On the rainiest of Wednesday nights, the DCM faithful padded over a sodden red carpet into a packed-out UK premiere of End of Watch – the new cop thriller by the writer of Training Day, David Ayer. The influences really show too – the action is stark and brutal, with sombre down moments and tension hitting fever pitch at the grand finale.
This is no mindless shooter mind you, and underneath the gritty handheld realism and harrowing subject matter this is a buddy cop movie with a sincere heart. The magnetic on-screen chemistry of Jake Gyllenhall and Michael Pena (present on the night to welcome the crowd) would be enough to carry the audience through from start to finish, displaying a friendship that is layered and believable. They even make mention in the script that they are beyond friends – they are brothers. Read more
It’s the beginning of an exciting new week at The BFI London Film Festival and the order of this evening is The Sapphires, the debut feature film from resident Aussie, Wayne Blair. Inspired by true events, it’s a gutsy, upbeat and at times satirical story of four girls with one dream.
It’s the late 60’s, 1968 to be precise, indigenous Australians have just been granted the right to vote, the civil rights movement is rife across the globe, and of course, the Vietnam War is in full throttle. The story focusses on three Indigenous sisters who have grown up in a rural mission, and whilst the universal notion of sisterly bickering is clearly still applied in deep Australia, the girls have one united dream… to make it big in the music industry and become stars. Read more
For the second weekend running, Liam Neeson took the UK box office by the scruff of the neck as Taken 2 delivered an impressive £3.7m. The Istanbul-set actioner has now grossed a considerable £14.5m after eleven days and with another instalment surely on the cards, Neeson’s dog must be getting nervous. A great comparison for Taken 2 would be The Bourne Ultimatum, which opened with a similarly impressive £6.6m but grossed a much lower £2.9m on its second weekend on its way to £24m. With that in mind, a final total of £20m-plus for Taken 2 looks almost guaranteed and considering the first Taken only grossed £6.4m, it demonstrates just how much impact the first film made on DVD and television.
In second spot, the highest new entry was Adam Sandler animation Hotel Transylvania 3D with £1.7m. Distributor, Sony Pictures, have released an autumnal animation twice before (not including last year’s Arthur Christmas) with 2006’s Open Season (£1.7m) and 2009’s Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (£1.6m) and Hotel Transylvania 3D has outperformed them both. Third spot was taken by Sinister, which had a terrific hold, easing just 12% to £1.3m for a cume of £3.7m. Distributor Momentum are obviously using their 2011 horror hit Insidious as a template and that had a similarly strong second weekend hold, falling just 9% on its way to a final total of £7.1m. Read more
If you’re a fan of French cinema, Michael Haneke’s Amour is a must-see film this November. As soon as it screened at the Cannes Festival, it was clearly very special and was the obvious choice to win the Palme d’Or. But be prepared, it’s a gritty, matter of fact look at what happens in later life as the aging process takes over a couple’s world.
The Austrian director has united French cinematic legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva in this study on the beauty of spending your life with another person and how one copes with the suffering of a loved one. The acting is stunning. Emmanuelle Riva gives possibly the best screen performance I’ve ever seen as Anne, a piano teacher, whose life degenerates when she suffers a series of strokes. Trintignant’s tenderness as her husband Georges and his resolve to care for her as she becomes increasingly incapable is incredibly moving. Read more
It’s the opening of the BFI and what better way to kick off the 56th London Film Festival than to pick a film which was crafted at the Three Mills Studios in East London and is the latest great offering from the quirky director who brought us the classic Nightmare before Christmas and The Corpse Bride.
Under the Disney banner, Frankenweenie 3D is enough to make the death of Bambi’s mom look like a happy affair. Set in a small suburban town in America, this monochrome film based on old Hollywood movies such as The Bride of Frankenstein and Gremlins is exactly what we’ve learned to expect from a Tim Burton film; gangly looking characters, death and a whole load of heart. Read more
Last Friday, the James Bond franchise celebrated its 50th anniversary.
For 50 years, James Bond has entertained and thrilled audiences across the globe. With exotic locations, futuristic gadgets and a plethora of colourful characters, the franchise is one of the longest running in the world. Read more
Kraft Foods’ Maynards has partnered with Digital Cinema Media (DCM), the UK market leader in cinema advertising, to become the first brand to take over DCM’s prestigious 10’’ closing ident for the launch of its new product Maynards Sour Patch Kids.
The ident, created by Jump, plays on the idea that it is being ‘taken over’ by the Maynards Sour Patch Kids matching the theme in the soft candy’s ad campaign. The ad campaigns show the characters doing something cheeky, mischievous or naughty representing the initial sour taste of the sweet, followed by something loving and fun representing the sweetness that follows. Creative will run in selected films and cinemas, made possible by DCM’s recent digital switch allowing advertisers the freedom to tailor bespoke campaigns and access to precision scheduling. The media concept was devised, planned and implemented by Jonathan Greenfield at PHD Network. Read more
This week saw another successful edition of DCM Tuesdays take place with an advanced screening of latest horror fest from Momentum, Sinister.
From the producers of Paranormal Activity and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister lived up to its predecessors, provoking many hidden eyes behind popcorn boxes and screams of fright in the screening room of the Courthouse Hotel. Read more
It was with a sad slow-mo wave that we bid farewell to the BFI London Film Festival for another year. The festival closed in typically grand fashion with a Gala screening of Mike Newell’s Great Expectations. Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Jeremy Irvine were in attendance on the red carpet and the after party at Battersea Power Station certainly drew the festival to a dramatic and well-earned close.
The 56th London Film Festival has hosted over 200 feature films in just under two weeks including Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone, which won the Best Film Of The Festival Award on Saturday (This is the fourth year of the standalone awards but a second win for Audiard, who won in 2009 for A Prophet) and Beasts of The Southern Wild, which scooped up the prestigious Sutherland Award for the most original and imaginative film of the festival. All award winners can be viewed here. Read more
The UK box office went loopy this weekend for an exciting original sci-fi title. Time travel mind-bender Looper came out on top with £2.4m, outperforming a number of well received recent sci-fi films including District 9 (£2.3m), The Adjustment Bureau (£1.4m) and Source Code (£1.3m). It’s also comfortably more than any other film where Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the lead, beating 2009’s (500) Days Of Summer (£1.2m).
Despite having a quiet Monday - Friday, ParaNorman 3D once again had a very strong weekend hold, easing just 11% to £1.1m for a cume of £4.3m. It didn’t open as well as Coraline but ParaNorman 3D appears to have more staying power, with Coraline only grossing £458k on its third weekend. The fifth entry in the Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil: Retribution 3D with £792k. The previous Resident Evil film, Resident Evil: Afterlife opened with £1.7m in 2010. Read more
Today DCM is digital – with both Sony and Tesco amongst the first to benefit from the faster, more flexible and more creative cinema medium.
The move heralds a bold new era in cinema advertising, with brands already taking up the options of shorter lead-times and greater freedom to choose, change and adapt messaging. Sony Home Entertainment is using the new flexibility to rotate copy for its DVD release of “Breaking Bad Series 4”. Ad spots running over the weekend prior to launch will carry ‘Out Monday’ copy before switching to ‘Out Now’ from Monday. Read more
After The Sweeney’s previews prevented it from topping the box office last weekend, ParaNorman 3D gained his revenge emerging as the clear winner this weekend. With a great hold, easing just 12% to £1.2m, the stop-motion charmer has now grossed £2.9m in ten days. In second spot was the week’s highest new entry, Killing Them Softly. The brutal Brad Pitt crime drama opened with £955k, which is pretty similar to another Cannes premiering crime drama Lawless, which opened with £973k two weeks ago. Killing Them Softly has also been compared, perhaps inaccurately, to Drive which opened with £609k almost exactly a year ago.
In third spot was another new entry, Jennifer Lawrence thriller House At The End Of The Street or HATES, as it has come to be known. It turns out the audience didn’t hate it and a £796k debut is a perfectly respectable performance and far superior to another recent female star-led thriller in May’s Silent House (£215k). Last week’s number one The Sweeney fell a chunky 53% to £728k, although that figure falls to a more respectable 35% if you don’t include previews. The Ray Winstone crime drama now has a cume of £3m. Read more
