Author: SD

Worldwide box office: January 24-26 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories 1.  Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney)  $24.1m  $626.7m  $15.4m  $405.6m   53 2.   Flight Risk (various)  $16.2m  $16.2m  $4.2m  $4.2m  40 3.   Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Paramount)  $16.1m  $446.6m  $10.6m  $220.5m  65 4.   Moana 2 (Disney)  $10.1m  $1.03bn  $5.8m  $576m  53 5.   One Of Them Days (Sony)  $8m  $25.1m  -  -  3 6.   A Complete Unknown (Disney)  $8m  $74.2m  $4.9m  $11.3m  13 7.   Wolf Man (Universal)  $7m  $27.7m  $3.6m  $9.9m  76 8.   Octopus With Broken Arms (various)  $6.8m  $124.6m …

UK cinema admissions increased 2.3% in 2024 compared to the previous year, but the average ticket price fell, according to figures from the Cinema Advertising Association. The total number of admissions in 2024 was 126.5 million. Overall, the box office takings for 2024 have remained flat year-on-year across UK-Ireland, at £1.06bn – just 0.2%, or £3m down from 2023, and 8% up on 2022. December was the strongest month of the year, with 15.7 million admissions, almost 36% up on the same month in 2023. November admissions were 77% up on the same month in 2023. Films released in November that boosted the…

French films took an estimated €250.2m in overseas markets in 2024 from 38.1 million admissions, according to projected annual figures released by Unifrance today (January 13). This represents an 11% drop from 2023’s final tally of €271.4m and 42.7 million admissions although the final 2024 figures won’t be announced until October. Last year’s January predicted figures for 2023 (€234m and 37.4 million admissions) ended up being surpassed by the final numbers.  Show Fullscreen Dramatic films led the way with 26.1% of ticket sales abroad, followed by comedies at 21.8%, and action and adventure films with 21.3%; animation – 2023’s top genre…

Lionsgate action Flight Risk sets off in 524 cinemas in the UK and Ireland this weekend as severe storm warnings see site closures in some parts of the country.  Mel Gibson directs this plane-set thriller starring Mark Wahlberg. The story surrounds an Air Mashal who is accompanying an informant to trial on a flight which has been infiltrated by a hit man. Topher Grace and Michelle Dockery also star. Wahlberg’s last major outing at the box office was 2022’s Uncharted, which opened on £4.7m from 580 cinemas. Gibson returns to the director’s chair for the first time since 2017 when Hacksaw Ridge…

Jonathan Pryce and Nick Mohammed are set to lead the cast of Mat Whitecross’ comedy murder mystery Sleeping Lions for Mister Smith Entertainment, which is launching sales at the European Film Market. Developed and to be distributed by Sky in the UK and Ireland, the film will shoot in the UK later this year.  Written by James Roblin, Sleeping Lions is a contemporary adaptation of Cyril Hare’s 1951 novel An English Murder. Pryce will play the dying Earl of Warbeck who summons his nearest and dearest for a final Christmas at Warbeck Hall. When a snowstorm hits, the guests are cut off from…

Ben Roberts, chief executive of the British Film Institute (BFI), and BFI chair Jay Hunt today said they were in talks with the UK government regarding the possibility of rejoining the Creative Europe Media programme. Hunt confirmed there are “more positive noises from this [Labour] government” about rejoining Creative Europe, in comparison to the former Conservative government. The UK was forced to withdraw from the funding programme following the country’s exit from the European Union. However, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway are not part of the EU but can participate in the programme as a third country. According to the BFI, the UK…

Rank Film (origin)  DistributorJan 24-26 gross  Total  Week 1 A Complete Unknown (US)                                 Disney  £1.7m £5.9m 2 2  Mufasa: The Lion King  (US)         Disney  £1.4m £27.9m 6 3  Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (US)  Paramount  £872,000 £23.3m 5 4 Flight Risk (US) Lionsgate  £810,244 £810,244 1 5  The Brutalist (US-UK)                                           Universal £703,617 £753,400 1 …

On the eve of Sundance Film Festival (January 23-Februrary 2) many filmmakers and executives had already descended upon Park City for the 2025 edition. As attendees sample the blend of work from established talents and the promise of discoveries, amid the customary mingling and business side of things there will be real stories of heartbreak. Scroll down for list of acquisition titles The devastating LA County wildfires are likely to have impacted many from the Los Angeles region who make the journey to the Utah mountains. The writer-director team of Meera Menon and husband Paul Gleason behind Midnight zombie selection…

Uncertainty hangs over next month’s Berlinale screening of BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions after the film’s backer Participant pulled it from Sundance claiming director Kahlil Joseph made an unauthorised new cut. In a letter dated January 21, lawyers for now defunct company’s said it was “shocked” to learn several hours before a screening at CAA for critics last Friday (January 17) that Joseph had prepared a new version. Claiming “breach of trust”, Participant said it learned the filmmaker and video installation artist “secretly” delivered the new cut to CAA, to the New York screening room Participant had paid for, to Sundance,…

Rank  Film (origin)   Distributor Jan 17-19 gross   Total   Week 1 A Complete Unknown (US)                                 Disney  £2.6m £2.6m 1 2  Mufasa: The Lion King  (US)         Disney  £1.6m £26.1m 5 3  Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (US)  Paramount  £1.1m £22.3m 4 4 Nosferatu (US) Universal  £1.1m £10.9m 3 5  We Live In Time (UK-Fr)                                  …