Author: SD

Moana 2 takes to the seas at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend as the Disney sequel launches in 630 cinemas. The sequel opens wider than the 533 venues of its predecessor back in 2016. That title debuted with a mild £2.2m but had a solid run overall, surpassing £20m. Moana 2 sees the eponymous islander, voiced by Auli‘i Cravalho, embark on a journey to find a mythical, lost island. Dwayne Johnson also returns to the voice cast while new additions include comedian Rose Matafeo and Hualalai Chung.  It will have fierce competition from Wicked, fresh from having the…

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (Nov 22-24) Total gross to date Week  1. Wicked (Universal) £13.7m £13.7m 1  2. Gladiator II (Paramount) £4.7m £18.4m  2  3. Paddington In Peru (Studiocanal) £4.2m  £24.4m 3  4. Red One (Warner Bros) £822,000  £5.8m  3  5. Heretic (EFD)  £205,457 £205,457  4 GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.26 Wicked cast its spell on UK-Ireland audiences this weekend, bringing in £13.7m in its debut – the best-performing opening weekend for a stage-to-screen adaptation in the territory, and the biggest opening weekend of 2024.…

Former Curzon head Philip Knatchbull is set to return to the UK arthouse cinema chain and distributor as interim executive chairman following the company’s acquisition by US firm Fortress Investment Group.  Edward Fletcher, who joined the company as CEO in November 2023, has left after spending a year in the role.  Charles S. Cohen’s US company Cohen Media Group acquired Curzon in late 2019. Knatchbull stepped down in November 2023 having helmed the company for 17 years. Former Soda Pictures executive Fletcher took over on November 15, 2023. Earlier this year, Fortress sued billionaire Cohen – also the head of Cohen Brothers Realty…

The Berlinale is to create a new screening venue and a festival hub as part of a bid to revitalise its Potsdamer Platz home. Both venues will be close to the main Berlinale Palast and the CinemaxX screening cinema and in walking distance from the European Film Market at Gropius Bau. The Berlinale said the new venues would help compensate for the loss of around 150,000 screening seats in Potzdamer Platz in recent years and create a more walkable festival. The Stage Bluemax Theater at nearby Marlene-Dietrich-Platz will be adapted as a screening venue for the next edition with a…

Edko Films’ disaster film Cesium Fallout has bounced to the top of China’s box office from Monday (November 4) after opening in second place behind Venom: The Last Dance. It had grossed a total of $16.8m (RMB120m) as of November 7, up from its $12.1 (RMB86.5m) opening weekend, which included previews. The Cantonese-speaking Guangdong province in southern China contributed significantly to the film’s success, accounting for 26.8% of its nationwide cumulative box office. Hong Kong films are generally released in this province in their original Cantonese language, instead of being dubbed in Mandarin for other provinces. Guangdong was also instrumental…

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Nov 15-17)Total gross to dateWeek  1. Gladiator II  (Paramount) £8.8m £9.1m 1  2. Paddington In Peru  (Studiocanal) £6.8m £18.9m 2  3. Red One  (Warner Bros) £1.4m £4.6m 2  4. Heretic  (EFD) £505,119 £4.9m 3  5. Venom: The Last Dance  (Sony) £398,202 £11.8m 4 GBP to USD conversion rate: 1.26 Gladiator II posted a strong £8.8m start at the UK-Ireland box office, for the biggest opening weekend of director Ridley Scott’s career. The Paramount blockbuster comfortably bested the £6.6m start of Scott’s The…

Eliza Petkova’s German-Bulgarian co-production The Worker was among the winners at Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the professional platform of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF). The fifth film from Bulgarian director Petkova, The Worker won the €20,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award in the Baltic Event Co-Production Market. Currently in development with a €2m budget of which €450,000 is already secured, The Worker follows a Roma man who leaves his Bulgarian family for work in Germany, where he constructs a façade of living a luxurious life while he struggles as an undocumented worker. Scroll down for the full list of winners…

Universal’s Broadway adaptation Wicked has earned an estimated $19.2m from advance screenings and previews at the North American box office. The first part in John M.Chu’s adaptation starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande earned $2.5m from Amazon Prime screenings in 750 US theatres on Monday, $5.7m from 2,000 theatres in the US and Canada on Wednesday, and $11m from standard previews in 3,300 sites on Thursday. Wicked has earned rave reviews and is forecast to gross in the region of $120m in North America this weekend, when it goes against Paramount’s big opener, Gladiator II. The record-holder for a Broadway…

Anselm Chan’s The Last Dance has broken multiple records, rejuvenating the Hong Kong box office after a lacklustre six months since the release of blockbuster Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In. Just nine days after its opening on November 9, the Hong Kong drama has grossed almost $7.7m (HK$60m) at the local box office so far. This includes $1.1m (HK$8.6m) – or $1.2m (HK$9.18m) inclusive of Macau – on November 16 alone, surpassing 2016’s Cold War 2 ($970,000 / HK$7.56m) to take the biggest single-day box office for a Hong Kong and Chinese-language film. The data is provided by Hong…

Comcast made the formal announcement on Wednesday that it is spinning off the majority of its cable assets into a stand-alone public company. It expects the transaction to close in approximately one year, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals. The new venture will house NBCUniversal cable networks including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, along with complementary digital assets including Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, and Sports Engine. Comcast said the new “SpinCo” entity’s assets will reach approximately 70m US households, adding that over the last 12 months ended September 30 SpinCo generated approximately $7bn…