Author: SD

Dustin Hoffman spoke up for the importance of film festivals in maintaining film as an art form, in accepting an honorary Crystal Globe at the opening night of the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF). “I want to thank Karlovy Vary film festival for serving this love of filmmaking,” said US actor Hoffman. “Festivals like this one help to support and inspire all the young actors and filmmakers who pursue this work with passion and love, and that’s what makes it truly meaningful. “So thank you for the honour of this award, but more importantly, thank you for joining…

China’s box office suffered a steep contraction in the first half of 2026 as takings fell to $2.56bn (RMB17.35bn), down by 40.6% year-on-year. Some 421 million cinema admissions were recorded in the first six months from 73.29 million screenings nationwide. The average ticket price was $6 (RMB41.1). Box office takings were marginally higher than the $2.53bn (RMB17.18bn) taken in the first half of 2022, at a time when cinemas were not always fully operational due to fresh waves of the Covid virus. Excluding pandemic years, the figures are the lowest since 2014’s $2bn (RMB13.59bn), according to data released by ticketing…

Super Early Bird tickets are now on sale for Screen International’s third annual summit, ’Financing the future of UK film’, which is taking place on September 29, 2026, at BFI Southbank in London. The Super Early Bird offer price is £195+VAT. The summit will bring together executives, filmmakers and fresh voices for a day of talks and networking to explore the new money, talent and ideas driving the sector at a time of significant disruption and opportunity. The sessions will cover: What private equity investors are looking for from UK producers How indie filmmakers can structure projects to appeal…

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has launched Alamo Exclusives to bring unreleased festival premieres directly to the company’s US circuit as exhibitors continue to seek ways to boost audience engagement. The distribution programme will offer limited-run theatrical engagements to popular titles from festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, TIFF, Cannes, Berlin, and Alamo’s Fantastic Fest. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s content team is not acquiring the films; rather it is making direct deals for one-off limited releases. It is hoped that by bringing additional exposure the programme will spur a life for the features through separate theatrical or non-theatrical deals with third parties. Screen understands…

UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy is “minded to intervene” in Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), citing concerns over plurality of views in news media and of people in control of media enterprises. Nandy made a written statement to parliament today, in which she noted her capacity to intervene when necessary in a merger that affects the public interest. The statement said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has written to both Paramount and WBD on her behalf to inform them she is minded to intervene on the following public interest grounds: ”The need for, to the…

Comcast is splitting its business into two by creating a media and entertainment-focused company called NBCUniversal, which will be home to the Universal film and TV studios, Sky, and a separate entity called Comcast that will house its broadband and wireless business. The move comes as the US giant looks to wrap up a £1.6bn deal to buy the broadcast and streaming assets of ITV, which would sit within the new NBC Universal business. The standalone company will also own NBC and Telemundo networks, streamer Peacock, cable networks such as Bravo and a raft of theme parks. The tax-free deal…

A24 has defended its AI partnership with Google following an outpouring of sentiment against the move. A spokesperson for the company behind this summer’s $300m-plus global smash Backrooms said, “This is a research partnership. We’re working side-by-side with Google DeepMind’s researchers to learn, iterate, and build, having an active hand in shaping new tools and workflows.” The statement continued, “Our relationship with our audience is something we don’t take for granted. This partnership exists because we want to dictate what tools get built for artists, and so they have a voice in shaping them rather than having tools handed to…

Raul Garcia and Ervin Han’s The Violinist won the Cristal for best film at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, with several prizes also for Louis Clichy’s Iron Boy. The Violinist sees a reporter uncover the mystery behind an ageing violin legend and her treasured instrument, finding a forgotten story of love, war and music that spans 80 years. Scroll down for the full list of feature film winners The film is produced by Garcia and Takafumi Yuki for Japan’s Throne Inc, with Han for Singapore’s Robot Playground Media, Paloma Mora for Spain’s TV On Producciones, and Cristiano Bortone for Italy’s…

Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution at Disney, had a clear message for exhibitors attending the CineEurope convention this week. Disney has a longer exclusive theatrical window than any other studio: an average of around 60 days, and more than 90 days in the case of Avatar: Fire And Ash. “Cinemas matter,” said Cripps. And the commitment to theatrical has been measured at the worldwide box office, added Cripps, with Disney the top-grossing studio in 2025 – a feat it has achieved for nine of the past 10 years. The reliably slick Disney CineEurope presentation was well-paced, did not overstay…

Paramount’s $111bn (£84bn) takeover of Warner Bros Discovery is set to be approved by European Union regulators, according to reports.  The deal was given the green light by the US Department of Justice earlier in June and is now close to securing the nod by the EU’s European Commission, according to a report in the Financial Times today.  Certain caveats would apply, the newspaper added, including Paramount potentially having to pull out of its United International Pictures film distribution joint venture with Universal Pictures. Reuters also reported that a proposal to that effect would be made to EU regulators on Tuesday, 30 June,…