Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave has won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, concluding the 11-day event and securing its place as an early top Oscars contender.
The Festival is unlike its film festival rivals in that it hands out only a small set of awards voted for by the public, rather than elected juries. Read more
It looked like a strong weekend of releases on paper and it turned out to be so with Insidious: Chapter 2 leading the pack. The horror sequel opened with £2.9m, which is over double the first film’s £1.4m opening in 2011. It’s also more than director James Wan’s hugely successful recent offering, The Conjuring, which opened with £2.2m in early August.
F1 drama Rush sped off the starting line with £2.1m but had to settle for second position on the grid, however, the fantastic reviews for Rush suggest that it may have more in the tank than Insidious: Chapter 2. Read more
The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF), the charity of film and television industries, hosted their CTBF fundraising Golf Day on 12 September after the success and excellent feedback from their event last year.
Fifty players from the industry powered through the early morning drizzle to take on The Lambourne Golf Club course in the hope of leaving with a team or individual trophy, whilst helping to raise funds for the organisation. Read more
Throughout last week, DCM’s Opera sales team were out and about, educating the teams from MGOMD on the benefits of cinema and helping dispel myths around the medium.
The DCM Budget Superheroes invaded the MGOMD reception for a photo opportunity and gave staff the chance to win cinema passes for the best poses with Superman and Iron Man. Read more
This week, DCM Close Up talks to Penny Bicknell, Manager of the Lymington Cinema, which has recently gone fully digital with support from a “Save Our Cinema” campaign and a £25,000 grant from the Town Council, which raised the £45,000 needed for a new digital projector.
How did you end up working in cinema and what do you love about it? Read more
It’s hard to believe that One Direction was just a group of ‘ordinary lads’ only three years ago, living regular lives, before the success of The X-Factor and Simon Cowell’s backing launched them into worldwide super-stardom. The band has quickly gained a following to become one of the competition's all-time most popular acts, garnering a gigantic and loyal fan base of ‘Directioners’ along the way.
Harry, Niall, Liam, Louis and Zayn have sold over 13 million records worldwide, dominating international airwaves and, as of this summer, cinema screens too. Read more
About Time took the top spot at the UK box office this weekend past, with an opening foray of £1.8m, inlcuding £385k from previews. This is the first film Richard Curtis has directed since The Boat That Rocked back in 2009. That film opened with a very similar amount.
Second place went to Riddick, which took in £1.4m, including £445k from previews, enjoying the best opening weekend in the franchise to date. Read more
Writer, Producer and Film Director Ed Blum addressed an audience at Starcom MediaVest Group today during the agency’s regular Inspiring Guest Speaker sessions. Hosted by DCM, Ed’s talk looked back on his inspiring career across TV, documentary making and now filmmaking, including an insight into how independent films make it on to the big screen.
Ed’s first film Scenes of a Sexual Nature – a film about love, sex and the need for long walks – attracted a stellar cast including Tom Hardy and Ewan MacGregor on a budget of only £200,000. The film secured a nationwide cinema release in the UK and has since been sold around the world. The film is still finding new audiences with a distribution deal for France secured in May 2013. Variety have called Ed and his team’s achievement “a spectacular feat”. Read more
The Ritz Cinema spread some early Christmas cheer on Monday night by holding a special screening of 2013’s hit musical movie Les Misérables to help raise funds for Burnham-On-Sea’s upcoming Christmas lights display.
Guests were treated to a complimentary buffet courtesy of The Ritz Social Club and were served by cinema staff who had generously worked without pay for the evening. Local traders, as well as The Ritz Cinema and Social Club itself, contributed prizes to a raffle that further helped to boost the amount raised. Read more
As expected, One Direction dominated the box office this weekend like a ten legged, skinny jean wearing, pop colossus. One Direction: This Is Us opened with £3.5m (including £1.3m from previews), which is far greater than the opening weekends of Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (£821k) and Katy Perry: Part Of Me (£449k) but still not enough to top Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which opened with £4.7m (including £2m from previews) in 2009. Over 75% of One Direction: This Is Us’ box office was from 3D presentations, the highest percentage for a major release since Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters.
Last week’s number one, Elysium, dropped to second after easing 44% to £1.2m and a cume of £5.9m. The strongest hold of the weekend belonged to We’re The Millers, falling just 26% to £1.1m and a cume of £4.1m. Perhaps the weekend’s one disappointment was Pain & Gain, in fourth with £1m, and £350k of that was from previews last weekend. With the star power of Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson and Michael Bay (Transformers) directing, it’s fair to assume more was expected of the darkly comic crime drama but the crowds failed to turn out for it. Planes rounded out the top five, after falling 32% to £797k and a very respectable cume of £5.9m. Read more
The Labor Day weekend in America signalled the end of a summer movie season that provided mixed results for Hollywood.
A record was set for summer box office revenue, $4.7 billion, a 10.2% rise from last year and about $300 million than the previous mark set in 2011. In addition, attendance jumped 6.6%. Read more
DCM's Head of Exhibition, Steve Davis, a self-confessed F1 nut, meets some of his heroes at the UK première of Ron Howard's film, Rush.
Leicester Square was alive on Monday night. From the moment Jenson Button and Sergio Perez screamed into the square in their F1 cars, you knew this was going to be an amazing night. Read more
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