Author: SD

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…

Warner Bros’ F1 leads new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as Joseph Kosinski’s racing drama speeds into 710 cinemas. The film, which began previews on Wednesday (June 25), is out in slightly fewer sites than Kosinski’s previous title – the post-Covid smash hit Top Gun: Maverick. The Tom Cruise-starrer launched in 737 locations back in 2022 and opened with an impressive £11.2m before grossing £83.7m across its run. Brad Pitt takes the wheel for F1 as a reluctant mentor to a talented, yet untested, young driver played by Damson Idris. Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon and Sarah Niles also feature…

Sony Pictures Entertainment will handle international distribution on four upcoming releases for Amazon MGM Studios as part of a multi-year agreement, as the latter continues to build its own international theatrical distribution infrastructure. The first title is Luca Guadagnino’s After The Hunt, a psychological drama starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri and Andrew Garfield that is set for US release on October 10. The 2026 titles under the agreement are Timur Bekmambetov’s Chris Pratt thriller Mercy (US release January 23, 2026), heist film Crime 101 starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry (February 13, 2026) and Project Hail Mary, an adaptation…

BBC Film director Eva Yates, Stephan Graham, Oscar winners Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin and Gints Zilbalodis, and filmmakers Rose Glass and Coralie Fargeat are among 534 people who have been invited to join the Academy. The list includes Irish actor Andrew Scott, British luminaries Jodie Comer, Emma Corrin and Adam Pearson, as well as Fernanda Torres, Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan. Directors Jane Schoenbrun, Halina Reijn, Mamadou Dia, Emily Atef, and freshly anointed Cannes special award winner Bi Gan are also invited. Executive and producer invitees include marketing veteran Heta Paarte from FilmNation, sales heads Andrew Herwitz from The Film Sales Company and Kristen Figeroid…

EXCLUSIVE: Georgia Oakley has signed on to direct a feature version of Sense And Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones for Working Title Films and Focus Features. Production on the adaptation of the novel by Jane Austen begins next month in the UK. The film is Oakley’s follow-up to her debut feature Blue Jean which premiered in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori in 2022, winning the People’s Choice award. It went on to win four British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) and a Bafta nomination for outstanding British debut.  The script is by Australian author Diana Reid, whose novels include Signs Of Damage, Seeing Other…

Irish director Colum Eastwood’s horror film The Morrigan and Mark Forbes’ class divide documentary Quiet On Set  are among the films set to world premiere at the 37th edition of Galway Film Fleadh, taking place from July 8-13 in Ireland.  Quiet On Set explores class division in the UK film industry and features actors Maxine Peake and Vicky McClure, writer Paul Laverty and filmmakers Sean McAllister and Kolton Lee.   The Morrigan follows an archaeologist who unearths a burial casket of a mummified figure and unleashes an ancient evil upon her team. The cast includes Saffron Burrows, James Cosmo, Toby Stephens and Antonia Campbell-Hughes. Galway is opening…

“I’m going to do a rewrite,” said Romanian director Andrei Tanase of his script, following the feedback he received from international experts at Croatia’s Slano Film Days. Tanase is a member of one of the teams from eight feature film projects in development that attended the CineLink Workshop as part of Slano Film Days, held June 17-21. It takes place ahead of the full CineLink programme at Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Sarajevo Film Festival from August 15-22. The workshop helped connect the regional filmmakers with international experts in production, finance, distribution, and sales. The programme also offered tailored consultations and expert-led sessions…

Sony horror 28 Years Later and Disney animation Elio will hope to lure audiences into UK and Irish cinemas over what is expected to be a heatwave weekend. Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later leads the charge in 707 sites for Sony. The third film in the post-apocalyptic horror franchise comes 23 years after Boyle’s 28 Days Later, which opened on £1.5m and grossed £6.4m at the box office in 2002 as well as being a surprise hit internationally, taking $83m worldwide. In 2007, the Juan Carlos Fresnadillo-directed sequel 28 Weeks Later debuted in the UK with £1.6m from 401 screens for a…