Author: SD

Black Bear’s horror comedy The Monkey leads the new titles in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as Oscar best picture contender I’m Still Here also makes its bow. Osgood Perkins follows up last year’s horror hit Longlegs with The Monkey launching in 544 cinemas. It is up on Longlegs which opened in 475 locations, also for Black Bear, with that title debuting on £1.4m and enjoying a healthy run ending on £8.1m.  Based on the Stephen King short story, The Monkey stars Theo James, playing two estranged twin brothers who are brought back together by a childhood curse that is wreaking…

Responsibility, a comedy about an ex-convict in need of some quick cash, won the audience vote at the inaugural Funny Features pitching session at the Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) this week.  The Glasgow-set feature follows a 25-year-old Sikh man whose desperate decisions have led to a stint in prison, and now is stuck working as a dishwasher at his family’s restaurant. Kaljeven Lally has written the script and plans to direct, with Isabella Bassett and Jena Hunter producing. The pitching session, which took place on March 6, was the culmination of a comedy lab backed by the BFI Creative Challenge Fund,…

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is enjoying bigger advance sales a week ahead of release in UK and Ireland than was the case in summer 2023 with Barbie, according to two cinema chains that shared data with Screen. At Odeon, by yesterday morning – one week ahead of the film’s February 13 UK and Ireland release – the multiplex chain said it had sold around 70,000 tickets, outselling Barbie in the comparative pre-sale period. Around 20% of tickets had been sold for the Thursday preview day, and around a third for Valentine’s Day (February 14). At boutique chain Curzon,…

Japan’s highest grossing cinema release of 2025 to date isn’t a feature film. It is Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-, a compilation of episodes from an upcoming TV series. After five weeks in cinemas, -Beginning- has earned more than $16.5m (¥2.5bn) from 1.55 million admissions, according to the site Cinema Ranking Tsushin. Distributed by Toho and Bandai Namco Filmworks, the 81-minute collection of re-edited episodes precedes a series that is set to air on Nippon Television in April. It is due for release in the US through Gkids on February 28, when several territories across Asia are also set to…

Robert “Bobby” Meyers, the industry veteran and champion of independent film who was a founding member of the American Film Market, has died. He was 90. Meyers passed away at his home in New Jersey on March 2. He began his career in the 1950s and worked in various roles before joining Columbia Pictures International, where he served in Paris and Brussels, eventually becoming the European sales manager. He later held executive positions at National General Pictures, Lorimar Motion Pictures, Filmways Productions, Orion Pictures, and Village Roadshow, playing a pivotal role in international film sales and distribution. During his career…

Picturehouse’s The Last Showgirl leads the new titles in an otherwise quiet weekend for releases in UK and Ireland cinemas. Gia Coppola’s drama is out in 277 locations and is Picturehouse Entertainment’s widest opening ever, ahead of Anatomy Of A Fall in 160 sites, which was released in partnership with Lionsgate in 2023. The Last Showgirl stars Pamela Anderson – in a Golden Globe- and SAG-nominated performance – as a seasoned showgirl whose Las Vegas show is about to come to an end after a 30-year run. Other cast include Jamie Lee Curtis, Billie Lourd, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song and Dave Bautista.…

Rank   Film (origin) DistributorFeb 21-23 gross   Total   Week 1 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy  (UK-Fr-US) Universal  £6.9m £27.3m 2 2  Captain America: Brave New World   (US) Disney  £2.9m £13.2m 2 3  Dog Man  (US) Universal  £2m £11m 3 4 The Monkey  (US) Black Bear £1m £1.1m 1 5  Mufasa: The Lion King    (US)                                       Disney £585,083 £32.3m 10 GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.26 Bridget Jones: Mad About…

Rank   Film (origin)  Distributor Feb 14-16 gross   Total   Week 1 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy  (US-Fr-UK) Universal  £10.2m £12.3m 1 2  Captain America: Brave New World  (US) Disney  £6.4m £6.4m 1 3  Dog Man  (US) Universal  £1.9m £5.6m 2 4 Heart Eyes  (US) Paramount £613,000 £710,000 1 5  Mufasa: The Lion King   (US)                                       Disney £453,824 £30.9m 9 GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.26…

Juliette Binoche, Pedro Almodovar and Mohammad Rasoulof are among those who have signed a petition in support of My Favourite Cake filmmakers Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, whose trial begins in Iran tomorrow (March 1). The filmmakers face allegations concerning their feature My Favourite Cake, which premiered at Berlin in 2024 and won the Fipresci and Ecumenical jury prizes. Moghaddam and Sanaeeha are accused of “propaganda against the regime”, “production, distribution and duplication of a film with obscene content”, “offending public decency and morality” and “screening the film without obtaining a screening/distribution license”. The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) has…

Detectives in New Mexico have obtained a search warrant as they probe the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa under circumstances “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation”. Law enforcement submitted the affidavit requesting the warrant after Hackman, 95, and his wife, classical pianist Arakawa, 63, and a dog were found dead in separate rooms by a maintenance worker at their home on Old Sunset Trail, Santa Fe, on Wednesday. According to the affidavit, the body of a man was found in a mud room, where people remove muddy or wet outerwear, in the…