Category Archives: Film industry

Trump warns Netflix of ‘consequences’ unless it pulls top Democrat from board

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US president calls for removal of Susan Rice as streaming platform pursues takeover of Warner Bros Discovery

Donald Trump has told Netflix to remove the Democratic foreign policy expert Susan Rice from its board or “face the consequences”, while the streaming platform is locked in an extraordinary corporate battle to take control of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).

In comments posted on his Truth Social platform, the US president described Rice – who served as national security adviser to Barack Obama and UN ambassador and White House adviser under Joe Biden – as a “political hack” and accused her of having “no talent or skills”.

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Horror show: North American box office records lowest monthly total since 1997

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Halloween weekend failed to make numbers jump, adding up to the weakest monthly performance – other than during the pandemic – for three decades

Box office earnings in October have crashed to levels not seen since the late 1990s, with Halloween weekend becoming the worst of the year so far.

According to a report in Variety, cinema takings for October in North America totalled $425m (£323m), the lowest figure since October 1997, when it was $385m – not counting October 2020, when North American cinemas only took $63m as moviegoing was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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He-Man poised to be next retro name to join UK toy ‘newstalgia’ trend

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Films of old favourites help lift toy sales 8% this year, with 2026 Masters of the Universe movie tipped for similar

A wave of “newstalgia” has fuelled a step up in growth of UK toy sales, with the muscle-bound 80s hero He-Man the latest retro name tipped for a revival thanks to the big screen.

After falling almost 4% in 2024, UK toy sales are up 8% so far this year, buoyed up by the Minecraft and Lilo & Stitch films as well as parents rebuying toys they once owned as children such as Care Bears and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, according to new data.

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Liev Schreiber and Debra Messing among names rejecting pledge to boycott Israeli films

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More than 1,200 industry figures claim the pledge is ‘a document of misinformation’ and that much of the Israeli film and TV industry are ‘often the loudest critics of government policy’

More than 1,200 entertainment industry figures have signed a new open letter rejecting the recent high-profile pledge by thousands of their peers to boycott Israeli films over the war in Gaza.

Stars including Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Debra Messing are among those who have lent their names to the letter, which says the previous pledge “advocates” for “the erasure of art”.

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Norway finds place in spotlight during ‘golden age’ of film-making

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Distinctive and critically acclaimed films and drama series from ‘a big hub of talent’ are appealing to audiences around the world

When it comes to film-making, Norway has long been left watching on while its Nordic neighbours Sweden and Denmark put out hit after hit by luminaries such as Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg and Ruben Östlund.

But after years in the shadows, the country has finally found its place in the international spotlight with a number of distinctive, relationship-centred and critically acclaimed films and television shows in what many are describing as a Norwegian “golden age”.

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Idris Elba: ‘I want to build the African Odeon’

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Speaking at an SXSW London event, the actor outlined his desire to ignite the cinema experience for a new generation across the continent

Idris Elba has spoken of his ambition to create the “African Odeon” – a chain of cinemas to ignite the cinemagoing experience across the continent.

Elba was speaking at an event at SXSW London in which he spoke to host Clara Amfo in a session called Creativity as Capital for Change. In remarks reported by the Hollywood Reporter and Screen, Elba said: “There’s a crazy number across the entire continent – less than about 3,000 cinemas, actual cinemas that you and I have grown up with. I would love to be able to tackle some of that, because I believe that the cinema experience that we all have gone through should be experienced by a new generation. I don’t think it should all be on a phone.”

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Jon Voight defends Trump’s film tariff plan: ‘Something has to be done’

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Oscar-winning actor gives first interview to Variety since working with Trump on plan to shake up Hollywood

Jon Voight, the actor who inspired Donald Trump’s surprise statement about placing a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, has given his first interview on the supposed plan to “give people back their dignity and their jobs”.

“Something has to be done, and it’s way past time,” the 86-year-old actor told Variety while he was, according to the magazine, “driving through what sounded like a car wash”.

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Trump called for 100% tariff on foreign films a day after Jon Voight proposed ‘limited’ tariffs

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Actor was assigned by Trump to come up with a plan to save Hollywood, but his proposal only included tariffs ‘in certain limited circumstances’

US president Donald Trump announced his 100% tariff on films “coming into our country produced in foreign lands” one day after meeting with actor Jon Voight to discuss his proposals to bring film production back to the US – which only suggested that tariffs could be used “in certain limited circumstances”.

The Midnight Cowboy and Heat actor, who was appointed a “special ambassador” to Hollywood by Trump, has been meeting with studios, streamers, unions and guilds for months to develop a plan to lure film and television productions back to the US. Production companies often seek more cost-effective locations or tax incentives in other countries such as Canada, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Hungary, Italy and Spain.

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US media stocks slide on Wall Street after Trump threatens movie tariffs

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Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount shares fall as studios reel from announcement

Shares in US streamers and production companies fell on Monday, after Donald Trump said he would introduce 100% tariffs on films made abroad, a move that couldsharply raise costs for Hollywood studios.

Trump’s announcement on his Truth Social platform, revived worries about the US president’s trade policy and its impact on the world economy.

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China to restrict US film releases after Trump’s tariff hike

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After the US president imposed 125% duties on Chinese imports, Beijing says it will restrict American films opening in its lucrative market

Hours after Donald Trump imposed record 125% tariffs on Chinese products entering the US, China has announced it will further curb the number of US films allowed to screen in the country.

“The wrong action of the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favourability towards American films,” the China Film Administration said in a statement on Thursday. “We will follow the market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported.”

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Sexual violence and harassment ‘endemic’ in French entertainment industry, report finds

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Attitudes in France ‘barely evolving’ amid ‘collective denial’ years after the #MeToo movement began, according to parliamentary commission

Sexual violence and sexual harassment are “endemic” in France’s entertainment industry, a damning report by French politicians has found, concluding that women and children are still being routinely preyed on, despite the country’s #MeToo movement.

The Green MP Sandrine Rousseau and the centrist Erwan Balanant found that sexual violence, harassment and bullying were “systemic, endemic and persistent” in all sectors of the French culture and entertainment industry, from TV and cinema to theatre, radio, comedy, advertising, rock and classical music.

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‘I chose to NOT follow the gutless rules’: Francis Ford Coppola says he’s ‘thrilled’ by Golden Raspberry votes

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Veteran film-maker defends his sci-fi epic Megalopolis as it scores two Razzies from nominations that included ‘worst picture’

Francis Ford Coppola has said he was “thrilled” to accept multiple Golden Raspberry nominations for his film Megalopolis, which ended up winning two awards.

On Instagram, Coppola said that he was treating the nominations, which are voted for by Razzie members, who pay for the privilege, as a “distinctive honour … when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!”

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UK creative industries set behaviour standards after Strictly and MasterChef rows

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An independent standards authority says the industry must learn from recent scandals and create safer working environments

New guidelines will be issued this week for the UK’s creative industries after a series of scandals including reports of inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace and Gino d’Acampo, and bullying allegations on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

The Creative Industries Indep­endent Standards Authority (CIISA) will set new standards with the aim of stamping out bullying, harassment and discrimination, and address “power imbalances”.

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‘He targeted me’: Guy Pearce says he ‘sobbed’ over Kevin Spacey encounters

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The Oscar-nominated actor has said he is attempting to be more candid about his former co-star’s alleged behaviour

Guy Pearce, the actor Oscar-nominated for his role in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, has opened up about his experiences when working with Kevin Spacey on 1997 film LA Confidential.

Pearce had previously been oblique about his time with Spacey, who has been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct, which Spacey has always denied, calling him “a handsy guy” in 2018. But speaking on Hollywood Reporter’s podcast Awards Chatter, the actor said he was now attempting to be franker about his co-star’s alleged behaviour.

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Makeup artist tried to remove Adrien Brody’s nose by mistake on set of The Brutalist

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Actor says nose mistaken for prosthetic by new makeup artists: ‘I said, ‘That doesn’t come off!’

A makeup artist on The Brutalist tried to remove Adrien Brody’s nose believing it to be a prosthetic, the actor has revealed.

Speaking to Jimmy Fallon earlier this week, Brody said that a new makeup artist began “busily working away with a solvent on my nose”.

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Cult London film venue Prince Charles cinema under threat of closure

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Much loved for its screenings of hard-to-find films, the venue claims its landlord wants to alter lease, leaving it able to shut down the business

The Prince Charles cinema in central London, long a site of pilgrimage for those interested in cult and hard-to-find films, has launched a petition saying its existence is under threat from its property developer landlords.

In a statement on petitions website 38degrees.org.uk, the cinema says that Zedwell LSQ Ltd (who are owned by developers Criterion Capital) are demanding a “break clause” in the building’s lease, which is currently being negotiated as the current lease ends in September. The cinema says this means they would be on six months’ notice to leave if Zedwell decides to redevelop the site.

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Trump names Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as Hollywood ‘special ambassadors’

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Duties remain unclear for the three actors, who are Trump supporters and are no strangers to controversy

Donald Trump has tapped three of his longstanding celebrity supporters – Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone – to purportedly make Hollywood “stronger than ever before” as “special ambassadors” to the movie capital.

The president-elect announced the new appointments, whose duties remain unclear, on Truth Social on Thursday, four days before his inauguration. “It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” he wrote.

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Glicked double bill may not match Barbenheimer buzz, experts say

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Gladiator II and Wicked filling up theatres but unlikely to replicate phenomenon of Barbie-Oppenheimer release

The great Barbenheimer clash of summer 2023 – when Barbie came out on the same day as Oppenheimer – will for ever be a part of cinema history for capturing the public imagination and bringing audiences back to cinemas in droves after years of Covid-induced antipathy.

So it’s unsurprising, that in an attempt to recapture some of the excitement, fans have come up with a new portmanteau: Glicked, used to refer to the face-off between Gladiator II and Wicked this week.

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Korean cinema in ‘precarious period’ due to Netflix, says Jang Joon-hwan

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Director of Save the Green Planet, which is getting US remake, says film industry suffering amid rise of streaming

When Parasite became the first non-English language film in Oscars history to win best picture in 2019, it marked a breakthrough moment for Korean cinema.

But the surge of interest that followed the director Bong Joon-ho’s international success has not translated into a thriving local film industry, according to another of its leading lights.

The London Korean film festival takes place at BFI Southbank, Ciné Lumière and Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) 1-13 November. Echoes In Time: Korean Films of The Golden Age and New Cinema is at BFI Southbank until 31 December

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‘I hope God gives me the strength to make more movies’: Scorsese addresses retirement rumours

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Director tells press conference he has ‘more films to make’ after long-planned Frank Sinatra biopic and adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s A Life of Jesus both get delayed

Martin Scorsese has denied he is planning to retire, telling a press conference in Italy that he has “more films to make” after reports surfaced in September that two long-planned projects had been postponed.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Scorsese, 81, was speaking before an award ceremony in Turin and countered rumours he was no longer making films. “I’m not saying goodbye to cinema at all … I still have more films to make, and I hope God gives me the strength to make them.”

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