Author: SD

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…

“Both sides of this debate benefit from copyright law,” said a joint response to the UK government’s AI consultation from the UK parliament’s cross-party culture, media and sport committee and the science, innovation and technology committee.  The government is proposing a new exemption in copyright law that would allow tech companies to train their AI models on creative works including films, TV shows and audio recordings without permission, unless creators actively opt out – akin to the European Union’s approach. The letter was addressed to Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology and Lisa Nandy, secretary of state for…

Conclave director Edward Berger will deliver the keynote address at the annual UK Cinema Association conference to be held at Picturehouse Central in London on March 18-19.  Further notable speakers include Nick Rush, Disney’s senior vice president of studio distribution; Eve Gabereau, Vue Lumiere director and Modern Films founder; Erika Lewington, Universal Pictures’ marketing director; Clare Binns, Picturehouse Cinemas managing director; and Matt Smith, head of theatrical distribution at Lionsgate Films UK.  Panels will explore topics including how to attract Gen Z and Alpha audiences, improving the cinema experience, and distributing independent titles.  This year’s event is titled Innovation and…

The 2025 Berlin International Film Festival has reported 336,000 ticket sales – a record across the 75 editions of the festival. Admissions are up slightly on the previous record of 335,986 sales from 2016, with exact figures still to come. The sales from the Berlinale Goes Kiez programme, screening festival films at Berlin neighbourhood cinemas, are also still to be reported. The sales figures are also an increase on the 329,502 tickets sold at the 2024 edition. Numbers of accredited professionals were down slghtly, to 19,000 from 19,968 in 2024. This year’s 75th edition featured around 1,000 public screenings, and…

Worldwide box office: February 14-16 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Ne Zha 2 (various) $279.6m $1.64bn $272.4m $1.63bn 4 2. Captain America: Brave New World (Disney) $180.9m $180.9m $92.4mm $92.4mm 53 3. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (various) $32.8m $34.3m $32.8m $34.3m 73 4. Detective Chinatown 1900 (various) $26m $443.5m $26m $441.6m 8 5. Paddington In Peru (various) $20.3m $128.8m $7.3m $115.8m 54 6. Chhaava (various) $19.1m $19.1m  $17.3m  $17.3m 21 7. Dog Man (Universal) $13.9m …

Dag Johan Haugerud’s Dreams (Sex Love) was awarded the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 22). Scroll down for full list of winners Dreams (Sex Love) sees Haugerud complete his Sex Love Dreams trilogy with the story of a young woman whose writings about a crush on her French teacher shock her mother and grandmother, causing them to re-examine their own fantasies. M-Appeal are handling sales. Haugerud said on stage that it was “beyond [his] wildest dreams” to win the Golden Bear, and speaking in his other life as a librarian and novelist, recommended…