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Sumotherhood, the upcoming British urban action-comedy that marks the much-anticipated return to filmmaking for BAFTA winner Adam Deacon, is set to hit cinemas later this year following a major worldwide deal with Paramount, The Hollywood Reporter can reveal.

Paramount Global Content Distribution and Paramount Pictures U.K. have acquired the feature, now in postproduction and coming from Piece of Pie Productions, Deaconstructed and Belstone Pictures. Paramount Pictures U.K. is planning a theatrical release in the U.K. and Ireland later in 2023.

Sumotherhood features an ensemble cast, including Deacon (Kidulthood, Rogue), Jazzie Zonzolo (Anuvahood), Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous), Danny Sapani (Black Panther), Ed Sheeran (Game Of Thrones), Leomie Anderson (Glow Up), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Mary Poppins Returns, Paddington 2), London Hughes (London Hughes: To Catch a D*ck), Peter Serafinowicz (The Tick), Richie Campbell (Top Boy, Blue Story), Ella VaDay (Ru Paul’s Drag Race) and Jaime Winstone (Kidulthood), alongside several cameos

Written by Deacon,...

Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill accept ‘Belfast’ award.

Honor Swinton Byrne and Boiling Point director Philip Barantini were honoured at the 2022 Big Screen Awards, whilst Jamie Dornan accepted the best British film of the year award for Belfast.

The event hosted by Screen International celebrates the UK cinema industry, and was held last night at The Brewery in London.

Swinton Byrne (daughter of Tilda Swinton), who starred in The Eternal Daughter and The Souvenir films, was named breakthrough British actor of the year. After accepting her award, she said: “It means a lot, it’s a nice confidence boost to...

Tagline: "Some Things are Best Left Buried." 13 Graves is a film from UK based production house Drop Dead Films. Also from director John Langridge, 13 Graves is a horror film, set in a haunted wood. Here, two contract killers are hoping to get rid of another victim, until a supernatural entity reveals itself. This title stars: Kevin Leslie (Rise of the Krays), Morgan James (The Red Zone) and Terri Dwyer. Completed in 2018, distributor Monarch Home Entertainment will release this film on June 25th of this year; more details on the release are hosted here. A trailer for the film was revealed last month. The clip shows the contract killers, forcing a man to dig his own grave. But, he escapes when they are distracted. In the woods, strange characters emerge and this intended victim has one more chance at life. 13 Graves is slated for a June 25th release,...

A husband (Craig Conway) pays a detective (Sean Pertwee) to bring his wife (Kierston Wareing) and her lover (Martin Compston) to an abandoned warehouse so that he can torment them, punish them and extract the truth from them. Inevitably, all is not as it seems and a number of power-plays develop as the truth is gradually unveiled.

*****

Mention is often made of films feeling stage-bound, theatre pieces that belong on the stage instead of the small or big screens. This is undoubtedly such a film – four principals, one set, lots of talking. Well, lots of sweary shouting. The husband seems altogether unsure of his objectives, wanting confessions and/or revenge, but lacking the gumption to see through the very worst of his impulses. The detective seems the most decisive, the most “together”, but the script has plenty of to and fro to offer as it works towards its satisfying denouement.

War Horse; Strippers vs Werewolves; Four; Buck

Among the charges most regularly levelled at Steven Spielberg is that his movies are over-egged puddings that trade in rank melodrama and infantilising sentimentality. A whinnying chorus of such dismissive jeers greeted the arrival of War Horse (2011, DreamWorks, 12) late last year, with some predictably sniffy manure being thrown at this most populist auteur's emotional Grand National. Admittedly neither understatement nor brevity has ever been Spielberg's strong point, hence the much repeated joke: War Horse walks into a bar, barman says: "Why the long film?"

Yet to complain that this nostalgically cinematic adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's bestselling book (and feted stage adaptation) is somewhat soft around the edges is to forget that the source story was specifically aimed at younger readers. No, this is not a four-legged revisiting of the beach scenes from Saving Private Ryan, which portrayed the horrors of war in shockingly visceral form.

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? The Hunter Trailer This certainly has a nice pedigree. Having a film being executive produced by the man who brought us Animal Kingdom, being based...

Contagion (12A)

(Steven Soderbergh, 2011, Us) Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle. 106 mins

Much as he did with Traffic, Soderbergh connects the dots of a global issue and makes it look like something authoritative and contemporary rather than a celebrity disaster movie. Here it's a viral pandemic, briskly tracked in forensic detail and techno-backed montages. The response from health authorities and the panicked populace is all too credible, though once the dots are connected, we're too freaked out to remember why we were supposed to be watching.

We Need To Talk About Kevin (15)

(Lynne Ramsay, 2011, UK/Us) Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller. 112 mins

Swinton's fine performance and Ramsay's visual intelligence add up to a devastating portrait of motherhood. After a high-school shooting, a mother's existence becomes a living hell.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (12A)

(Göran Olsson, 2011, Swe) 96 mins

A trove of rediscovered news footage, along with modern-day commentary and soundtrack,...