Author: SD

France’s box office declined in July with 14.8 million admissions (€108m), a 17.3% drop compared to the same month last year according to figures from the CNC. Since January 1, the country has clocked 89.5 million admissions (€653m), down 13.6% on the same period in 2024. That is the lowest figure since 1999 (84.7 million admissions) excluding the pandemic period of 2020, 2021 and 2022. US blockbusters dominated the charts in July with Jurassic World Rebirth (Universal) leading the charge with 2.4 million admissions since its July 4 release, followed by F1 (Warner Bros) on 1.6 million in July, and…

David Ellison has unveiled the New Paramount leadership team in the wake of US government approval of the Skydance Media-Paramount Global merger that is expected to close this week. Chairman and CEO David Ellison and president Jeff Shell will preside over three segments, with former Netflix vice president of original content, CEO of Sister, and recent Skydance advisor Cindy Holland leading the streaming business; Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg overseeing studios; and George Cheeks in charge of TV media. Greenstein is the former president of Sony Pictures Entertainment film group who becomes co-chair of Paramount Pictures and vice chair of…

EXCLUSIVE: Susanna White’s Prima Facie, starring Cynthia Erivo, is gearing up to shoot at London’s Story Works Studios in the autumn, marking the first independent feature to shoot at the studios. The UK-Australian co-production is an adaptation of Suzie Miller’s Tony- and Olivier award-winning play. Australia’s Bunya Productions produces alongside the UK’s Embankment Films, in association with Story Works Studios. Embankment also represents sales, with UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance co-representing for the US. Miller has adapted the play for the screen.  UK producers Damian Keogh and Simon Vaughan founded 22-acre site Story Works at a former…

Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, director of the controversial DAU immersive art project and films, will be a special guest at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival. The festival will screen a retrospective of his films as part of the ‘Tribute to’ programme. Russia-born filmmaker Khrzhanovskiy is artistic director of the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center in Kyiv, the largest Holocaust research and memorial centre in Eastern Europe. His long-gestating DAU project was made from 700 hours of footage, from which came 14 feature films, three TV series, video performances and scientific films were created. The films included DAU. Natasha and DAU. Degeneration, both…

UK-Ireland box office was up 3% in July 2025 on 2024, with year-on-year takings now up for eight of the last nine months. July 2025 revenue came in at £107.4m, 3% up on £103.8m in July 2024. The year-to-date is now £639m, 15% ahead of 2024; although back to 1% behind 2023, when the Barbenheimer phenomenon boosted July takings. Universal’s Jurassic World Rebirth roared with £30.3m in the month – ahead of the three big titles from July last year, Despicable Me 4 (£28.3m), Deadpool And Wolverine (£25.5m) and Inside Out 2 (£16.3m). UK-Ireland July 2025 top 10  Rank Title (origin) DistributorRelease date  July total Total 1   Jurassic…

The German production community has welcomed plans for a major increase to the country’s production incentive programme. The German government has earmarked a near 100% increase in funding for the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF I and II) and German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF) from 2026. Funding for the two production incentive schemes would rise from €133m annually to €250m from next year and for the three years from 2027-2029. The funding increase was set out in the German government’s 2026 draft budget passed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet and unveiled by Germany’s finance minister Lars Klingbeil, following agreement with…

Nearly 40 filmmakers have signed a letter urging Mubi, the arthouse distributor, streaming platform and producer, to sever its ties with Sequoia Capital, an investment firm with ties to the Israeli military, and publicly condemn Sequoia for “genocide profiteering” in light of the war in Gaza. The filmmakers to sign the letter have previously worked with Mubi, and join the mounting pressure on the company to reconsider its relationship with Sequoia.These include Finland’s Aki Kaurismäki, whose Cannes 2023 Competition title Fallen Leaves was distributed by Mubi; US filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer, whose The End was bought by Mubi for UK-Ireland, Germany and…

EXCLUSIVE: London arts venue the Barbican has named US film curator Rebecca Fons as its head of cinema. Fons will take up the role from early September, and is relocating to the UK. She joins from the Gene Siskel Film Center, a public programme of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is currently working as the director of programming. Fons was also the programming director for the historic Iowa Theater in her hometown of Winterset. She takes over from Cary Sawhney, who held the position on an interim basis, after Gali Gold left the post in…

UK-Ireland top five, July 25-27  RankTitle (origin)  Distributor July 25-27Total  Week 1  The Fantastic Four: First Steps  (US)  Disney  £6.1m  £8.1m  1 2   Superman  (US)  Warner Bros  £1.9m  £21.4m  3 3   The Bad Guys 2  (US)  Universal  £1.6m  £1.6m  1 4   Jurassic World Rebirth  (US)  Universal  £1.6m  £28.8m  4 5   F1: The Movie  (US)  Warner Bros  £649,942  £19.7m  5 GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.34 The Fantastic Four: First Steps made a strong start at the UK-Ireland box office with a £6.1m opening weekend – the biggest for a…

Zachary Wigon’s Victorian Psycho and two projects from faith-based US distributor Angel Studios, the feature Young Washington and series The Wayfinders, are among a slew of international and local projects shooting in Ireland this summer. Many productions will be hoping to wrap ahead of series three of Netflix’s Wednesday, which is expected to return to shoot in Ireland in the autumn, employing many Irish crew. The second series was, according to Screen Ireland, the largest production to ever shoot in the country.  US filmmaker Wigon’s Victorian Psycho stars Longlegs actor Maika Monroe alongside Jason Isaacs and Thomasin McKenzie, and will film across Ireland and the UK from August 18. The…