Author: SD

The total box office at German cinemas in 2024 fell almost 8% year-on-year, according to provisional figures from Comscore. Overall ticket sales totalled €792.5m, down 7.8% on 2023’s € 859m, while total admissions slipped year-on-year by 7.3% from 87.2m to 80.9m. This compared to the 23.7% year-on-year increase in box-office takings and 18.5% in admissions that had been posted between 2022 and 2023. Scroll down for the Top 30 Walt Disney Pictures’ Inside Out 2 was the year’s most successful new release, grossing $56.9m and garnering 5.7m admissions since its opening week on 678 screens on June 12.  The performance of…

President-elect Donald Trump has said he is “most likely” to give TikTok a 90-day reprieve over a ban in the United States that will come into effect on Sunday should the video-sharing app’s Chinese owner ByteDance fail to sell to a non-Chinese buyer. Trump told NBC’s Meet The Press on Saturday that he was looking at the situation and would “probably” announce his decision on Monday, the day of his presidential inauguration. TikTok said on Friday it would be forced to “go dark” on Sunday unless the government gave reassurances that companies like Apple and Google would not be punished for…

The United States Supreme Court has upheld a nationwide TikTok ban in the country that comes into effect on Sunday unless Chinese owner ByteDance finds a new US buyer. The unanimous decision by the Court’s nine Justices upheld the ban last month by a US appeals court and aligns with the belief of US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and the US Department of Justice that the immensely popular video-sharing app presents a national security risk when it is downloaded to US phones. The concern is that the Chinese government could get hold of customer information and might…

David Lynch, director of film classics such as Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and The Elephant Man, and co-creator of  the groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks, has died aged 78. His family announced the news in a Facebook post, saying: “It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, “Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.” It’s a beautiful day…

Omissions and surprises galore There are always more contenders than there are spaces on the nomination ballot but of particular note was that Denzel Washington’s Bafta drought continued as he was left out of the best supporting actor shortlist for Gladiator II. Throughout his near five-decade career, Washington has landed 10 Oscar nominations, and two wins – but a Bafta nomination has eluded him. “Did I do something or say something bad?” he asked Screen last year. UK actors Daniel Craig (Queer), Kate Winslet (Lee) and Michele Austin (Hard Truths) were also left out in the cold, as was Paddington In…

DC’s next superhero title Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow has begun filming in the UK this week for Warner Bros. Milly Alcock stars as the eponymous hero in an origin story following her journey before travelling to Earth. Jason Momoa recently joined the cast, marking his return to the DC Universe following his Aquaman stint, though he will portray a different character this time around – the film’s antihero, Lobo. Further cast includes Matthias Schoenaerts and Eve Ridley. Supergirl is shooting at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden with Craig Gillespie directing. The screenplay is adapted by Ana Nogueira from Tom King’s 2022…

Historical thriller Harbin held its top spot at Korea’s box office on its third outing, taking 38% of all ticket sales across a relatively slower weekend. The film, directed by Woo Min-ho, added $2m from January 10-12 to reach a cume of $27.1m from 4.1 million admissions since its release on December 24, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking service. South Korean outfit CJ ENM recently revealed sales of the feature to 117 countries. The overall performance of the Korean box office over the weekend was down 37% year-on-year. Maintaining its second-place position was Firefighters, which…

Producers Guild of America (PGA) has postponed Sunday’s nominations announcement due to the LA wildfires tragedy. “Out of care and concern for those being affected by the fires, we will be holding the announcement of the PGA award nominees until next week,” a PGA spokesperson said on Sunday. The nominations had already been pushed back from their original date on Friday, and members were granted an extra two days to cast ballots through January 11. LA officials said the Santa Ana winds are expected to pick up and will remain a threat until Wednesday, further hampering efforts of firefighters and…

Disney is donating $15m to relief efforts stemming from the LA wildfires that are reported to have claimed 11 lives, destroyed more than 10,000 structures, and forced more than 130,000 evacuations across the metropolis. The media giant said the funds would be used for emergency response and rebuilding work in light of the crisis that has seen two of the worst fires in the area’s history – Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire – as well as several others that continued to burn into the night on Friday. Paramount has reportedly donated $1m to local organisations including Red Cross and Los…

Newen Connect has boarded Pascal Elbé’s Lucky Star, one of four new comedies the company will launch at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris later this month. Actor/filmmaker Elbé’s fourth feature as a director is set in 1940 France and stars Benoit Poelvoorde as an army deserter who hatches a plan to escape Nazi punishment and protect his wife and son by pretending his family is Jewish, but ends up being swept into the Resistance. Elbé also stars in the film with Audrey Lamy, Zabou Breitman and Hugo Becker. It is produced by Yze’s Yann Zanou and ADNP/QUAD’s Nicolas Adassovsky. Now in post-production, UGC…