Author: SD

Studiocanal has appointed Alex Hamilton as chief international officer and Katheryn Needham as CEO of Studiocanal UK in a reshuffle of its senior team. The appointments will take effect from March 1, 2025. Hamilton, who has been CEO of Studiocanal UK since 2020, will oversee distribution and international operations across all of Studiocanal’s direct distribution territories: France, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Poland, plus Australia and New Zealand. He will also oversee the Studiocanal Kids and Family business, including the Paddington IP.  Needham will take on Hamilton’s current role as UK CEO, having been managing director of…

CAA Media Finance will handle North American sales and Paris-based Jean-Félix Dealberto the rest of the world on Argentinian filmmaker Lucio Castro’s psychological thriller After This Death, which will have its world premiere at Berlin Film Festival as a special gala screening. Castro wrote the script for the film about a woman whose life is thrown into chaos when the musician she’s having an affair with disappears, leaving her to fend off his obsessive fans and attempt to repair her broken marriage. The English-language film shot in upstate New York and stars Mia Maestro, Lee Pace, Philip Ettinger, Rupert Friend…

Two films – local hits The 47 and Undercover – shared the best film prize at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday night (February 8). The 47 begun the ceremony with 14 nominations and won five awards – including best film, supporting actress and actor (Clara Segura and Salva Reina), production design, and special effects.  Arantxa Echevarría’s Undercover received 13 nominations and won best film and best actress for Carolina Yuste. Produced and distributed by The Mediapro Studio, Marcel Barrena’s The 47 is a social drama about a bus driver fighting for rights in a marginalized area of Barcelona, mainly populated…

The number of films made by women and people of other marginalised genders released in the UK is not increasing year on year, according to gender equality in film organisation Reclaim The Frame. Of the 672 titles released in the UK in 2024, only 12% were entirely written and directed by people of a marginalised gender, defined by the charity as those who identify as women (including trans women), non-binary, genderqueer, a-gender, or trans men. Of these most were women, according to Reclaim The France. This is down 1% from last year when it comprised 13%.  The figures compare to 52% of entirely…

Igor Bezinović’s Croatian docu-drama Fiume O Morte! has won the Tiger award of the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).  IFFR’s Tiger competition celebrates up-and-coming filmmakers, with a €40,000 prize. Fiume O Morte! also won the Fipresci award. Bezinović’s Croatia-Italy-Slovenia co-production is set in his home city once known as Fiume, now Rijeka in Croatia. The area has been laid claim to by a variety of nations since the First World War. It fuses documentary with dramatic reconstructions, from the help of locals, to interrogate the city’s past and present. The jury said: “While it is a playful and mischievous film, it presents…

Warner Bros horror Companion leads new releases at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend in 561 cinemas. Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid star in the dark comedy about a weekend away that goes wrong when a human android, built for companionship, reveals itself. It marks the feature debut of Drew Hancock while further cast include Rupert Friend, Lukas Gage and Jaboukie Young-White. Thatcher most recently starred in fellow horror title Heretic which surpassed £6m late last year and Quaid had a role in 2023’s Oppenheimer (£60m). Companion is produced by Zach Cregger who wrote and directed Barbarian which cracked…

Worldwide box office: January 24-26 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories 1.  Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney)  $24.1m  $626.7m  $15.4m  $405.6m   53 2.   Flight Risk (various)  $16.2m  $16.2m  $4.2m  $4.2m  40 3.   Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Paramount)  $16.1m  $446.6m  $10.6m  $220.5m  65 4.   Moana 2 (Disney)  $10.1m  $1.03bn  $5.8m  $576m  53 5.   One Of Them Days (Sony)  $8m  $25.1m  -  -  3 6.   A Complete Unknown (Disney)  $8m  $74.2m  $4.9m  $11.3m  13 7.   Wolf Man (Universal)  $7m  $27.7m  $3.6m  $9.9m  76 8.   Octopus With Broken Arms (various)  $6.8m  $124.6m …

UK cinema admissions increased 2.3% in 2024 compared to the previous year, but the average ticket price fell, according to figures from the Cinema Advertising Association. The total number of admissions in 2024 was 126.5 million. Overall, the box office takings for 2024 have remained flat year-on-year across UK-Ireland, at £1.06bn – just 0.2%, or £3m down from 2023, and 8% up on 2022. December was the strongest month of the year, with 15.7 million admissions, almost 36% up on the same month in 2023. November admissions were 77% up on the same month in 2023. Films released in November that boosted the…

French films took an estimated €250.2m in overseas markets in 2024 from 38.1 million admissions, according to projected annual figures released by Unifrance today (January 13). This represents an 11% drop from 2023’s final tally of €271.4m and 42.7 million admissions although the final 2024 figures won’t be announced until October. Last year’s January predicted figures for 2023 (€234m and 37.4 million admissions) ended up being surpassed by the final numbers.  Show Fullscreen Dramatic films led the way with 26.1% of ticket sales abroad, followed by comedies at 21.8%, and action and adventure films with 21.3%; animation – 2023’s top genre…

Lionsgate action Flight Risk sets off in 524 cinemas in the UK and Ireland this weekend as severe storm warnings see site closures in some parts of the country.  Mel Gibson directs this plane-set thriller starring Mark Wahlberg. The story surrounds an Air Mashal who is accompanying an informant to trial on a flight which has been infiltrated by a hit man. Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery also star. Wahlberg’s last major outing at the box office was 2022’s Uncharted, which opened on £4.7m from 580 cinemas. Gibson returns to the director’s chair for the first time since 2017 when Hacksaw Ridge…