Author: SD

Venom: The Last Dance topped the Korean box office on its first weekend, capturing more than 60% of ticket sales. The third instalment in the Sony franchise took $4.2m from Friday to Sunday (October 25-27) for a cume of $5.7m since opening on October 23, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking system. It may struggle to match the $15.2 taken by predecessor Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2021 let alone the $24.6m taken by 2018’s Venom. In second place was mystery drama A Normal Family, which took $730,000 on its second weekend – half of…

Paramount’s leading the charge this weekend with the highly anticipated Gladiator II, out at 722 sites across the UK and Ireland. The original 2000 historical epic Gladiator was also directed by Ridley Scott and starred Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen and Oliver Reed, taking $466m at the global box office, with over $43m in the UK alone. This time, it’s Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington taking centre stage. A young barbarian named Lucius (Mescal) lives with his wife and child in Numidia, which is invaded and conquered by the powerful Roman army. It is the widest ever opening…

Tricia Tuttle, the director of the Berlin International Film Festival, has said statements made by No Other Land director Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra at the closing ceremony of this year’s festival were not antisemitic, and “any discourse which suggests this… creates danger” for the film’s four directors. In a post on the Berlinale’s Instagram page, Tuttle addressed the latest controversy around the film, which opens in German cinemas today (Thursday, November 14) via ImmerGuteFilme. In its listing page for the film, the Berlin city website Berlin.de had described No Other Land as “exhibiting anti-Semitic tendencies”. This was highlighted by Abraham…

US-based independent film financier TPC has opened an office in London, spurred by the launch of the UK’s Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC) to ignite production of lower and mid-budget movies in the territory.  TPC recently provided finance for Longlegs, starring Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe, and Stephen King adaptation The Monkey, starring Theo James and Elijah Wood, which will be released in February 2025 by Neon. TPC’s parent company is The Forest Road Company, the owner of well-known media and entertainment investment bank ACF which is based in London and Los Angeles. The opening of its London office follows TPC’s…

The Really Local Group (RLG)’s Preston Benson has called on UK industry bodies the UK Cinema Association (UKCA) and the British Film Institute (BFI) to provide greater support for independent cinemas, nearly two weeks after the local council closed the RLG-operated two-screen Catford Mews site in south London, citing non-payment of rent. “We need the UKCA and the BFI to properly engage and help independent cinemas navigate this new world,” said Benson, founder of RLG. Benson suggested the organisations should lead discussions on issues including lengthening the theatrical window, providing flexibility within the “all dates/all show” regime which can be…

Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap, Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding and Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun headed the nominations for the 2024 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas). Comedy Kneecap about the eponymous west Belfast hip-hop trio scored the most nominations with 14, including director, screenplay and best British independent film for Peppiatt – the latter alongside producers Trevor Birney and Jack Tarling – and joint lead performance for its stars Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh. Scroll down for the full list of Bifa 2024 nominations Glass – a Bifa best debut director winner in 2020 for Saint…

While Hugh Grant horror Heretic has the widest opening, it is awards contenders dominating new releases at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend as Juror #2, Anora and Blitz make their way to cinemas. Steve McQueen’s World War Two drama Blitz launches this weekend for Apple TV+ ahead of hitting the streamer later this month. Saoirse Ronan stars as a mother searching for her son, played by newcomer Elliott Heffernan, who runs away after being evacuated from London. McQueen’s last fiction feature Widows opened in 573 sites back in 2018 with £1.6m. His biggest success at the box office…

Venom: The Last Dance is this weekend’s widest opener, playing at 622 locations for Sony. This marks the end of the Tom Hardy-led trilogy, and kicks off with Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote on the run in Mexico. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans and Stephen Graham also star, with Kelly Marcel, writer of the first two films, directing. It is the widest release of the trilogy. The second film, Let There Be Carnage, opened in 596 locations in October 2021 – up by 50 from 2018’s Venom. Venom took £5.6m across its first weekend, while Let There Be Carnage…

Companies and creatives are waking up to the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and worries are easing about the negative impacts of the technology on the film and TV industry, according to delegates at this week’s AI Creative Summit, produced by Screen International and its sister titles Broadcast and Broadcast Tech on November 6. However, there remains acute concern about AI’s impact on jobs and the environment. The overwhelming message of the day was that the technology is too big and fast-growing to ignore. Analyst Cyrus Mewawalla, head of thematic intelligence at Screen’s parent company GlobalData, described generative AI as “one of the fastest growing technology cycles we’ve…

Global arthouse distributor, producer and streaming service Mubi has pulled the plug on its Istanbul festival, over concerns about censorship of its opening night film, Venice premiere Queer starring Daniel Craig. The festival was set to begin on the evening of November 7 and run until November 10. Luca Guadagnino’s drama is based on a novella by William S. Burroughs, and follows a lonely, gay American expat in Mexico City in the 1950s who becomes infatuated with a fellow expat and forms an intimate connection for the first time. Mubi posted a statement on Instagram that said: “Hours before the start of…