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You know the old saying about the truth being stranger than fiction? Well, it's certainly one that applies to the story of Raynor and Moth Winn, a couple who — after a business deal with a friend went awry — lost their home, suffered a devastating neurodegenerative condition diagnosis for husband Moth, and then decided to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path despite having no prior rambling experience. It's a simultaneously harrowing and inspiring story that first became The Salt Path, a bestselling memoir-cum-travelogue for Raynor Winn, and is now about to become a major new film starring Jason Isaacs (Hello!) and Gillian Anderson. You can check out the newly released trailer below:

If, like us, you're a sucker for walky-talky find yourself films like The Way, Wild, A Walk In The Woods, or The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, then Marianne Elliott's film looks like it'll fit right within the micro-genre's milieu.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has published its annual report including the most complained-about films of 2023; while also reporting an increase in the number of submissions for cinema classification.

The BBFC received 148 complaints about classification decisions in 2023, up from 93 in 2020, 109 in 2021 and 84 in 2022.

2023 films with most classification complaints RankFilm (distributor)ComplaintsRating 1. Five Nights At Freddy’s(Universal) 26 15 2. Billie Eilish Live At The O2(Trafalgar) 17 15 (recut to 12A) 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3(Disney) 15 12A 3. The Abyss(Disney)

15 Unclassified 6. A Man Called Otto(Sony) 5 15 6. The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry(eOne) 5 12A

Universal Pictures’ horror Five Nights at Freddy’s,...

Exclusive: Rebel Moon star Staz Nair is replacing Sacha Dhawan as lead of upcoming Bradford-set BBC crime thriller Virdee.

Doctor Who star Dhawan has dropped out due to scheduling issues, Deadline is told, and will be replaced in the Harry Virdee role by the actor who has also appeared in Game of Thrones and Supergirl.

The adaptation of AA Dhand’s thriller, which Dhand is penning, has unveiled full cast including Aysha Kala (Criminal Record, Indian Summers) as Saima Virdee, Harry’s wife, Nina Singh (The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry) as Tara Virdee, Harry’s niece and a keen crime reporter, with Vikash Bhai (Crossfire, Limbo) playing Harry’s brother-in-law Riaz Hyatt. Kulvinder Ghir (Foundation, Blinded By The Light) and Sudha Bhuchar (Expats, Rules of the Game) will play Harry Virdee’s parents, Ranjit and Jyoti. Other cast include Elizabeth Berrington (Good Omens), Danyal Ismail (All the Lights Still...

Karen Gillan is set to lead the cast “Fools,” a historic comedy exploring the little known story of Mary Tudor and the friendship with her female court jester.

Olivier winner Patsy Ferran (“Mickey 17,” “Hot Milk,” Living), Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Brenda Blethyn (“Pride & Prejudice,” “Atonement”) and the multi-award-winning Jim Broadbent (“The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry,” “The Iron Lady”) will also star in the feature, to be written and directed by BAFTA and triple Emmy winner Guy Jenkin.

Altitude Film Sales will handle international sales, with UTA co-repping North America. The film is set to shoot later this year and is being produced by Ryan Bennett of PaperEpic Productions.

Set in the 16th century in the aftermath of Henry VIII’s death, “Fool” follows England’s first queen Mary I (Gillan) as she takes the throne in a divided country on the brink of chaos. While the...

Although total UK-Ireland box office revenue increased by 4% in 2023 compared to 2022, revenue for UK-qualifying independent films fell by 49% in the same period, according to statistics from the British Film Institute (BFI) released today (February 1).

The total box office revenue for UK qualifying independent films in 2023 was £37.8m, down from the £74.7m total revenue in 2022. The box office market share of UK-qualifying independent films was 3.8%. This is less than half of the share achieved for the same period in 2022 and is the second-lowest share of the past 20 years.

The Great Escaper was the highest-grossing UK independent release with a total box office of £5.3m.

The U.K.’s film and TV industry took a massive hit following last year’s writers and actors strikes, latest figures show.

While the U.K.’s production industry continues to generate billions, inward investment spend on film and high-end TV dropped to £3.31 billion ($4.22 billion) in 2023, a drop of 39 percent on 2022’s £5.37 billion. According to a new report by the British Film Institute, overall spend for 2023 was £4.23 billion ($5.3 billion), down 32 percent on 2022’s £6.27 billion.

The previous two years had seen record figures thanks to the U.K.’s robust Covid response as well as a concurrent production bottle-neck.

The latest total, published by the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit, is on par with pre-pandemic numbers.

Worryingly — but in line with predictions – the majority of that spend (£2.9 billion) came from just 168 high-end TV shows, including fare such as “Slow Horses,” “Doctor Who” and “The Crown.” Last year a total...

The box office top 100 remains dominated by men.

There was a slight rise in films made by women and non-binary people released in the UK in 2023 compared to 2022, according to the annual review from Reclaim The Frame, the UK’s gender equality in cinema charity,

But progress is not consistent and not coming quickly enough, said the organisation which marked its 20th anniversary year in 2023.

The number of films made by women and non-binary people and released in the UK rose slightly in 2023 to 27%, or 157 out of 588 films - the same percentage as 2019. In 2022 it was 24%, a 6% drop on the year before.

“The Kitchen” co-director and co-writer Daniel Kaluuya and “Polite Society” writer-director Nida Manzoor are among the emerging talents recognized at the British Independent Film Awards’ (BIFA) New Talent categories.

Both have been longlisted twice, in the debut director and debut screenwriter categories. In all, 20 fiction and 15 documentary features have been longlisted in the four debut filmmaking categories. Nineteen first-time fiction feature directors, 17 first-time feature documentary directors, 17 first-time writers and 24 breakthrough producers have been recognized by BIFA voters this year.

BIFA Springboard, an annual program supporting second-time feature filmmakers will launch in early 2024. BIFA will reveal the Netflix-sponsored 2023 breakthrough performance longlist, which highlights British acting talent in their first significant role in a British feature film, on Oct. 24. The final five nominations in each category will be unveiled on Nov. 2. Winners will be revealed at the 26th BIFA ceremony on Dec. 3.

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) Sponsored By...

eOne is shutting down its U.K. theatrical distribution business, owner Hasbro confirmed to TheWrap.

Hasbro acquired eOne for $3.8 billion in late December 2019. The studio’s theatrical exhibition in the U.K. produced hits like “The Aeronauts” and “Sorry We Missed You,” and early 2020 saw the towering $57 million U.K. gross (out of $359 million worldwide) of Sam Mendes’ acclaimed World War I thriller “1917.”

However, cost-cutting began in 2021, with 10% of eOne’s film and television staff being laid off. They sold their music division to The Blackstone Group for $385 million.

Hasbro was selling off its media assets by August of 2022 and by November had put eOne on the auction block. As recently as this week, Lionsgate has emerged as a prime contender to buy the studio. Meanwhile, Hasbro laid off an additional 20% of eOne’s employees just under a month ago.

eOne has released three theatricals in the U.K.

In recent months, several eOne UK employees are understood to have departed the company.

US toy giant Hasbro has confirmed to Screen that eOne is ceasing theatrical operations in the UK.

The Hasbro spokesperson had no further comment to offer at this time.

In recent months, several eOne UK employees are understood to have departed the company, including head of UK theatrical sales and UK acquisitions Paul Lofting, who has joined Paramount Pictures as sales director and theatrical distribution assistant Evelyn Candler, who has moved to the position of distribution coordinator at Black Bear Pictures.

eOne has no theatrical releases...

eOne is shutting down its U.K. theatrical distribution business, owner Hasbro has confirmed to Variety.

Hasbro acquired eOne in 2019 for $3.8 billion. The theatrical business in the U.K. was robust at that point with titles like “The Aeronauts,” “Sorry We Missed You” and “Official Secrets” displaying decent legs at the box office.

In early 2020, eOne scored a mighty box office success with Sam Mendes’ awards season darling “1917,” which grossed more than $57 million in the U.K. There was a steady flow of releases in the months following.

From 2021, a series of cost-cutting measures began, with eOne announcing that it would be laying off 10% of its film and television staff. This was followed by eOne selling its music division to The Blackstone Group for $385 million.

By August 2022, Hasbro was looking to sell off its media assets. In November 2022, Hasbro put eOne on the block less than three years after acquiring it.

The total U.K. and Ireland box office for May 2023 is £78.2 million ($97.7 million) which is 19% lower than May 2022, per numbers released by Comscore.

Year-to-date 2023 is currently running 1% behind the same period in 2022. This is in contrast to most other territories where 2023 is significantly higher than last year, Comscore said.

“Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” opened at the beginning of May and achieved the highest three-day opening of the year with £9.2 million. It is the highest-grossing film in May with £33.6 million. It is currently the 16th-biggest title in the MCU all-time chart in the territory, tracking just behind “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which earned £34.4 million. “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” is also the second-biggest release of the year so far, behind Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (£52.9 million).

In second position for the month is Universal’s “Fast X,” grossing £12.2 million since its debut two weeks ago. Its...

‘The Eight Mountains’ scores best average of new titles.

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (May 5-May 7)Total gross to date Week 1. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney) £5.3m £24m 2 2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal) £853,412 £51.1m 6 3. Book Club: The Next Chapter (Universal) £299,169 £299,169 1 4. Evil Dead Rise (Studiocanal) £258,167 £5m 4 5. Eurovision - Grand Final Live (CinemaLive) £235,465 £235,465 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.25

Disney’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 comfortably held the UK-Ireland box office lead on its second weekend, as live-streamed screenings of Saturday’s Eurovision final broke into the top five titles for the weekend.

Guardians Vol. 3 added £5.3m to reach...

Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” ruled the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £12 million ($15.2 million) opening, according to numbers released by Comscore.

The latest Marvel Studios release debuted at Number 1 with an 72% market share, according to Disney, and had the biggest three-day opening weekend of 2023.

In its fifth weekend, Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” collected £1.3 million in second place for a total of £49 million. In third position, in its third weekend, Studiocanal’s “Evil Dead Rise” earned £493,732 for a total of £4.4 million.

In fourth place, in its second weekend, eOne’s “The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry” collected £336,519 for a total of £2 million. Rounding off the top five was Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which took in £195,298 in its seventh weekend and now has a total of £17 million.

There were two debuts in the top 10. Rbe’s Punjabi-language film “Jodi,” headlined by...

Film has £15.8m including the Bank Holiday Monday.

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (May 5-May 7) Total gross to date Week 1. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney) £12.1m £15.8m 1 2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal) £1.3m £50m 5 3. Evil Dead Rise (Studiocanal) £493,732 £4.6m 3 4. The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry (eOne) £336,000 £2.2m 2 5. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) £195,057 £17.1m 7

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.26

Disney’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 opened top of the UK-Ireland box office chart this weekend with a powerful £12.1m start – the highest opening of the year to date, and just behind the £13.1m of the second Guardians film.

Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ruled the U.K. and Ireland box office collecting £3.06 million ($3.8 million) in its fourth weekend for a total of £45.7 million, per numbers from Comscore.

In its second weekend, Studiocanal’s “Evil Dead Rise” earned £1.05 million in second place for a total of £3.3 million.

There were a couple of strong debuts in the top five. eOne’s “The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry” bowed in third place with £784,698, while Dg Tech’s Tamil-language magnum opus “Ponniyin Selvan: 2,” also released in the Telugu and Hindi languages, debuted in fourth position with £618,244. Rounding off the top five, in its fifth weekend, was eOne’s “Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” with £575,796.

The other debut in the top 10 was Universal’s “Polite Society,” which bowed in ninth place with £220,278.

Mubi’s “One Fine Morning” added £21,671 and now has a total of £239,856.

Among the upcoming releases, the biggest...

Franchise titles continue to dominate, with ‘Big George Foreman’ the second best performing new release.

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Apr 28-May 1)Total gross to date Week 1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal) £3.1m £47.2m 4 2. Evil Dead Rise (Studiocanal) £1.1m £3.6m 2 3. The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry (eOne) £760,000 £1m 1 4. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) £620,444 £16.8m 6 5. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (Warner Bros) £576,000 £13m 5

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.25

Holdovers continued to dominate the UK-Ireland box office over the bank holiday weekend, with eOne’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry the only new release, and only non-franchise title, to find...

If this week's episode of the Empire Podcast seems even more incoherent than usual, that's because it was recorded very early in the morning. Mind you, that doesn't explain why Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer are incoherent at the best of times, but we digress.

In this episode, our intrepid trio tackle a listener question about Dodgeball 2 and end up answering a completely different Q; discuss the week's movie news, including almost everything that emerged from CinemaCon; and review Peter Pan And Wendy, Polite Society, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry. Chris also has lovely chats with the stars of that movie, Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton, and David Lowery, director of Peter Pan And Wendy, who reveals his love of Event Horizon. Do you see? Yes, we see. Enjoy.

Listen to the episode on the pod app of your choice — or via the PlanetRadio player above.

Further new releases include ’Big George Foreman’ and ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything’.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry is the widest release across the UK’s three-day bank holiday weekend, walking into 643 locations for eOne, with no franchise new releases in the mix.

Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton star in Hettie Macdonald’s feature, about a seemingly unremarkable man in his 60s who embarks on a 450-mile mission to see his friend who is dying in a hospice.

Broadbent’s last big screen outing was in Roger Michell’s The Duke, which brought in £941,975 in its first weekend for...

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry tells the story of a man who starts walking… and doesn’t stop walking. To mark its release, we had the pleasure of speaking to that very man, as we caught up with Jim Broadbent, who takes on the eponymous lead role. He was paired with British screen legend Penelope Wilton, who plays Maureen Fry, the former’s wife. We then chatted to the author of the novel the book is based upon, Rachel Joyce, who also penned the screenplay.

We discussed the project, and Broadbent’s history with the novel it is based upon, and with the author, as Joyce played his daughter on stage 30 years ago. We discuss the adaptation process, the importance of good supporting roles, and of course, walking. Be sure to watch both interviews in their entirety below.

Jim Broadbent & Penelope Wilton

Rachel Joyce

Synopsis

Harold is an ordinary...

The first titles to be released under the deal will be Cannes 2022 selection Godland.

Scanbox Entertainment has added Aurora Studios as its exclusive Finnish theatrical distribution partner through its distribution subsidiary Cinemanse.

The deal covers all Scanbox titles, both acquisitions (usually made on a pan-Nordic basis) and its in-house productions, which are ramping up.

The collaboration will boost Scanbox’s connections to local productions in Finland while giving Aurora and Cinemanse an expansion of their theatrical slate.

The first titles to be released under the deal will be Cannes 2022 selection Godland by Hlynur Pálmason followed by The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Hettie Macdonald.

Entertainment One has debuted the first trailer and poster for ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry,’ in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from April 28th 2023.

Based on the bestselling book of the same name by award-winning author Rachel Joyce, who also wrote the screenplay, the film is directed by BAFTA winner Hettie Macdonald.

The film tells the story of a man who leaves his seaside town in South Devon to deliver a message to an old friend. Harold Fry was never meant to be a hero. He’s an unremarkable man who has failed at all the important things: being a husband, a father and a friend. Now, well into his 60s, he is content to fade quietly into the background of life. But when Harold learns his friend Queenie is dying, he is moved to act. He leaves home, walking to the post box to send her a...

Exclusive: UK sales and production firm Embankment is teaming up with veteran UK producer Kevin Loader to create new label Free Range Entertainment.

The key shareholders in the company are Embankment’s Tim Haslam and Hugo Grumbar and Free Range’s Kevin Loader.

The combined company will develop, produce, co-produce, sell, and distribute film, TV and “allied” content, while also investing directly into production and working with third party investors and financiers.

Tim Haslam explained: “Free Range Entertainment is a creative hub for like-minded storytellers, writers, directors, and producers; converting IP from inception and development, through to production and commercial global exploitation. The Embankment sales brand will continue.”

Free Range Films was founded by producer Kevin Loader and director Roger Michell in 1996. Following Michell’s untimely passing last September, the production company has decided to embark on a new structural partnership.

Amazon Studios has rounded out the cast of forthcoming drama “Anansi Boys” with the additions of Fiona Shaw, Cch Pounder and Jason Watkins.

The series is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name, and is currently shooting in Edinburgh, Scotland.

“Anansi Boys” follows Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby), sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was his father’s nickname for him), a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father. But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that his father was Anansi, the trickster god of stories (played by Delroy Lindo), and that he has a brother. Now that brother, Spider (also played by Kirby), is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting — but making it a lot more dangerous instead.

The show is set in contemporary London, though the story stretches from the U.K. to Florida, the Caribbean,...

126 domestic UK features contributed £221m to the total film production spend of £1.55bn.

The post-lockdown boom in UK film and high-end TV (Hetv) production was confirmed today by official BFI statistics showing that total spend reached £5.64bn in 2021, a new record.

The combined production spend by film and Hetv during 2021 is £1.27bn higher than for the pre-pandemic year 2019, according to figures from the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit.

Hetv was largely responsible for driving overall production levels to the new record, topping £4.09bn, nearly double pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This figure includes £737m from an increased number of single long-form ‘film...

Here’s our annual rundown of the 10 largest awards given out by the British Film Institute’s Film Fund across 2021. Backed by National Lottery money, the grants are a key supporter of indie cinema in the UK.

This year also saw long-time Film Fund chief Ben Roberts, now BFI CEO, hand over the keys to the fund to new director Mia Bays.

Top of the list is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, an adaptation of Rachel Joyce’s popular novel about a man who embarks on a 450-mile walk across the UK in the belief that his journey will save the life of an old friend. Jim Broadbent is starring in the pic, which Joyce is adapting herself. Hettie Macdonald, who helmed Normal People with Lenny Abrahamson, is directing. Producers are Kevin Loader with Juliet Dowling and Marilyn Milgrom.

Second on the list is Typist Artist Pirate King[/link], the...

Kara MacLean has taken on the role of Senior Director at PR and communications agency Organic. She will report to Senior Vice President Kirsty Langsdale, who launched Organic’s Los Angeles office in January 2020. MacLean will work with Langsdale to continue building U.S. business for the London-based agency. Organic recently announced Apac office – Organic Pacific – based in Sydney, Australia.

From those bases, Organic works across the spheres of international publicity, unit production PR, corporate representation, film and TV festival rep, social media and event management.

Prior to Organic, the Canadian-born MacLean had been running her own International PR agency in Los Angeles. She has represented distributors, sales agents and production companies for domestic distribution, international rollout, festival strategy and corporate communications. Clients have included the Inside Out Lgbtqa+ Film Festival in Toronto and New York’s NewFest LGBTQ Film Festival, Ava DuVernay’s company Array, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Magnolia Pictures,...

Shooting is taking place across the UK, from Devon to Northumberland.

Production is underway on The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, with shooting beginning on location in the UK on Monday (September 27), in Devon.

Linda Bassett, star of East Is East and Kinky Boots, has joined the previously announced cast of Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton.

The high-budget independent feature is the first work from director Hettie Macdonald since BBC series Normal People (for which she directed 6 of the 12 episodes), and is based on Rachel Joyce’s 2012 novel of the same. Joyce has also penned the screenplay.

The story follows...