300: Rise of An Empire knocked the incumbent, The Lego Movie from the top spot this weekend past, with a debut of £2.76m. This is a strong opening, but it couldn’t surpass the original 300’s £4m opening in 2007. The Lego Movie continued to perform well in second place, taking £1.63m, bringing its cume to a whopping £28.8m in the process.
New release, The Grand Budapest Hotel made a cracking start with £1.5m. Directed by Wes Anderson, this is a huge improvement over his last movie, 2012’s Moonrise Kingdom, which finished with £2.1m and it looks all set to become his highest grossing live-action film in the UK, with The Royal Tenenbaums currently holding that title with £3.3m. Read more
A list of all changes to the UK cinema release schedule, as of the week commencing 10/03, follows below:
NEW TITLES ADDED TO SCHEDULE: Read more
As you read this I’ll be touching down ‘up North’ on the way to the Northern and Midlands CEA Members Meetings, being held in Leicester on 13 March. Rebecca Rau (DCM Account Manager), David Prosser (DCM Account Manager), Ian McKeag (DCM IT Guru) and I are looking forward to seeing all the DCM members in attendance.
The CEA meetings are a great place to catch up and network with Exhibitors and suppliers alike. The Maltings Theatre & Cinema of Berwick upon Tweed, Savoy Cinemas and Bristol’s Watershed are amongst those in attendance. There is a wide and varied agenda from F.A.C.T to Film Nation and from the BFI Film Audience Network to an apprenticeship proposal. Read more
This week DCM Close Up talks to John Cunningham, General Manager at Greenock’s West Coast Cinema about the role of his cinema in the community and shares some of his favourite things about the industry. Read more
With the first glimpse of more clement weather in the UK this weekend past, it can mean only one thing, summer blockbusters are just around the corner. Tom Linay, Head of Film at Digital Cinema Media (DCM), reports for The Huffington Post after he attended a preview of upcoming sci-fi spectacle, Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. He was also lucky enough to be invited to the Q&A with director Doug Liman after the preview. Read on for an exclusive view of one of the potential big summer hits.
It's around this time each year that invitations start coming in from the studios wishing to build excitement for their big summer films. The invites are to events that usually consist of some above average canapés followed by 20 or so minutes of 'exclusive' footage from the film and then a Q&A with key talent from the film. The pinnacle of such events was in April 2012 when Ridley Scott, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron all took the stage at Vue West End to preview footage from the then upcoming and eagerly anticipated Prometheus. The buzz in the room was buzzier than a hornet in a bell jar. Read more
MEC put cinema firmly in the spotlight this week, with an entire day devoted to all the different aspects of the medium, including an overview of the cinema marketplace, a closer look at cinemagoers and their value to brands, a session devoted to upcoming movies in 2014 and an innovation session, covering off the concept of ‘Beyond the big screen’.
The overview of the cinema marketplace was hosted by DCM Agency Lead, Andrew Bishop, who took the assembled MEC staff through ‘a state of the union’ presentation on cinema. The cinema market has been in great health over the last year, with the UK & Ireland box office achieving the second highest year ever and its fifth consecutive year of over £1bn. The final year-end total of £1.17bn was only 1% behind the record high of 2012 and proves once again that the UK public loves going to the cinema. The final admissions total for last year was 165.5m, which is the eighth highest since 1971 and above average since 2000. This is testament to the all-round strength of the film slate throughout the whole of last year. Read more
Following on from The Wolf of Wall Street, The LEGO Movie became the second film this year to hold on to the top spot for three straight weeks. The blockbuster animation fell 45% to £3.3m, which is a strong hold considering the previous Friday had the distinct advantage of being a school holiday day. The Phil Lord and Chris Miller helmed comedy now has a huge cume of £26.7m, which already places it above Wreck-It Ralph, which was released at the same time last year and finished on £23.8m.
[caption id="attachment_8213" align="aligncenter" width="550"] The LEGO Movie[/caption] Read more
DCM’s Head of Film, Tom Linay travelled north of the border last week to attend the tenth annual Glasgow Film Festival and sample all the top quality independent film content on offer. During his time at the festival he was lucky enough to see Wes Anderson's visually stunning The Grand Budapest Hotel and indie thriller, Blue Ruin.
Now in its tenth year, the Glasgow Film Festival is fast becoming an essential fixture in the UK film calendar. Like the city itself, it's friendly, welcoming and its enthusiasm is utterly infectious. Running for eleven days and predominantly based at the Glasgow Film Theatre and the huge Cineworld on Renfrew Street, the festival programme is divided into sixteen contrasting strands. This results in a rich and varied selection of films and with competitive pricing, it's one of the most accessible festivals I've attended. Read more
A year ago, Advertising Week Europe launched a mind-bogglingly brilliant experiment to extend the success of Advertising Week in New York City, to the streets of London.
It was a bold and brave move that proved to be a huge success as we are now one year on, celebrating the second edition of Advertising Week Europe, set to take place between 31 March – 3 April 2014. Read more
The media industry is famed for housing some of the world's more creative working spaces - and following an office move of our own, our CEO, Simon Rees, shares his tips on injecting inspiration into the workplace.
Media companies and ad agencies are setting new standards in creating stunning workplace environments. Google recently released plans for its new King's Cross headquarters which included a climbing wall between floors, a swimming pool and a roof-top running track. These plans were swiftly withdrawn however, as they wanted to be even more ambitious. Read more
A list of all changes to the UK cinema release schedule, as of the week commencing 03/03, follows below:
NEW TITLES ADDED TO SCHEDULE: Read more
On Sunday (2 March), the 86th Academy Awards took place in Hollywood - an annual gathering of the brightest stars and biggest brands. From fashion labels vying to get their name on the red carpet, to TV spots, to experiential activity – the advertising frenzy around this global event is getting crazier every year…
The Oscars dominated social media with host Ellen DeGeneres posting the ultimate celebrity selfie during the live telecast. The picture, taken by nominee Bradley Cooper, of DeGeneres surrounded by Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey smashed the Twitter retweet record set by Barack and Michelle Obama, after it was retweeted more than 2m times. Read more
