Author: SD

Universal Pictures International’s horror Obsession is the widest new release this weekend in UK and Ireland cinemas, while several studios have key re-releases. Curry Barker’s Obsession is opening in 487 locations. The Focus Features horror centres on a music store employee who uses a supernatural toy to wish that his childhood friend were in love with him. It premiered to critical acclaim at Toronto film festival where it screened as part of the Midnight Madness programme. Universal also has a re-release of the 2001 animation Shrek in 463 sites. The film grossed over £30m in its original run. Elsewhere, Picturehouse Entertainment…

UK and Ireland box office is forecast to hit £1.19bn ($1.61bn) in 2026 – a healthy 10% rise on 2025, following three years where cinema takings in the territory have essentially plateaued. That was the message from media measurement and analytics company Comscore, setting the stage at the start of the UK Cinema Association’s two-day annual conference this week (May 12-13). Film data and insights specialist Gower Street Analytics provided the 2026 forecast. Lucy Jones, executive director at Comscore Movies, also revealed that UK and Ireland box office is tracking 16% up on 2025 for the year to date (to…

Peter Jackson revealed that he has been working on the script for his Tintin film while attending Cannes Film Festival. “I’ve been working with Fran [Walsh, Jackson’s partner] on another Tintin script, I was writing it in the hotel room here,” said Jackson in his Rendezvous session at the festival, discussing his career and upcoming works. “It’s an active real thing, and I’m getting back into the Tintin world, and I actually love it.” Jackson revealed the pact he made with Steven Spielberg on Tintin, with the New Zealand filmmaker having produced Spielberg’s 2011 The Adventures Of Tintin. “The deal…

Peter Jackson collected the honorary Palme d’Or from Lord Of The Rings star Elijah Wood at the opening night ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival tonight (May 12). The evening, which was followed by the world premiere of Pierre Salvadori’s The Electric Kiss, was heavy on stars and light on politics. Jackson received a long standing ovation before accepting the award and called it “miraculous and unexpected” because “I don’t make Palme d’Or films” and later in his speech adding: “I’m not a Palme d’Or kind of guy.” He spoke about coming to Cannes in 2001 to screen a 20-minute preview sequence from The…

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian Oscar nominee The Secret Agent won seven awards at the 13th Platino Awards in Mexico on Saturday (May 9) led by Best Ibero-American fiction film. The slow-burn thriller about an engineer in 1977 who tries to reunite with his son while evading the dictatorship’s agents also earned awards for director, actor, screenplay, art direction, original score, and editing. Saturday’s event at Riviera Maya – named the Premios Platinos Xcaret in honour of the host hotel – brought further recognition to a formidable awards run that has seen The Secret Agent garner four Oscar nominations, and four prizes in Cannes…

EXCLUSIVE: Korea’s K-Movie Entertainment is to launch sales at the Cannes market on Amara, a supernatural horror from Troll and Tomb Raider director Roar Uthaug. The English-language feature is based on an original idea by Uthaug and screenwriter Espen Aukan, the Norwegian creative duo behind Netflix global franchise Troll. Set in Thailand, the story follows a group of international backpackers who become entangled in a curse connected to an unsolved death. Blending supernatural mythology with mounting paranoia, the film is inspired by the folklore of Southeast Asia. Now in development, it will mark the next feature from Uthaug, the director…

Amazon MGM’s The Sheep Detectives is the widest new release in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend, as Mortal Kombat II and Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard And Soft: The Tour also launch. Sony is distributing Amazon’s The Sheep Detectives in 654 locations. Hugh Jackman leads an ensemble cast in this offbeat murder mystery about a herd of sheep who endeavour to solve the murder of their beloved shepherd. It is written by Craig Mazin, whose credits include TV series Chernobyl and The Last Of Us. Further cast includes Nicholas Galitzine, Hong Chau, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Emma Thompson, Brian Cranston, Bella Ramsey, Regina Hall,…

Leading international filmmakers Joachim Trier, Ruben Östlund, Yorgos Lanthimos and Francis Ford Coppola and actors Juliette Binoche, Sandra Huller and Stellan Skarsgård are among thousands to sign an open letter calling on the European Union to continue supporting cinema. The open letter, titled ‘Cinema needs Europe, Europe needs cinema’ has so far collected over 4,500 signatures. It highlights the success of the EU’s Creative Europe Media programme, launched in 1991 to reinforce European cultural diversity and to help films travel beyond their national borders. “Without Media, we would all be a little less European,” says the letter. Scroll down to…

EXCLUSIVE: Upgrade will commence talks in Cannes next week on Iain Softley’s Ireland-set dark comedy thriller Killing Kelly starring Jason Isaacs and Thomasin McKenzie. Production is scheduled to begin this autumn in Dublin, with Fisher Stevens’ Highly Flammable newly on board the creative team alongside producers Zak Kilberg, Michael Garland of Grand Pictures, and Sarah Curtis and Softley for Forthcoming Films. Screen Ireland is supporting the project and J. Todd Harris’s Branded Pictures is co-financing. Killing Kelly centres on Murphy, a shy young taxidermist who toils endlessly for his abusive boss, the titular Kelly played by Isaacs. Provoked by yet another…

Guillermo del Toro will jet into Cannes to attend the 20th anniversary screening of Pan’s Labyrinth, which has been announced as part of this year’s Cannes Classics line-up. A 4K restored print of del Toro’s fantasy fable set during the Franco regime in 1940s Spain, regarded by many as the Mexican filmmaker’s masterpiece, will be presented in a pre-opening screening on May 12. The film remains part of Cannes folklore for the record 22-minute standing ovation and went on to garner Oscars for cinematography, art direction, and make-up. Cineverse holds North American rights. The Cannes Classics line-up announced on Tuesday…