A selection of the UK’s best independent film directors have been given unprecedented access to 229 years of archive material to create a series of films celebrating the historical and cultural impact of The Times and The Sunday Times.
The collection of films, called The Unquiet Film Series, is the first time The Times (est. 1785) and The Sunday Times (est. 1822) have committed their stories to film and explore the values, beliefs and behaviours of past and present editors, journalists and readers. Read more
The premier for Downhill took the glamour of the red carpet and turned it on its head, instead bringing a traditional Cumbrian twist to the film premier as we know it.
The screening was held at Zeffirellis in Ambleside on Tuesday 27 May and the film's stars Richard Lumsden (Sightseers) and Karl Theobald (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa) were in attendance. For the premier the red carpet and fancy cocktails were nowhere to be seen. Instead attendees walked down the faux turf path, drinking pints of locally brewed ale and wearing worn-down walking boots. Pairing wellies with suits, guests were presented with a goodie bag when they arrived at the screening, which included a packet of cheesy Wotsits crisps. Read more
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the world's second largest professional services network, has announced its global predictions for the filmed entertainment sector up until 2018.
The organisation has announced that it believes Filmed Entertainment revenue will surpass US$100bn in 2017 as emerging markets drive growth. Read more
It has been a genuinely stellar 12 months for animation. Four animated titles made it into the top 10 of 2013, with Despicable Me 2, the third highest grossing animation of all time in the UK, comfortably out on top. It may have come out in December but Frozen is still packing them in at the cinemas and is now worldwide, the biggest animated film of all time, having grossed a huge $1.1bn. The LEGO Movie received huge critical acclaim and is the biggest film of the year so far in the UK, with £32m and a sequel is already in the works. Smaller titles have made maximum impact too, with Mr.Peabody and Sherman breaking out from their 1960s roots to wow families during February. This all bodes well for the summer with its mix of bona fide blockbusters, big screen debuts for old favourites and the return of recent successes.
July is the start of the summer holidays so this is usually when the biggest animated titles vie for the key release dates. Last year, Despicable Me 2 came out on the last weekend of June and Monsters University followed it a couple of weekends later. This year the biggest animated title and a contender for biggest film of the year is How To Train Your Dragon 2. Read more
The Weekend Round-up (including Bank Holiday Monday takings)
Two generations of X-Men rolled back the years this weekend and posted a series best opening. X-Men: Days of Future Past’s Friday to Sunday total of £7.5m is even better than the débuts of X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, which opened with £7m and £7.1m respectively. Including Thursday previews and Bank Holiday Monday, Days of Future Past has already grossed £11.6m and is over half-way to overtaking X2’s series best final total of £20.7m. Read more
Last week, the D&AD Professional Awards took place at the Battersea Evolution venue. This year, Digital Cinema Media sponsored the Film Craft Category as part of the ongoing ‘Inspired by Film’ partnership between D&AD and DCM.
The annual D&AD Awards are highly respected and regarded as a major event in the world of design and advertising. Two kinds of awards are given out, the Yellow Pencil and the coveted Black Pencil, in various categories ranging from environmental design to billboard ads and animation shorts. The Black Pencil is given for 'outstanding' work and usually only one or two are given out each year. This year a record-breaking seven Black Pencils were awarded. Read more
NEW TITLES ADDED TO SCHEDULE:
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast is released on 12 December 2014 Read more
The 67th Cannes Film Festival came to a close last week and, as always, it has seen the very best of the world's filmmakers screening their latest work to an audience for the first time. With several strands that showcase the work of filmmakers of varying stature, there is often visually stimulating work throughout the programme, the kind of films that set the visual style and tropes that brands and ad directors will be looking to emulate over the next couple of years.
One director who has experienced a great deal of success at Cannes in recent years is Nicolas Winding Refn. His film Drive won the Best Director prize in 2011 and since then, both visually and musically, he has influenced numerous ad campaigns including his own ad for Gucci, starring Blake Lively. Read more
The Weekend Round-up
Godzilla wowed audiences this weekend past, debuting with £6.4m, which includes £1.1m from previews. Last week’s number one, Bad Neighbours slipped to the silver medal position, falling 83%, but when previews are removed, that’s only 57%. The Seth Rogen and Zac Efron comedy now has a cume of £11.8m after two weeks on release. Read more
CineEurope is the largest, most prestigious and longest running European convention and trade show catering to the cinema exhibition community.
DCM’s exhibition team, including Head of Exhibition, Steve Davis, Account Manager, Rebecca Rau and IT Director, Simon Rose will all be in attendance from Monday 16 June to Thursday 19 June, catching up on all the latest cinema developments and innovations. If you would like to organise a meeting with the team in Barcelona, please email Rebecca.Rau@dcm.co.uk. Read more
Tom Linay, DCM’s Head of Film, reports from Cannes for one of the biggest, if not the most prestigious events in the film calendar, the Festival de Cannes, sharing his hot tips for awards contenders.
I've been in Cannes a couple of days now and I've only just begun to get into the heightened atmosphere that the festival creates. You would think that the cream of the world's art-house cinema would engender a more reserved following but no, at times the fervour for the latest social realist offering from Belgium's Dardennes brothers borders on rabid. Read more
Digital Cinema Media (DCM) joined forces with D&AD this year, the British educational charity which exists to promote excellence in design and advertising, to discover and foster new talent through the D&AD New Blood Awards. This year’s nominations have now been announced and the prestigious awards ceremony will take place on 3 July.
Ten candidates have been short-listed for the DCM brief, with six being nominated to appear in D&AD’s 2014 book and the remaining four competing for the coveted D&AD yellow pencil. Read more
