helm Hot Wheels for Mattel and Warner Bros based on the popular toy car line. Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier will co-write the screenplay after collaborating on They Cloned Tyrone (Taylor’s credits include Creed II), while J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and Chu’s Electric Somewhere are producing. Mattel Studios president and chief content officer Robbie Brenner is producing alongside Chu, Abrams, and Michael Bostick. Arturo Thur de Koós is overseeing for Mattel Studios, with Sheila Walcott and Zach Hamby leading for Warner Bros. Pictures, Jon Cohen for Bad Robot, and…

EXCLUSIVE: Producer Paul Zaentz and director Devin Adair are working on a feature adaptation of Luke Barr’s nonfiction book Provence, 1970: M.F.K Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, And The Reinvention Of American Taste. Adair is currently writing a script for the film. Set in Provence, France, during Christmas in 1970, the 2013 book follows a gathering between six acclaimed culinary figures, who cooked, ate, argued, and talked about the future of food in the US, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. “It’ll be a small dinner movie like My Dinner With Andre or Babette’s Feast,” Zaentz told…

UK-Ireland box office in June 2025 was up 7% on the year before – an excellent result given the release of Inside Out 2 within that period in 2024. June 2025 revenue came in at £76.7m, up from £71.8m across the equivalent period last year. Takings have now increased year-on-year for seven of the last eight months; exhibitors will be cheered to see audience confidence maintained into the crucial summer period. Box office for 2025 has now passed half a billion pounds, at £532.2m; and is up an impressive 18% on the same point last year, as the UK-Ireland box…

The ongoing proposals for a major overhaul of Germany’s national film funding infrastructure have been the subject of heated debate at this year’s Munich International Film Festival (MIFF). A key plank of the reform is a revision of the German Film Law (FFG) which came into effect at the beginning of 2025. But the German film community is still waiting for the introduction of a tax incentive model to attract international film and TV production and an investment obligation in the local sector from the US streaming platforms and the VOD services of Germany’s public and private broadcasters. Bavaria’s prime…

Michael Madsen, who was known for his Hollywood tough guy roles and gained notoriety playing the sadistic Mr. Blonde in regular collaborator Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 crime ensemble Reservoir Dogs, has died. He was 67. According to reports Madsen was found dead by police officers who responded to an emergency call on Thursday morning at his home in Malibu, California. A representative told press he died of a heart attack. Madsen appeared in six Tarantino films including Reservoir Dogs, along with Pulp Fiction, the two Kill Bill films, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. He famously turned down…

After carving out a name for itself as a home for independent and classic cinema in the UK, BFI Player, the British Film Institute’s streaming platform, is now expanding internationally.   In May, BFI Player launched in Finland, and last month it debuted in Sweden. Next year it is likely to launch in Ireland, according to Paul Lewis, director of the BFI Player. “We aim to launch in one new territory each year.” Lewis says English-speaking, culturally similar countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand are among key territories also being considered. India is also “really interesting” as a possible…

Neon has boarded the MRC and T-Street thriller A Place In Hell starring Michelle Williams, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Andrew Scott. The feature marks director Chloe Domont’s follow-up to her 2023 Sundance hit Fair Play. Neon will distribute theatrically in the US and is co-financing the film with MRC and Republic Pictures. The latter handles international distribution and T-Street is producing. Production recently wrapped in New Jersey on the thriller about two women at a high-profile criminal law firm. Fair Play starred Phoebe Dynevor as a high-flying trader who clashes with her boyfriend at the same company. Netflix acquired worldwide rights to that film in a deal…

Rank   Film (origin)  Distributor June 27-29  Total  Week 1  F1 (US) Warner Bros  £4.9m  £7.1m  1 2   28 Years Later  (US-UK) Sony  £2.4m £9.7m  2 3   How To Train Your Dragon (US)  Universal  £2m £15.9m  3 4   Elio (US) Disney £766,000 £2.1m  2 5   Lilo & Stitch  (US) Disney  £539,000 £35.1m  6 GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.37 Warner Bros’ F1 is the weekend’s biggest success, speeding to the UK-Ireland box office top spot with £4.9m from 710 locations. This gives it a site average…

F1 shot out of the gates to deliver a record Apple Original Films opening weekend on an estimated $55.6m from 3,661 cinemas through theatrical distribution partner Warner Bros. Executives at Warner Bros said approximately 55% of weekend business came from premium formats, and Imax sources confirmed their 414 screens generated a whopping $12.8m and over-indexed on 23% of the North American gross. F1 earned $144m worldwide in a new global opening weekend record for Brad Pitt – Screen will report full international details on Monday – and delivered a statement launch from Apple in a genre has not always prospered at the box…