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Today marks a special milestone as Rowan Atkinson, the man behind the iconic Mr. Bean character, celebrates his 70th birthday. While we’ve all spent countless hours laughing at his rubber-faced expressions and brilliant physical comedy, there’s another side to Atkinson that deserves the spotlight.

Rowan Atkinson | Credits: Nathan Wong, Cc By 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Did you know he’s actually a massive Formula 1 enthusiast? That’s right – the same man who gave us the hilarious Mini Cooper scenes in Mr. Bean is, in fact, a serious motorsport aficionado with deep knowledge of racing and an impressive collection of high-performance vehicles. Let’s dive into this fascinating aspect of Atkinson’s life that many fans might not know about.

From engineering student to comedy legend Rowan Atkinson | Credits: Eva Rinaldi, Cc By-sa 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here’s something that might surprise you: before Rowan Atkinson became the comedy legend we know today,...

Rowan Atkinson is returning to Netflix to follow up Man Vs Bee with slapstick sequel series Man Vs Baby.

Rowan Atkinson’s prowess at physical comedy and slapstick shenanigans combined with his malleable rubber face have made him famous worldwide as Mr Bean. One of Atkinson’s biggest influences is French comedian and filmmaker Jacques Tati, and he based much of the humour in 2007’s Mr Bean’s Holiday on Tati’s masterpiece Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday.

It made sense that Atkinson would try to reach the widest possible audience by creating a near silent series for Netflix. Man vs Bee, which Atkinson created with Will Davies and also starred Jing Lusi, Claudie Blakley, Tom Basden, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Greg McHugh, saw him play Trevor Bingley. Trevor’s a down on his luck man who finds himself battling a bee whilst looking after a luxurious house, leading to calamity and chaos. John Hughes...

Has Rowan Atkinson ever let us down? From Mr. Bean to Black Adder to Netflix's 2022 comedy Man vs Bee, the funny man makes us laugh. He knows his trade well, and he plies it for our benefit. But he is also a long way from being done.

This includes the Netflix announcement that filming has begun on a follow-up to Man vs Bee called Man vs Baby. There is no release date set, but it will surely be sometime in 2025.

The format appears to somewhat follow the same as its 2022 predecessor. In Man vs Bee, Atkinson's character, Trevor Bingley, was tasked with house-sitting a wealthy couple's mansion. The issue was that Bingley wasn't alone. There was also a bee in the home and hilarity ensued. Sure, it's not Oscar-winning stuff, but that's not the point. The point is to have a fun watch.

Rowan Atkinson returns to Netflix in...

To celebrate the release of The Shamrock Spitfire, on DVD from 11th March, we are giving away a DVD to a lucky winner!

The Shamrock Spitfire, a multi-award-winning, gripping World War II feature that chronicles the remarkable true story of Brendan “Paddy” Finucane – the legendary Irish pilot who became one of the most celebrated fighter aces of the Second World War and youngest Wing Commander in Raf history.

Garnering critical acclaim at festivals, The Shamrock Spitfire – from writer-director brothers Dominic and Ian Higgins – gets its UK premiere this March just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, courtesy of 101 Films.

The future of Europe hangs by a thread as fierce battles rage in the skies over southern England. With his dreams of being a pilot, Brendan Finucane (Shane O’Regan) is one of the first Irish men to enlist in the Royal Air Force – despite the fears of his loving...

Los Angeles, Feb 12 (Ians) ‘Mr Bean’ star Rowan Atkinson, who has previously played the titular hapless secret agent in three movies in the spy spoof franchise ‘Johnny English’ will return for a fourth installement.

He featured in ‘Jhonny English’, ‘Johnny English Reborn’, and 2018’s ‘Johnny English Strikes Again’.

The movie will be shot in the summer in the UK and Malta, but the plot details are being kept under wraps, according to Screendaily. Details about the project are largely unknown, but Working Titles Films will produce for the fourth time, reports aceshowbiz.com.

While promoting the third movie in the series, Atkinson said he thought a fourth installment would be unlikely.

Speaking during a Reddit Ama (Ask Me Anything), he said: “I doubt it but thank you very much for implying you’d like to see another one. But at the same time… never say never.”

Meanwhile, the actor previously...

The fourth instalment of spy comedy Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson is set to commence filming in Malta and the UK in June.

The plot is currently under wraps but Atkinson will return as the inept MI7 agent. The actor had previously implied there would not be another film after 2018’s Johnny English Strikes Again.

Working Title will produce the fourth instalment. Previous films in the series were co-produced by Studiocanal and distributed by Universal Pictures, but this has yet to be confirmed for the fourth film.

The first Johnny English film came out in 2003, followed by Johnny English Reborn...

Exclusive: 101 Films International has struck a slew of deals for The Shamrock Spitfire, the movie about the youngest wing commander in the history of the Raf.

With EFM approaching, the pic has sold to Australia and New Zealand’s Rialto, Japan’s Aya Pro, South Korea’s Scene & Sound, Scandinavia and Iceland’s Smile, and 101 Films in the UK and North America.

Coming from Ian Higgins and Dominic Higgins, Shamrock Spitfire, which made the official selection at the Cannes World Film Festival 2023 and will launch at the Berlinale, tells the story of World War II Raf fighter Brendan “Paddy” Finucane.

“Ahead of our official launch of this special movie at Berlinale it is gratifying to see a number of early sales with many more anticipated,” said 101 VP of International Sales Eoghan Burke.

Finucane was the youngest wing commander in the history of the Raf and one of the...

Updated to clarify entity that was fined: The UK production entity behind 2021’s Fast & Furious 9: The Fast Saga has been fined £800,000 ($1 million) after one of its stuntmen suffered brain damage after a fall during production.

Joe Watts suffered a broken skull after falling eight metres onto concrete and landing on his head, in an accident during the filming of Fast 9 at Warner Bros’ studios in Hertfordshire, UK, in July 2019.

The BBC reports that a judge considered Watts “lucky to be alive,” after hearing that his safety line became detached during a stunt that was rehearsed but changed during filming. The court heard that the safety line was not checked between takes. District Judge Talwinder Buttar, sitting at Luton Magistrates Court, criticized the decision to alter the stunt “at the last minute,” adding that the matting underneath should also have been adjusted.

The prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive,...

Paramount+ has teamed up with Sex Education producer Eleven to make a series about a bachelor party that ends up with the revelers in prison.

Filming has commenced on the UK original, which is titled Stags and stars Nico Mirallegro (Passenger), Charlie Cooper (This Country), and Asim Chaudhry (People Just Do Nothing).

Other members of the ensemble cast include Corin Silva, Sophie Lenglinger, Paul Forman, Jojo Macari, Cavan Clerkin, Paulina Galvez, and Oscar Foronda.

Here’s the log line: “The six-part series follows groom-to-be Stu (Mirallegro) and his friends on his stag do in South America. What was meant to be a week of drink, debauchery and fun takes a dark turn. Instead of boarding a flight back to the UK, the stags are sent to a lawless prison island run by two warring siblings.

“Quickly it becomes clear that the stags need to pick a side to have any chance of survival.

Nothing gold can stay, and to make room for everything new at Hulu in November, we have to say goodbye to dozens of the series and movies on the platform. The streamer will make room for its upcoming Christmas library by losing some of its horror-themed titles throughout the month, including “Stephen King's It,” most of its “Saw” franchise, and “Shaun Of The Dead.” Other major titles leaving the platform include Emma Stone’s breakthrough comedy “Easy A,” the Nora Ephron classic “Sleeping in Seattle,” and more.

Check out The Streamable’s top picks for what to catch this month on Hulu before they’re gone!

30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Leaving Hulu in November 2023? “A Walk to Remember” | Friday, Nov. 3

Before “The Notebook,” “A Walk to Remember” was the go-to Nicholas Sparks coming-of-age schmaltz. Mandy Moore makes her film starring debut...

Veteran actor Michael Gambon, who spent decades performing on-screen and on-stage, has died.

Per the Associated Press, Gambon's publicist has confirmed that the actor died following a bout of pneumonia. A statement was also released by his family, which noted, "We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon. Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside."

Gambon began his acting career working on stage as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre alongside Laurence Olivier; he'd go on to win three Olivier Awards with another ten nominations. For his on-screen work, he'd won two Screen Actors Guild Awards and four BAFTA Awards. He was nominated for a Tony for Best Actor in a Play with his role in his Broadway debut Skylight in 1997, and earned two Emmy nominations for Path to War and Emma.

When the United Kingdom crowned its new king in May, the coronation ceremony aired for seven and a half hours straight on three of the UK’s four major terrestrial TV channels. On the fourth? The aptly titled Johnny English Strikes Again, after a quadruple-bill of Frasier. Nothing like a bit of counterprogramming.

While His Majesty Johnny English’s fussy pomp was striking again all over the TV schedules then, those who chose to could bend the knee and recite an oath of allegiance to our true king: Dr Frasier Crane.

Channel 4’s tradition of airing a Frasier double-bill* every morning has been going since records began. It may not be quite as old as the orb and sceptre routine, but it’s much more important to the national mood. On a sick day, on a well day, on high days and holidays, Frasier is there. When other stations...

An audience of 20 million UK viewers watched the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, according to British press, including The Guardian.

As viewers tuned in to witness the passing of the royal baton to King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the Westminster Abbey ceremony, BBC received the highest audience for the program as 15.5 million total viewers watched Huw Edwards’ coverage across BBC One, BBC Two and the BBC News channel.

ITV had the second most watched broadcast with 3.6 million viewers while Sky’s coverage reached 800,000 viewers on both Sky News and Sky Showcase, according to British press. Channel 4, which aired “Johnny English Strikes Again,” in turn brought 138,000 viewers at the same time as Saturday’s ceremony.

Notably, the ceremony, which was attended by notable American and British figures alike, drew in a smaller crowd than the audience of 29 million viewers who watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II...

The Coronation of King Charles III was watched by an audience of more than 19M in the UK.

The lavish celebration was broadcast across many major networks on Saturday, as King Charles was crowned at Westminster Abbey in front of guests including Katy Perry and Prince Harry.

Viewing figures climbed to a high of 13M on BBC1, according to Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board figures supplied by Overnights.

BBC2’s sign language coverage was watched by a peak of 1.7M. ITV’s audience hit a high of nearly 3.3M.

Liam Hamilton, a UK ratings expert, said another 1M watched on news channels, including Sky News and BBC News.

The 19M total falls well short of the 28M peak for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last year. The Coronation did, however, beat Platinum Jubilee celebrations last year, which hit a high of 13M for the Platinum Party at the Palace on BBC...

Is the U.K. feeling royal fatigue? With three major royal events landing in the past 24 months — Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021, followed by the Platinum Jubilee and Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in 2022 — the coronation of King Charles III on May 6 is dividing the nation.

The coronation arrives in a period of reflection about the monarchy and its place in modern British society, not to mention the optics of staging a ceremony replete with pomp and splendor while ordinary people are grappling with a cost-of-living crisis.

That makes it tricky for U.K. broadcasters to strike a balance between covering a historic event and serving diverse programming. When Prince Philip died, the BBC’s blanket coverage generated so many complaints that the broadcaster had to set up a dedicated hotline to field them.

Perhaps because of the respect Queen Elizabeth commanded, there were fewer grumblings about the coverage of...

Olga Kurylenko is set to lead the sci-fi action-thriller “Unify.”

Directed and written by Jonathan Hopkins (“Slumber”), the film is set in a dystopian future and tells the story of a refugee mother who holds the key to humanity’s salvation in the war against A.I. but is being hunted by a technological enemy.

Myriad has acquired rights for the action-adventure drama from BoxFly and Ostara Pictures, and will launch the film to buyers at this month’s European Film Market, which runs alongside the Berlin Film Festival. The film will begin production in October.

BoxFly and Ostara Pictures will produce “Unify” with Haydn Pryce-Jenkins and Raimund Berens. Executive producers are BoxFly’s Colin Brown, Ostara Pictures’ Graham Bryan and Myriad Pictures’ Kirk D’Amico and Brian Nitzkin. Shakyra Dowling has come on board as casting director.

From a story by Hopkins, Charlie Macpherson and Jennie Gruner, “Unify” warns of a biological A.

Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you haven’t yet watched the final episode of “Man vs Bee.”

It was three years ago that director David Kerr unexpectedly got a call from an old producer colleague, Chris Clark, with whom he’d worked on 2018’s “Johnny English” sequel “Johnny English Strikes Again.” Clark had been developing an idea with “Johnny English” and “Mr Bean” star Rowan Atkinson and wondered if Kerr would be interested in helming the project.

“It was a really simple premise,” Kerr tells Variety. “You’ve got this man in a fancy house full of priceless artwork, with a tiny antagonist. But I can immediately see that it was potentially a wonderful vehicle for Rowan, and for his unique talent.”

The next step was to convene with Atkinson, one of Britain’s most famous and reclusive comedians, in his garden (thanks to Covid-19 restrictions) to discuss Atkinson’s character,...

"You see... there was this bee." Netflix has revealed an official trailer for a fun comedy series titled Man vs Bee, the return of kooky British comedian Rowan Atkinson making us laugh even more. "A comedy series that will get the whole family buzzing." Atkinson last made the Johnny English Strikes Again movie in 2018, and has been doing a few other Mr Bean comedies recently, including the "Handy Bean" series. In this one, he doesn't play Mr. Bean specifically, but it still looks fun as he gets into more trouble. A man finds himself at war with a bee while housesitting a luxurious mansion. Who will win, and what irreparable damage will be done in the process? In addition to Atkinson, the cast includes Jing Lusi, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Greg McHugh, India Fowler, Claudie Blakley, & Tom Basden. This actually looks much better than Johnny English or Mr Bean, and everyone can...

Sky Studios has tapped Tilly Coulson and Sam Hoyle to join its U.K. drama commissioning team.

Coulson has joined as head of development while Hoyle joined as executive producer. Both execs started in Feb.

They will report to director of commissioning, drama, Gabriel Silver.

Hoyle’s role will include developing new projects and overseeing production across a range of dramas including Sky Originals such as “Lockerbie.” She previously worked as an executive producer at Netflix and, before that, as a co-executive producer on “Doctor Who.” She was also the associate produce and script executive on ITV’s “Broadchurch.”

Coulson’s role will include spearheading new and existing drama development at Sky Studios.as well as nurturing new and underrepresented writing talent, overseeing table reads and acting as a contact for the “independent producer community” within Sky Studios.

She was previously a senior developement executive at Working Title Films, where...

Sky Studios, the original programming arm of broadcaster Sky in Europe, has bolstered its UK Drama Commissioning team with a pair of hires.

Executive Producer Sam Hoyle has joined Sky having held the same role at Netflix. Prior to the streamer, she was co-executive producer on Doctor Who and was the Associate Producer and Script Executive on all three series of the BAFTA-winning show Broadchurch.

Sky has also hired Tilly Coulson from UK production outfit Working Title, where she was Senior Development Executive with credits including as an EP on The Swimmers and Catherine, Called Birdy as well as Rebecca, King of Thieves and Johnny English Strikes Again.

In her new role as Head of Development, Tilly Coulson will spearhead drama development for Sky Studios’ commissioned slate, accelerating existing projects and generating new developments.

The Drama division works across both indie-commissioned projects – led by Gabriel Silver – and in-house developed projects...

It’s last call for a number of great movies leaving HBO and HBO Max in March. Fortunately, the month is also packed with new movies and shows, but if you were planning to revisit any of the films below, now’s your chance.

The good news is you won’t have to squeeze in any binge-watching – there are no series leaving HBO Max this month, just films. Expiring titles of note include Sam Raimi’s definitive horror films “The Evil Dead” and “Evil Dead 2,” Wes Anderson’s charming coming-of-age romance “Moonrise Kingdom,” the Charlize Theron-led dramedy “Tully,” Judd Apatow’s “The King of Staten Island” starring Pete Davidson, and the musical drama “Dreamgirls,” starring Jennifer Hudson in the role that earned her the Oscar.

There are also several comedy favorites expiring in March, including both “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey,...

Exclusive: Fantasy film Man & Witch has announced the addition of Jennifer Saunders, Eddie Izzard, Daniel Portman (Game of Thrones), Bill Bailey and more as shooting wraps in Los Angeles and Scotland.

Saunders, Izzard, and Bailey voice the characters of goose, sheep, and donkey, respectively, in the family film about a lonely goatherd looking for love. The trio join previously announced Sean Astin who portrays the dog. All together they support the goatherd, played by screenwriter and star Greg Steinbruner.

The animals come to life through photo-realistic puppets created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

“The goatherd is a bit of a lonely figure and an outsider who is at the bottom of the pecking order but always kind to his animals,” the film’s star Tami Stronach, of The NeverEnding Story fame, said of her real-life...

Exclusive; Sony Pictures has set Will Speck & Josh Gordon to direct Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, based on the bestselling Bernard Waber children’s book. Will Davies is adapting the screenplay and it will be a live-action hybrid film. The picture will be released July 22, 2022.

First published in 1965, the venerable children’s tale revolves around the title reptile who lives in a house on East 88th Street in New York City. Lyle enjoys helping the Primm family with everyday chores, and playing with the neighborhood kids. He’s the happiest crocodile any home ever had…until one neighbor insists that Lyle belongs in a zoo. Mr. Grumps and his cat, Loretta, don’t like crocodiles, and everything Lyle does to win them over seems to go wrong. It will take all of Lyle’s charm—and courage—to reveal the hero, and friend, behind the big crocodile smile.

Speck & Gordon are producing alongside Hutch Parker.

This Sunday’s a pretty notable one for Netflix as the streaming giant has just added three big, but totally different, movies. One is an Oscar-winning smash hit, another is a franchise-starting British comedy and the third is a big budget fantasy mega-flop. Let’s go through them in chronological order, shall we?

First off, 2003’s Johnny English drops on Netflix today. Mr. Bean’s Rowan Atkinson stars as the titular bumbling British spy in this James Bond spoof that eventually formed a trilogy – with 2011’s Johnny English Reborn and 2018’s Johnny English Strikes Again, which were both just as commercially successful. In this one, though, English must stop evil Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich) from seizing the throne.

What’ll no doubt be the most popular of today’s releases with subscribers is 2012’s Les Miserables. One of the biggest movies of that year – but also one of the most...

Alec Bojalad Feb 20, 2020

We have the highlights of what's coming and going from HBO Now and HBO Go in March 2020.

March 2020 is an extremely HBO month for HBO.

What we mean by that is that the list of new releases for the month contain a lot of the hallmarks of the HBO brand that the network has built over the years. There is the third season of an expensive and popular sci-fi series with Westworld season 3 premiering on March 15. Then there's also the requisite new David Simon series when Philip Roth adaptation The Plot Against America premieres on March 16.

If that weren't enough, March 2020 sees the arrival of a big ticket superhero movie with X-Men: Dark Phoenix arriving on March 21. It's not a good big ticket superhero movie, but still! You may want to rewatch it all the same. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a sort of superhero movie itself.

Exclusive: David Kerr, the comedy director whose credits include Johnny English Strikes Again and Inside No. 9, has signed to helm Irish Christmas story Joy To The World.

Script comes from Irish scribe Ronan Blaney, who wrote the 2014 Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning short Boogaloo And Graham. Blaney has also penned three produced features: 2012 comedy-horror Love Bite, 2018 mystery feature Don’t Go, which was released in the U.S. by IFC Films, and 2019 crime thriller A Good Woman Is Hard To Find, which closed this year’s FrightFest.

In coming-of-age pic Joy To The World, after a bank robber dressed as Santa Claus holds up a bank, a child disillusioned with Christmas encounters a man in the woods who, also dressed as Santa, claims to have fallen out of his sleigh. The pair strike up a friendship and go on an adventure.

Producers are Kate McColgan for Irish outfit Calico Pictures and...

Exclusive: Oscar-winner Gary Oldman has joined Olga Kurylenko in UK action-thriller The Courier, which is due to begin shoot in London next month.

Kurylenko will play a courier whose daily deliveries are interrupted when she discovers that her latest package is a bomb aimed at killing a witness who is about to testify against a ruthless crime lord, played by Darkest Hour star Oldman.

Additional casting is under way on the film, which comes from Signature Films, the production arm of UK distributor Signature Entertainment, and new UK outfit Rollercoaster Angel Productions.

Directed by Zackary Adler (Rise of the Footsoldier III), the film will be produced by Marc Goldberg (Final Score), James Edward Barker (Mara), David Haring (Pandas) and Andrew Prendergast (An American Exorcism). Douglas Urbanski (Darkest Hour), Oldman’s long-term producing partner, will serve as executive produce. Script comes from Andy Conway and Nicky Tate. Capstone Group spinoff Blue Box is handling international sales.

Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Emma Thompson, Kevin Eldon, Adam James, Noah Spiers, Kendra Mei, Alfie Kennedy, Michael Gambon, Adam Greaves-Neal, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Charles Dance, Edward Fox, Miranda Hennessy | Written by William Davies | Directed by David Kerr

Rowan Atkinson returns as the titular character of now-retired Johnny English in Johnny English Strikes Again, the latest and hopefully final installment as the quirky, farcical British spy in what has bizarrely become a trilogy of films. Johnny English Strikes Again is the typical venture we’ve all come to know and suspect. The pinnacle of juvenile comedy. An exact carbon copy of each installment before it. Atkinson’s latest does so little to entertain or excite, yet ironically and poetically, does equally as much in terms of effort to stop it becoming a definitive disaster.

To suggest that Johnny English Strikes Again is “funny” would be to fall into a...

It is tracking to become DC’s record title in the territory.

Led by the strong performance of Aquaman, the Chinese box office surged 36% week-on-week betwenn Dec 3-9, bringing it closer to achieving the new annual milestone of RMB60bn ($8.7bn) by year-end.

Warner Bros’ Aquaman stormed the Chinese box office with $92.3m from its three-day opening weekend, accounting for almost 70% of the week’s total ticket sales. Its opening debut has out-grossed the lifetime total of both 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and 2017’s Wonder Woman. It is tracking to overtake 2017’s Justice League and smash a...

Meanwhile Sony’s Venom is up to $239.5m after 17 days.

As of Sunday, 2018’s Chinese box office reached new heights, totaling $8.13bn, up over 10% year-on-year. With one more month to go, it is inching closer to the new annual milestone of RMB60bn ($8.72bn) by year-end.

A Cool Fish reached the top spot for the first time as new releases failed to edge out the holdovers in the week of Nov 19-25. Rao Xiaozhi’s second film topped the chart with $39.7m for $49.3m after 10 days, with a local title reclaiming the box office crown after four weeks of Hollywood domination.

As it heads into its second weekend, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” looks set to fall well short of the box-office performance of the franchise’s first installment in China. That is despite a number of tailor-made attempts to woo Chinese audiences.

As of mid-afternoon Friday, six days after its release, “Grindelwald” had brought in about $46.3 million in the world’s second-biggest movie market. It was beaten at the box office Wednesday and Thursday by “Venom” and comedic Chinese crime thriller “A Cool Fish,” then dropped even further, to fifth place, by 3 p.m. Friday, muscled aside by new releases “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Johnny English Strikes Again,” starring Rowan Atkinson, who has a huge following in China.

2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” took in $86 million in China – nearly double the sequel’s current take – at a time when the country had significantly fewer screens than it has now.

Company is the inaugural recipient of Screen’s Outstanding Contribution to UK Film award.

Working Title Films is the inaugural recipient of Screen International’s Outstanding Contribution to UK Film award.

The award has been created to honour the achievements of a company or individual whose contributions to UK film have had a significant impact on the reputation of the industry, both locally and internationally.

It will be presented to Working Title’s co-chairmen Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner at the Screen Awards on November 29 at The Ballroom, Southbank. Now in their ninth year, the Screen Awards recognise excellence in UK film distribution,...

This weekend provided more of the same at the box office — not that that’s a bad thing. With “Halloween,” “A Star Is Born,” and “Venom” again occupying the top three slots, grosses for the pre-Halloween period jumped a third over last year.

The Blumhouse-reinvigorated “Halloween” looks like a two-week wonder with its 58 percent drop. That’s the high end for the second weekend of a seasonal release right before the holiday. It will easily surpass $150 million in gross, making it second only to “Get Out” at Blumhouse.

Even so, the story of the moment remains the continued success of “A Star Is Born.” There was no real new competition, and after four weekends at #2 it will probably relinquish its slot next weekend when three significant new titles open. No matter; its awards play is right on schedule. In fact, its gross is more than $60 million ahead of what “Argo,...

Update, writethru: There’s lots of varied action at the international box office this weekend, with milestones — and near-milestones — aplenty. Coming in again at No.1 domestically and worldwide, Universal/Miramax/Blumhouse’s Halloween takes the top spot in its second offshore frame. It scared up $25.6M for a $45.6M overseas cume and $172.3M global. There were 39 markets added abroad, including a handful of majors with No. 1s notably in Germany, Spain, Brazil and Italy. The overall drop from opening last weekend was 47%, with some good holds in key markets, including the top spot again in Mexico.

While the Halloween franchise has typically been more of a domestic property, and slasher films can have a tougher time in traditional offshore horror markets, Universal’s Evp of International Distribution, Niels Swinkels, is bullish on the overseas play. Internationally, the IP’s heritage is only applicable in part of the world and Jamie Lee Curtis...

The weekend played out mostly as expected with a repeat of last weekend's top four films, led by Universal's Halloween, which has now delivered over $126 million in just ten days in release. Lionsgate's release of Summit's Hunter Killer led the week's new wide releases with a top five finish while A24's expansion of Jonah Hill's Mid90s secured a top ten finish. The biggest news, however, might be the overall month of October, which is now the highest grossing October of all-time with grosses topping $785 million with three days in the month left to go. Repeating atop the weekend box office is Universal's release of Blumhouse and Miramax's Halloween. The horror hit dipped 58% in its second weekend, delivering an estimated $32 million as its domestic cume now climbs over $126 million after just ten days in release, all on a reported $10 million production budget. Halloween is also the #1 film internationally,...

“Halloween” easily stayed No. 1 at the domestic box office in its second weekend as the spooky holiday nears.

Universal and Blumhouse’s slasher film starring Jamie Lee Curtis picked up another $32 million, marking a 58% decline from its impressive debut. Directed by David Gordon Green, “Halloween” crossed $100 million on Friday. The movie pocketed $25 million overseas for a total of $172 million worldwide.

Holdovers “A Star Is Born” and “Venom” also remained in the top five. Warner Bros.’ “A Star Is Born” landed in second place with $14 million, dropping just 26% in its fourth outing. Lady Gaga and Bradley’s musical drama has earned $148 million. The acclaimed movie hit $100 million at the international box office for a global total of $253.2 million. Meanwhile, “Venom,” Sony’s dark superhero film with Tom Hardy, came in third with $10.8 million. That brings its domestic tally to $187 million for a worldwide cume of $508.4 million.

Otherwise, studios generally steered clear of the pre-Halloween frame.

“Halloween” continues to rule the final days of October, as the Universal/Blumhouse sequel stays atop the box office charts with $32 million grossed in its second weekend.

That result is 58 percent down from the film’s studio record $76.2 million opening, better than the 66 percent drop that “The Nun” faced last month after its $53 million start. With a 10-day total of $126 million, the film already ranks third among all Blumhouse releases and should easily pass the theatrical run of “Split” ($138.2 million) for the No. 2 spot this coming week, especially with Halloween night providing a big midweek boost.

Also Read: 'Halloween' Is a Hit, But How Big Will It Be Outside America?

“Halloween” is accounting for roughly a third of all grosses this weekend, with the total for the weekend currently being estimated at $101 million. That puts October’s calendar gross at approximately $736 million and on pace to pass the month’s...

Sunday Am Update with chart after Friday 11:04Pm and Saturday Am update: While it’s often written that the weekend that lands prior to or around Halloween is deathly slow, it really depends on what the studios put on the marquee. We could have said the same thing about the third weekend in October, that it’s just a platform for lackluster wares, a pig pile of counter-programming.

But Universal/Miramax/Blumhouse’s Halloween proved that business theory wrong last weekend with the second-best start ever for the month with $76.2M. And the horror sequel is showing again that there’s money to be made at the end of October, with a studio-reported second weekend of $32M second weekend, -58%, a great hold for a slasher, beating the second weekend of such horror movies as The Nun (-66%) and The Conjuring 2 (-63%) and not that far from Annabelle: Creation...

Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Halloween” is dominating the pre-Halloween box office with an impressive $30.5 million at 3,990 North American sites.

Universal’s R-rated slasher movie — a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s original 1978 movie with Curtis’ Laurie Strode again facing off against serial killer Michael Myers — crossed the $100 million mark on Friday, its eighth day of domestic release. It’s due to decline 61% from its stunning $76.2 million opening weekend.

“Halloween” is maintaining the momentum of a record-setting October, having already topped the $757 million mark from four years ago. The overall 2018 box office was up 10.4% to $9.58 billion as of Oct. 21, according to comScore.

“Audiences have clearly made ‘Halloween’ a box office treat as the latest film in the iconic horror franchise continues to kill the competition at the multiplex while taking full advantage of what is typically a slow frame with a second session that is perfectly timed for Laurie Strode and Michael Myers...

As expected, Universal/Blumhouse’s “Halloween” is easily holding on to the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend, with estimates of a $30 million second weekend.

That’s a 61 percent drop from the film’s $76.2 million opening weekend, a solid hold considering that many horror titles are typically very front-loaded and that “Halloween” had a larger than expected launch, posting one of the top ten largest opening ever by a R-rated film.

By comparison, “The Nun” dropped 66 percent in its second weekend last month from its $53 million opening, and “Halloween” has already passed that film’s entire domestic run.

If this result holds, the film will have a domestic 10-day total of just under $125 million, ranking it third among all Blumhouse films.

Also Read: 'Halloween' Is a Hit, But How Big Will It Be Outside America?

With “Halloween” continuing to pull moviegoers from Sony’s “Venom,” Warner Bros....

Matthew Schuchman Oct 26, 2018

Rowan Atkinson talks to us about returning to one of his iconic roles in Johnny English Strikes Again.

Probably still most popular to audiences worldwide as Mr. Bean, Johnny English Strikes Again’s Rowan Atkinson has been making people laugh for quite some time now. Starting as a stage performer who dazzled with some spectacular one-man shows during his career and hitting the TV early on with the sketch show, Not the Nine O’Clock News, Atkinson truly struck gold with the historical sitcom, Black Adder. The show which ran for four series, including many specials, was a marvel that many thought would not work. That character creation, followed by Mr. Bean, solidified Atkinson in the zeitgeist of world comedy. As my friend will tell it, “He’s the Chaplin of this generation.”

Now, Atkinson is back for the third installment of his James Bond-esque spy comedy,...

There’s still plenty of interest in Laurie Strode’s struggle against Michael Myers.

The second weekend of Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Halloween” is projected to generate about $32 million, early estimates showed Friday. That marks a 59% decline from its $76.2 million opening — a decent result for the well-received horror sequel.

The 11th “Halloween” movie will dominate moviegoing at multiplexes during the pre-Halloween session and should wind up the weekend with around $126 million in its first 10 days, followed by the fourth weekends of “A Star Is Born” and “Venom.”

Lionsgate’s launch of action-thriller “Hunter Killer,” which captured a moderate $420,000 in Thursday night previews, looks likely to be battling for fourth place at about $7 million with Sony holdover “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.”

“Hunter Killer,” starring Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, and Common, has been forecast to collect between $5 million and $9 million this weekend when it launches at 2,720 sites. “Hunter Killer,” based on the novel “Firing Point,...

After last year’s stateside success with Call Me By Your Name, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino is back with a “re-imagining” of Dario Argento’s 1970s classic Suspiria. The update, which stars Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth and Chloë Grace Moretz, heads to theaters this weekend via Amazon Studios. Legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman is out with his latest film, Monrovia, Indiana. Wiseman, who helped define the big screen non-fiction genre over the decades, has yet to receive awards recognition, though his latest, released via his Zipporah Films label, could change that. Susan Sarandon stars in Viper Club from YouTube Originals and Roadside Attractions, the largest U.S. theatrical release for a YouTube financed feature. Neon is heading out with Scandinavian-based filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s Border, based on a story by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. Following its bow as the opening night film at New York Lgbt film festival NewFest,...

Lionsgate’s submarine movie “Hunter Killer,” which is being released through its Summit Entertainment label, earned $420,000 in Thursday previews from 2,200 screens. It will open on 2,728 screens this weekend.

The Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman-led thriller face off against “Halloween” as it moves into its second weekend, which should dominate through Oct. 31. “Hunter Killer” is projected for a $6-8 million opening behind a 38 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Comparisons aren’t easy for “Hunter Killer” considering that it’s going up against “Halloween.” But Gerard Butler’s “Geostorm,” which opened this time last year and skipped Thursday previews, ended up earning only $13.7 million in its opening weekend against a $120 million budget. Butler’s “Den of Thieves” opened in January of this year and took in $950,000 in previews leading up to a $15 million open.

Also Read: 'Halloween' Is a Hit, But How Big Will It Be Outside America?

The...

Action-thriller “Hunter Killer” captured a moderate $420,000 at 2,200 North American locations on Thursday night.

The Lionsgate title, starring Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, and Common, should collect between $5 million and $9 million this weekend when it launches at 2,720 sites. “Hunter Killer,” based on the novel “Firing Point,” follows a group of Navy SEALs deep in the Arctic Ocean on a mission to rescue the captured Russian president.

“Hunter Killer” is expected to be dwarfed by the second weekend of “Halloween,” which is on track for $30 million to $40 million. The fourth weekends of Tom Hardy’s “Venom” and Lady Gaga’s “A Star Is Born” will also pull in between $10 million and $15 million each.

“Hunter Killer,” directed by Donovan Marsh from a script by Arne Schmidt and Jamie Moss, looks likely to be battling for fourth place with Sony holdover “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.”

The preview opening for “Hunter Killer” is similar to 2011’s “The Mechanic,...

This coming weekend's main attraction is Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, which depicts the nightmarish events that occur at a dance academy in 1970s Berlin. 

Other movies, such as war drama Indivisible and action flick Hunter Killer, will also hit theaters Friday. The latter features Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman in the leading roles.

Susan Sarandon plays a nurse whose son is captured overseas in Maryam Keshavarz's sophomore project, Viper Club, and Rowan Atkinson reprises his titular role in Johnny English Strikes Again, the third film in the series. Both are set for a Friday release.

Read below to see what critics for ...

This coming weekend's main attraction is Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, which depicts the nightmarish events that occur at a dance academy in 1970s Berlin. 

Other movies, such as war drama Indivisible and action flick Hunter Killer, will also hit theaters Friday. The latter features Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman in the leading roles.

Susan Sarandon plays a nurse whose son is captured overseas in Maryam Keshavarz's sophomore project, Viper Club, and Rowan Atkinson reprises his titular role in Johnny English Strikes Again, the third film in the series. Both are set for a Friday release.

Read below to see what critics for ...

October 2018 is still running at a record pace. As of October 24, the month was pacing +49% higher than last year, not to mention +7.8% ahead of 2014, the largest October on record, though that's about to change by the end of this weekend. That said, it won't be the weekend's new releases doing the heavy lifting, but the weekend's holdovers, starting with last weekend's chart-topping horror hit Halloween. The weekend's new wide releases will mostly debut in the low-to-mid single digit millions with Lionsgate's Hunter Killer expected to top the week's crop of new releases. Looking to repeat at #1 is Universal's release of Blumhouse and Miramax's Halloween, which delivered a smashing $76.2 million opening last weekend, the second largest October opening ever. When it comes to its sophomore session we looked at other R-rated horror hits such as It, The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity 3 and The Nun, which dropped, on average, -57.45% in their second weekends.

With scant high profile offerings hitting theaters, Michael Myers won’t need to put up much of a fight to top box office charts again.

After “Halloween’s” massive $76 million debut, Universal and Blumhouse’s slasher film starring Jamie Lee Curtis will easily repeat at No. 1 in North America. The question is: how much of a killing can it make in its second frame? Horror movies typically suffer steep drops in movie ticket sales after opening weekend, but solid word of mouth could signal good news for the 11th chapter in the “Halloween” saga over the spooky holiday weekend. Even if it were to see a sharp 50% drop, in line with the sophomore outings of “It” and “The Nun,” “Halloween” would pick up an impressive $38 million this weekend. Recent titles such as “Get Out” and “A Quiet Place” were able beat that trend, falling just 15% and 34% respectively. “Halloween” could get...

As usual, the weekend before Halloween is looking a lot like a graveyard when it comes to major movie releases. Though film releases aren’t crammed into just a few busy periods, as they were a few years ago, studios still strive to avoid the dead weekends on the calendar.

In the case of the pre-Halloween period, moviegoers are preoccupied with the coming holiday, and many parties are scheduled on weekends even when the holiday falls during the week. Plus, the surfeit of horror movies earlier in the month typically play through Halloween for those still looking for chills.

Labor Day weekend is an even worse period for the movie business, with family cookouts and back-to-school prep taking over moviegoers’ attention after the early and midsummer rush of blockbusters peter out.

Though the North American box office is currently leading last year by nearly 10%, this weekend’s openings are a...