Author: SD

Kieron J. Walsh’s Skintown has won the £50,000 Sean Connery prize for feature filmmaking excellence at the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF). Skintown is the story of two best friends who plan to escape small town life in Northern Ireland during the 1994 ceasefire. Jack Rowan and Chris Walley star in the film, which is based on Ciaran McMenamin’s novel (who also wrote the screenplay). Visit Films are handling sales. The film was one of 10 feature-length world premieres competing for the Sean Connery prize voted on by the audience. Sinda Agha’s Grief Room won the £15,000 Thelma Schoonmaker prize for…

With less than one month until the start of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Canadian powerhouse Elevation Pictures has announced that co-president Laurie May has stepped down, effective immediately. May, one of the most accomplished executives in the Canadian film industry, issued a terse statement on Tuesday morning that read: “From founding Elevation and working with our team to building it to the top distribution company in Canada, I am excited to now move forward and pursue my other passions.” Sources expressed surprised at the news and at time of writing the reasons were unclear behind May’s abrupt departure heading…

Paramount lawyers have filed a legal request that the 12 US state attorneys general and Writers Guild of America (WGA) pay a $1.88bn bond in connection with their antitrust case against the media company’s proposed merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). Last week David Ellison’s company said it had cleared regulatory hurdles around the world and was confident the $111bn transaction “could and would close today […] but for the actions of just 12 state attorneys general”. In a filing with a California district court on Monday morning, Ellison’s lawyers argued that the plaintiffs pay the bond by September 30 to cover financial…

Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day scored the second-highest third weekend at the North American box office with an estimated $70m haul that propelled the webslinger past Avatar to rank fourth in the all-time domestic rankings. Now standing at $785.8m after 17 days, Destin Daniel Cretton’s Brand New Day starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, and Jon Bernthal has overtaken Avatar on $785.2m with 2021 predecessor Spider-Man: No Way Home on $814.9m and 2019 smash Avengers: Endgame on $858.4m firmly within its sights. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens remains the leader on $936.7m. All numbers are unadjusted…

A queue of several hundred ticket-holders sporting orange bucket hats outside Leith Theatre was an indication of the anticipation for the Trainspotting live event at Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) on Friday, August 14 – a screening of Danny Boyle’s 1996 film with running commentary from cast and crew. The live event was a centrepiece occasion for this year’s EIFF. Hats with the film’s ‘Choose life’ slogan were presented to every attendee, before an evening that often resembled more a rock gig combined with a club night, than a traditional film festival screening. Starting from 8pm, the high-energy tone was set by a…

The resurrection of Todd Haynes’ De Noche has enabled better creative opportunities for the project, according to producer Christine Vachon. The film is a romantic drama starring Pedro Pascal and Danny Ramirez, as two men in the 1930s who fall in love and leave the US for Mexico. It shot earlier this year around Mexico City and is in post-production; the film had previously fallen apart in summer 2024, when Joaquin Phoenix exited the project days before the start of filming. “If you take the Pollyanna, glass-half-full version of everything happens for a reason, maybe the reason was that this…

On this week’s episode of The Screen Podcast, the team delves into the future of horror films, from YouTubers to the rising talents from the UK and Ireland.   Watch above or listen below To download or subscribe to future episodes, search for ’The Screen Podcast’, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast and YouTube. Host Wendy Mitchell is joined by Screen’s reviews editor Nikki Baughan to discuss what the success of YouTuber horror films Backrooms and Obsession this summer says about the future of the genre. “I don’t think they’re the saviours of horror,” Baughan says of the directors, Curry Barker and Kane Parsons. “I…

Sony Pictures will handle international theatrical distribution on Netflix Animation Studios’ Charlie vs. The Chocolate Factory in November 2027. The feature will open globally on November 5 2027 and get a 47-day exclusive theatrical window before it debuts on the platform on December 22 2027. It is understood there will be box-office reporting although it was unclear at time of writing who will publish the numbers. Netflix and Sony recently announced their first international distribution arrangement on Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, which marks the first time there will be box-office reporting on a Netflix film. The fantasy tentpole from the director of…

At the Locarno Film Festival this week, Italian-born Marco Perego of producer and financier Leaf Entertainment outlined his strategy for backing international arthouse filmmakers. His in-conversation talk as part of Locarno Pro came in the year in which he has supported films including Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner Fjord, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s  Cannes Grand Prix winner Minotaur, and James Gray’s Cannes competition title Paper Tiger.  He also backed Kantemir Balagov’s Directors’ Fortnight title, Butterfly Jam. Without revealing precise figures, Perego said he is “deploying a lot of capital” in investing in and supporting films by auteur directors. A former football player turned conceptual artist, the Italian-born…

UK-Ireland top five, August 7-9  Rank  Film (origin)  Distributor  August 7-9  Total  Week 1  Spider-Man: Brand New Day (US)  Sony  £12m  £65.1m  2 2   The Odyssey (US)  Universal  £5.3m   £61.5m  4 3   Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie (US)  Paramount  £1.1m  £1.7m  1 4   Toy Story 5 (US)  Disney  £728,337  £54m  8 5   Minions & Monsters (US)  Universal  £538,922  £16.1m  6 GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.35 Sony’s Spider-Man Brand New Day and Universal’s The Odyssey continued to dominate the box office in the UK and Ireland as both titles passed £60m.…