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Everyone has their favorite on-screen Santa. Whether it's Ed Asner's gruff but warm Santa in 2003's Elf or Edmund Gwenn's immortal portrayal in 1947's Miracle on 34th Street, countless actors have donned the red and white suit. But one actor isn't often in that conversation, despite playing the role twice within a three-year span.

That actor is Jim Broadbent, one of the most recognizable British character actors who's lent his jovial sensibility to everything from Bridget Jones's Diary to the Harry Potter films. Broadbent first took a turn as Santa in vocal form in 2011's acclaimed animated adventure Arthur Christmas, before getting a chance to don the white beard three years later in 2014's Get Santa. The film was generally met with good reviews at the time, but has since largely disappeared into the stream of would-be Christmas classics.

Despite being largely overlooked, Get Santa is a...

Netflix’s fifth and final original Christmas movie for 2024 is now streaming, and this one is animated. But you’re still going to recognize a whole lot of the cast.

Written and directed by Richard Curtis, who brought fans “Love, Actually,” the film centers on a group of people in a small town in the UK, getting ready to celebrate Christmas. Like “Love, Actually,” the story is told via vignettes, jumping around between different groups and pairings.

And as you meet those groups and pairings, you’re definitely going to recognize some of those voices. Here’s who we have.

Netflix/Getty Images Santa (Brian Cox)

The big man himself is voiced by Brian Cox, who you likely know from his time on “Succession,” or films including “X2: X-Men United,” “Troy,” “Red,” “Zodiac” and “Trick ‘r Treat,” among many others.

Netflix/Getty Images Lighthouse Bill (Bill Nighy)

Bill uses his lighthouse to help both Santa,...

Heartstopper season 3 sports an ensemble cast, made up of faces both familiar and unfamiliar. After Heartstopper season 2's ending, it was expected that the cast would grow as the characters mature. This proved to be true by the time of Heartstopper season 3's ending, which aged up the tone of the show alongside its characters and introduced a host of new faces.

The returning cast members of the show kept the feel of the coming-of-age drama similar, as did Heartstopper's signature animated moments. These elements, combined with the continued needle drops of Heartstopper's great soundtrack, allowed the third season to pick up where its predecessor left off. However, Heartstopper season 3 still introduced its fair share of new storylines, as well as a host of new actors in important roles.

Heartstopper Main Cast

Role

Joe Locke

Charlie Spring

Kit Connor

Nick Nelson

William Gao

Tao Xu

Yasmin Finney

Elle...

Great news: The Heartstopper Season 3 cast includes most of the characters we’ve grown to love.

There are a few exceptions, of course: Sarah (Olivia Colman) will not be back because of scheduling conflicts, and Ben’s (Sebastian Croft) storyline came to an end.

With the feel-good LGBTQ+ series’ third season getting ready to debut on Netflix on October 3, 2024, there’s no time like the present to refresh your memory about who’s who and what they’re up to.

(Netflix/Screenshot, Netflix/Teddy Cavendish)

Charlie Spring Joe Locke

Unsurprisingly, Charlie will again be part of the Heartstopper Season 3 cast, as the series is centered around him and his relationship with Nick.

There are other characters and couples, but there would be no show without Charlie.

Tell Me Lies Season 2 Premiere Review: Welcome To That Fine Line Between Love And Hateby Joshua Pleming Bad Monkey Season 1 Episode 5 Review: That Damn...

Creep director Christopher Smith will direct episodes of horror comedy series Video Nasty for BBC Three. Here are the first details:

British director Christopher Smith has made an eclectic range of films, from the tube tunnel terror of Creep to the mind bending time loop thriller Triangle, the historical horror of Black Death to the family fun of Get Santa (an opportune moment to point out that Get Santa is a hugely underappreciated British festive movie). He returned to horror with 2020’s The Banishing, and his next film, Spider Island, looks like it will have a similarly irreverent mix of horror and comedy to his 2006 hit Severance.

According to British Comedy Guide, Smith is also set to direct episodes of Video Nasty, a new horror comedy series for BBC Three.

The story is “set in 1985, with the home video revolution in full analogue swing, Video Nasty’s six 30-minute episodes...

Clockwise from bottom left: Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa (Miramax), Ed Asner in Elf (New Line Cinema), and Edmund Gwenn in Miracle On 34th Street (20th Century Flox)Graphic: The A.V. Club

Tis the season to talk movie Santas. With Christmas upon us, we decided to dig deep into...

Heartstopper season 2 features the original characters from season 1 returning alongside new additions, making it an ensemble effort. The Heartstopper cast is primarily made up of talented newcomers, propelling their careers forward. Heartstopper season 2 explores the characters' romantic relationships, with the primary focus on Charlie and Nick, and the challenges they face.

Netflix's feel-good LGBTQ+ teen drama Heartstopper returned to the streaming giant for its sophomore installment, and audiences will be happy to know that the Heartstopper season 2 cast sees the original characters returning to their roles alongside a few exciting new additions. The Netflix show is based on Alice Oseman's beloved webcomic of the same name and follows Truham Grammer School student Charlie Spring who soon develops a crush on his new deskmate and rugby player Nick Nelson. Heartstopper season 1 saw Nick exploring his sexuality before ultimately coming to terms with his mutual feelings for Charlie and coming out officially to his mother,...

Ahead of the European premiere of his psychologically disturbing supernatural thriller, Consecration, at FrightFest Glasgow 2023, director Chris Smith talks about the supernatural side of religion, filming in Scotland, and his encounter with a pregnant sheep.

Chris Smith directing Consecration

Another FrightFest, another Chris Smith movie! Our destinies seem intertwined. Why has FrightFest always been a key component to your release strategy?

I feel very fortunate to have been brought into the FrightFest family. I was very lucky that my first film, Creep, was included and then I got very lucky with the dates of release of my subsequent films. Severance was shown the night before the festival started in 2006 and then of course there was the spectacular Premier for Triangle at the Empire Leicester Square. FrightFest has also shown Black Death and Detour. They didn’t bother with Get Santa but that’s their loss. FrightFest is the best audience for any director.

Tim Allen's Santa-like beard was trending on social media for Christmas after one poll crowned the star of The Santa Clause as the best fictional Santa. Back in 1994, Allen starred in the original installment of the holiday movie franchise as Scott Calvin, an everyman who magically turns into Santa Claus after inadvertently killing the real Saint Nick. Part of the transformation includes growing a large, white beard that grows back instantly if it's shaved.

In November, Allen posted a photo of himself on Twitter revealing that he was growing out his beard. Although it's not fully white like in the movie, the actor is looking a lot like his version of Santa Claus in the image. "Woke up this morning and noticed a bit more stubble. This always happens to me as I transition to you no who this Christmas," Allen wrote in the caption.

Woke up this morning...

In the immortal words of Charlie Brown and friends: “Christmas time is heeereee!” Well, in the streaming world Christmas time is just about always here. Christmas lives forever on the servers of companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney. Now WarnerMedia has entered into the streaming Christmas fray with its service HBO Max.

HBO Max is one of the new kids on the block, but its dedication to the holiday season remains admirable. The amount of holiday episodes of its many TV shows that HBO Max can offer is staggering. For this list, however, we will focus on service’s holiday movies alone (save for one Tardis-y exception). If you’ve got an HBO Max subscription and a burning need for Christmas movies, here is what you can expect.

Doctor Who Christmas Specials

HBO Max

If the British know one thing, it’s tea. If they know two things, it’s tea and Christmas specials.

Today isn’t just the day before Thanksgiving, as it also marks one month exactly until Christmas. And you know what that means? Yes, tis the season to binge watch all your favorite holiday movies and TV specials.

This December, a lot of folks will be scouring the various streaming services for the classics, then. And if you’re an HBO Max subscriber, you need look no further, as the platform is playing host to a sleigh-full of festive content this yuletide.

As well as its original output, such as the latest Sesame Street Christmas special, the streaming site is home to a raft of iconic holiday films as well. These range from the family favorites to some alternate picks that keep things from getting too schmaltzy. For that old time-y festive feel, check out The Wizard of Oz or The Bishop’s Wife. Alternatively, action lovers have the likes of...

There are only two months left to go in this truly hellish year and relatively new streaming service HBO Max is trying to make the best of them. While most other streamers recover from Halloween and get prepared for Christmas, HBO Max is using November 2020 to fill out its servers.

Things are pretty light not the new original series front this month with only Industry (Nov. 9) and His Dark Materials season 2 (Nov. 16) making a splash. But the streamer has a couple of notable original films to complement them. Between the World and Me, based on the book by Ta-Nehisi Coates, arrives on Nov. 21 and Melissa McCarthy comedy Superintelligence arrives on Nov. 26. That’s not even to mention two intriguing projects that don’t have dates yet: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion Special and The Mystery of Db Cooper.

Thankfully, the real appeal in November 2020 is all the fresh library...

As we have just about a week left to go of October, let’s take a look at everything that’s due to arrive on HBO Max in November. It’s a big month for the WarnerMedia streaming service, with countless new movies from their legendary library being added and plenty of fresh originals dropping throughout the following weeks. A few upcoming releases have yet to be dated, but otherwise, here’s the full list of what’s coming to HBO Max next month.

Released November Tba

12 Dates Of Christmas, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

Colin Quinn & Friends: A Parking Lot Comedy Show, HBO Max Original Special Premiere

Crazy, Not Insane, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Reunion Special, HBO Max Original Special Premiere

Full Bloom, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

I Hate Suzie, HBO Max Original Series Premiere

The Mystery Of Db Cooper, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

Sesame Street,...

Variety has been given access to the first exclusive clip for horror movie “The Banishing,” which will have its market premiere during the Cannes Marché du Film this week, with WestEnd Films handling sales. Variety spoke to its director Christopher Smith, whose previous genre movies, “Creep,” “Triangle” and “Severance,” earned him a cult following.

Jessica Brown Findlay and Sean Harris star, alongside John Heffernan and John Lynch.

The film, set in the late 1930s, tells the story of the most haunted house in England. A young reverend (Heffernan) and his wife (Brown Findlay) and daughter move into a manor with a horrifying secret. When a vengeful spirit haunts the little girl and threatens to tear the family apart, the reverend and his wife are forced to confront their beliefs. They must turn to black magic by seeking the help of a famous Occultist (Harris) or risk losing their daughter.

In the clip,...

Harvey Weinstein is heading to Cannes, in a way. Lightbox’s feature documentary about the disgraced movie mogul, which is now known as Citizen Harvey (w/t), will be launched on the Croisette by Embankment. The sales company hopes to close deals with international distributors for the project, which is now in production. The film, which is a deep-dive into the Weinstein scandal that has fueled the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements and its far-reaching global impact, is a co-production with the BBC. Produced by Lightbox founders Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn and The Imposter’s Poppy Dixon, it is directed by Captive director Ursula Macfarlane. David Gilbery (McQueen) and Charles Dorfman (Shame) are executive producing on behalf of Media Finance Capital, who are financing alongside the BBC. Simon Young will executive produce for the BBC. It will air in the UK on BBC Two following its theatrical release.

MaryAnn’s quick take… A descent into the muddy trenches of World War I that is intimate and immediate, melancholy and profoundly moving. An experience as visceral as it is intellectual. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film

(learn more about this)

This year is the centenary of the final year of World War I, and the cinematic commemorations are beginning with the new British film Journey’s End. The last surviving veteran died in 2012 just short of the age of 111, so the experience of serving in the war has now passed out of living memory. But End puts us in the trenches with an intimacy that is profound and moving, and with an immediacy that unavoidably draws us to see a relevance for today.

With the passing of Thanksgiving 2017, the holidays are now officially in full swing! What better way to indulge in them then to make some hot chocolate, curl up on the couch, ditch your favorite book and watch Netflix? The big problem is that there is a lot of content to sift through. You've got all manner of holiday movies. You want to watch them all. There just isn't enough time. This is a sad reality of the Netflix induced, streaming world we now live in.

With time in such short supply, we've done the dirty work for you. Yes, there are more holiday movies on Netflix than what is listed here. However, for you to go through them all would take you the entire holiday season. Do you really want to start watching your Netflix holiday list in February? Didn't think so.

So, we have muddied through all the holiday movies for you.

Author: Hannah Woodhead

You might not know the name Chris Smith, but you’ll probably have seen at least one of his films. In 2004 he made the tube (even more?) terrifying with horror movie Creep, and a decade later he took on Father Christmas in the underrated Get Santa. With a varied filmography spanning horror, comedy, and historical action under his belt, Chris has gone stateside for his latest film – a neo-noir road trip movie starring Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen and Bel Powley. We caught up with him for a quick chat about writing and directing Detour, and what he’s moving onto next.

Were there any films in particular that inspired the stylistic feel of Detour, and how much of the film did you visualise when working on the script?

That’s a very good question. In terms of the visual style, everything starts for me from the narrative style,...

MaryAnn’s quick take… The sparse, cold satisfaction that could be wrung from Trainspotting’s punk insolence has been replaced by an exhausted cynicism. Which is exactly right. I’m “biast” (pro): love the 1996 film

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Choose life,” Mark Renton suggested back in 1996, when he was a heroin addict in Edinburgh. Mark’s advice was ironic, of course, because he “chose not to choose life” and was courting death by overdose or death by AIDS-acquired-via-a-shared-needle. But the life he was rebelling against was one of conformity and consumerism — “choose a fucking big television; choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers” — a life in which no one actually has much choice anyway. So, while Trainspotting hardly romanticizes drug addiction — the film’s depictions of the...

Screen considers potential runners and riders.

The BBC is likely to announce its new head of film within the next two weeks, according to sources close to the process.

Scroll down for potential candidates and the original job spec

That timetable should come as a relief to those under consideration for the role and to wider industry who will want to begin building or growing their relationship with the new boss.

The job, which is considered one of the UK’s most prestigious posts, became vacant in autumn 2016 following the departure of long-time chief Christine Langan. BBC Films veteran Joe Oppenheimer has been serving as acting head of film since then.

The incoming head of film is expected to have an annual war chest of around £12m for production, cementing BBC Films’ position as one the three mainstays of public funding in the UK along with the BFI and Film4.

The organisation advertised the position (as ‘director...

Magnolia Pictures has released the first trailer for their upcoming indie thriller Detour, which is set to debut in theaters and on iTunes January 20. The film will have plenty of competition in theaters, going up against four films in wide release, The Weinstein Company's The Founder, Universal Pictures' Split, Paramount's XXX: The Return of Xander Cage and High Top Releasing's The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. It isn't clear how wide a release Detour will receive quite yet, but this indie thriller could make some waves at the box office, even in a limited release.

The trailer, which debuted on Apple, introduces us to Harper (Tye Sheridan), a seemingly naive law student, obsesses over the idea that his shifty stepfather was involved in the devastating car crash that left his mother hospitalized and comatose. He drowns his suspicions in whiskey until he finds himself suddenly engrossed in conversation with volatile...

Exclusive: Team behind Triangle and Detour working on thriller; Dan Films slate includes $2-20m projects.

UK director Christopher Smith (Get Santa) is to write and direct thriller The Undertaker for regular collaborator Julie Baines of Dan Films.

Smith is currently writing The Undertaker, which is about a former Ira man living quietly in a remote part of Nova Scotia, Canada. While he is ashamed of his violent past but he is forced to take on one last job - killing a paedophile priest who works at the Vatican.

Backing for the project is set to come from London-based Catalyst Global Media, which will produce alongside Dan Films.

The $15m film is being put together as a co-production and is set to shoot in Canada, Northern Ireland and Italy.

Smith and Baines’ latest feature Detour (sold by Bankside and picked up by Magnet for the Us in Cannes), starring Tye Sheridan and Bel Powley, has been screening...

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From Flushed Away and Hunchback to Titan A.E. and Sky High - the family movies that don't get the love they deserve...

When I sit through a film such as Zootropolis, Rango, Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, Eddie The Eagle or Coraline, I can’t help but be thankful somebody has bothered. As a parent as well as a movie lover, I’ve grown to really dislike family movies that just turn up to act as a surrogate babysitter for 90 minutes, with no intention of becoming anybody’s favourite film. The films I'm going to talk about are the family movies therefore that I think both try and do something a bit more, yet continue to fly under many people's radar.

A bonus mention before we get going, and number 26 in the list, much to my surprise: Alvin & The Chipmunks 4. I was expecting next to zero from it, courtesy...

The BBC First British Film Festival has revealed its full program.

Featuring 31 titles, the program aims to capture the magic, unique humour, romance, traditions and new age vitality of British culture.

The festival will open with Paolo Sorrentino.s film, Youth, nominated for the Palme d.Or at this year.s Cannes film festival, and the follow up to his Academy Award-winning film, The Great Beauty (2013)..

Following two old friends, retired composer Fred (Michael Caine) and film director Mick (Harvey Keitel), on vacation at a prestigious hotel in the Swiss Alps, the film is an introspective and thought-provoking, wry buddy comedy — and it employs Sorrentino.s hallmark stunning visuals to majestic effect.

Straight from its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Man Who Knew Infinity — the retelling of mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.s life — will close the festival..

Featuring performances from Dev Petal (Slumdog Millionaire) as Ramanujan, and...

Essential Media and Entertainment will co-produce The Fabulist, a drama about a charismatic con artist in Victorian England, with the UK.s Archery Pictures.

UK-based Australian Adam Gyngell wrote the screenplay inspired by the true story of one of history.s greatest hoaxers.

Archery Pictures was launched last year by former head of Scott Free London Liza Marshall and Kris Thykier, who produced Simon Curtis. Woman in Gold starring Helen Mirren.

Essential.s Ian Collie has been developing the project for two years with funding from Screen Australia. He was introduced to the Archery duo by Gyngell earlier this year and they decided to join forces.

Thykier.s credits include One Chance, I Give It A Year, Manors, Kick-Ass and Harry Brown. Marshall produced or exec produced Get Santa, Before I Go To Sleep, Welcome To The Punch and the upcoming Tom Hardy period TV drama Taboo.

Collie says, .The...

Exclusive: Iconic UK book series sails to production with Rafe Spall, Kelly Macdonald in lead roles.

StudioCanal has snapped up UK rights to the upcoming feature version of UK classic book series Swallows and Amazons from HanWay Films, which has launched world sales at Cannes.

Boardwalk Empire star Kelly Macdonald has newly joined the Harbour Pictures’ (Calendar Girls) production alongside Rafe Spall (Get Santa) who will lead the cast as the enigmatic Captain Flint.

Philippa Lowthorpe (Jamaica Inn) will direct from a screenplay by Andrea Gibb (Dear Frankie).

Production on the film version will begin in the Lake District this summer. BBC Films and the BFI developed the project and are on-board for production finance.

The film is set over an idyllic English summer holiday where the Walker children and their sailing rivals, the Blacketts, run amok in their boats against the impressive backdrop of the Lake District. But when the Walker’s uncle Jim is revealed...

Exclusive: Shoot underway in South Africa on Chris Smith thriller.

Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines, The Gambler) has joined Tye Sheridan (Mud, Joe) and Bel Powley (The Diary of A Teenage Girl) in the cast of writer-director Chris Smith’s (Get Santa) thriller Detour, which is now underway in South Africa.

Supporting cast on the film includes True Blood’s Stephen Moyer and newcomer Jared Abrahamson (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days).

Sheridan will star as law student and all round good guy Harper who suspects his stepdad Vincent (Moyer) of causing the car crash that landed his mother in a coma.

Drowning his sorrows in a seedy La whisky bar, Harper ends up drinking with Johnny Ray (Cohen), a tough redneck who offers to “take care” of Vincent for a cool $20,000. Powley will play Ray’s beautiful but distant girlfriend.

Producers are Julie Baines and Jason Newmark with financing from Head Gear Films...

Three of the five nominees are about women, and it’s hardly a surprise that their fresh perspective results in stories that are new and original. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

All the stories about women that are missing from the big screen? Some of them end up in short films — like three out of the five of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Live-Action Short — and it’s hardly a surprise that their fresh perspective results in stories that are new and original. My favorite among the nominees, and the one I suspect will win, is “Parvaneh” [IMDb], from Iranian-Swiss writer-director Talkhon Hamzavi. A lovely story about an unexpected friendship between an Afghani asylum seeker (Nissa Kashani) and a disaffected Zurich student (Cheryl Graf), its moments of great suspense are a poignant emotional...

Simultaneously the dullest and the most insulting version of itself it could possibly be. If only it had managed to be campy, that’d be something… I’m “biast” (pro): have been a fan of Ridley Scott in the past…

I’m “biast” (con): …but not so much lately

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I think I’ve finally figured out what Exodus: Gods and Kings is all about. I don’t mean how it’s a painfully boring, too-literal adaptation of a Biblical fantasy that’s been told plenty often before, and was not calling out to be told again. I mean how it’s possible that Ridley Scott could have made such a stodgy flick, and one that’s utterly tone-deaf to modern sensibilities. Cuz Scott used to be ahead of the curve, not decades behind it: This is the guy who...

The director of the stunning Black Death returns to darker territories with Detour, now set to star celebrated young actor Tye Sheridan. Christopher Smith, who debuted with eerie subway horror Creep and only improved through Severance and Triangle, most recently helmed the quite favorably received family holiday comedy Get Santa. He’ll be back to something in our wheelhouse with Detour however, which THR reports…

The post Tye Sheridan to star in Black Death Director’s Detour appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

If all the pre-Christmas cheer is getting a bit much for you, then the new Black Mirror special from Charlie Brooker is essential viewing - a tech horror story in three acts, 'White Christmas' explores the dark side of Yuletide.

Brooker, though, insists that the decidedly un-festive special is not intended as a riposte to traditional Christmas programming - even if he objects to the manner in which certain parties exploit sentimentality at this time of year.

"I think it's f**king incredible that a f**king supermarket has turned the First World War into an advert for a f**king chocolate bar - I think it's staggering," he begins.

"Having said that, I quite like Christmas specials - but I missed the tradition of having ghost stories at Christmas.

"It felt like if we were going to be doing a big one-off Black Mirror then Christmas was...

2Nd Update, Tuesday Am Pt: Actuals are in from all studios with the exception of Sony. For the most part the estimates matched the final results, although Mockingjay came in slightly higher with $32.9M for a $306.6M cume, and Penguins Of Madagascar flapped up to $24.2M with a $95M cume. Also among notable upticks was Fox’s new entry, The Pyramid, with $4.2M versus the original $3.8M estimate. Next week will see Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods And Kings expand while The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies emerges from Middle Earth.

Figures have been updated below for Mockingjay Part I, Exodus: Gods And Kings, Penguins Of Madagascar, Interstellar, Horrible Bosses 2, Big Hero 6, The Pyramid, The Book Of Life, Ouija, The Theory Of Everything, Alles Ist Liebe, Trash, Dumb And Dumber To, Black Sea, Dracula Untold, Boyhood, Men Women & Children and Billy Elliot: The Musical Live.

Update,...

Looking for a good family film this Christmas? See Paddington. Or if you've seen that, you could try Get Santa

This is a film where Santa goes Awol on Christmas Eve, leading to a race against time to make sure the kids of the world get their presents on time. There are many like it, but this one is called Get Santa.

More than that, however, the film revolves around ex-con Steve Anderson, (Rafe Spall) a getaway driver who's been released from prison on parole, just in time for Christmas. Looking forward to spending December 24th with his son Tom, (Kit Connor) he's dismayed when a stranded Santa (Jim Broadbent) hijacks their day together by insisting that only Steve and his son can save Christmas.

Santa then gets himself in worse trouble while trying to recover his reindeer from Battersea Dogs Home (yep, really) and lands himself in the same...

With the like of horror comedy Severance and psychological thriller Triangle under his belt, a family friendly Christmas movie isn't something you would expect from writer/director Christopher Smith. But here he is with the very British Get Santa, which ticks all the boxes you would expect from this type of movie, while still doing things differently, like featuring the sight of Santa (Jim Broadbent) walking down a prison hallway to Nwa's Straight Outta Compton. Steve (Rafe Spall) is just out of prison, and all he wants to do is re-connect with his estranged son Tom (Kit Connor). Little does he know, Tom has Santa holed up in his garden shed, after the jolly fat man crashed his new sleigh while out for a test drive, days before Christmas. When Santa is arrested while attempting to rescue his reindeer from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Steve is dragged...

Or, That Time That Santa Went to Prison and Dad Broke Parole to Spring Him. You know, for kids! A new classic in the annals of Yuletide movie misfires. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Or, That Time That Santa Went to Prison and Dad Broke Parole to Spring Him. You know, for kids! No, seriously: That’s really what Get Santa is. In the annals of Yuletide movie misfires — of which there are many — this is up there with Santa with Muscles and Santa Claus, the Movie (counting only the ones aimed at children, that is). I don’t know what anyone involved here was thinking: Father Christmas and the criminal justice system do not go together. There is nothing jolly about jail.

I re-emphasize: This is a movie intended for children, complete with aw-shucks father-son bonding,...

Scott Free London, the Ridley Scott-backed indie, plans to expand its TV development team after it struck a first-look deal with Sonar Entertainment.

Sonar, formerly known as Rhi, will distribute all of Scott Free London’s projects following the deal which was agreed by its chief executive Gene Stein. The two companies signed a distribution deal for forthcoming BBC and FX drama Taboo [pictured] earlier this year and have now formalised a long-term arrangement.

The deal has enabled Scott Free to beef up its development team.

It has hired Strike Back exec producer Gabriel Silver as development producer. Silver has previously worked on Life on Mars, Spooks, Waking The Dead and Dci Banks.

Scott Free London is also recruiting for a junior development role.

Head of TV Kate Crowe said: “The deal with Sonar has meant that we can increase the team and ramp up development. It will give us the wherewithal to expand.”

Scott Free London...

Get Santa is probably the only Christmas family movie that asks whether could Santa be a child molester. The scene comes early in the film, when precocious moppet Tom has discovered a creepy, bearded man passed out in his garden shed in the middle of the night. Calling his dad excitedly, Tom explains that he’s chatting to a strange man who “wants to show me his plan,”

Dad’s eyes widen in horror, no doubt picturing his son becoming a victim of sick trouser-based rummaging. He hops in his van and burns rubber to the shed, threatening to beat the crap out of Santa if he ever so much as looks at another kid. It’s this skewed tone that fuels Get Santa, a film that can at least be given credit for taking Christmas cinema to bizarre new territory.

Our hero is Steve (Rafe Spall), who we meet...

December 5, 2014

Black Sea

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Starring: Jude Law, Scoot McNairy

Running time: 115 mins

Certificate: 15

Get Santa

Director: Christopher Smith

Starring: Jim Broadbent, Warwick Davis

Running time: 102 mins

Certificate: U

The Grandmaster

Director: Kar Wai Wong

Starring: Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Ziyi Zhang

Running time: 108 mins

Certificate: 15

Men, Women & Children

Director: Jason Reitman

Starring: Adam Sandler, Ansel Elgort

Running time: 120 mins

Certificate: 15

Penguins of Madagascar

Director: Simon J Smith, Eric Darnell

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich

Running time: 92 mins

Certificate: U

St Vincent

Director: Theodore Melfi

Starring: Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy

Running time: 102 mins

Certificate: 12A

December 12, 2014

The Hobbit: The Battles of the Five Armies

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch

Running time: Tbc mins

Certificate: Tbc

December 19, 2014

Dumb and Dumber To

Director: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly

Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels

Running time: 109 mins

Certificate: 15

Kon-Tiki

Director: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg

Starring: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen...

Exclusive: Ingenious Investments CEO James Clayton joins Simon Fuller’s Xix Entertainment.

Media financier Ingenious has seen three senior members of its film and media team depart in recent weeks.

Former Ingenious Media Investments chief executive James Clayton has left the company to become president of Simon Fuller’s production and management powerhouse Xix Entertainment, which handles the likes of David Beckham and The Spice Girls.

Clayton will report directly to Fuller, creator of the Idol franchise, and be based in La and London.

During his tenure at Avatar-backers Ingenious Clayton was key to securing the private equity firm’s lucrative production and finance relationship with Fox Searchlight from 2011 and ensuring its successful investment relationship with Pathe through the Ingenious Pathe Eis Film Fund.

He was executive producer on Matthew Warchus’ well-received Cannes debut Pride as well as films including Happy-Go-Lucky, Amazing Grace and Hannibal Rising.

Also to recently depart Ingenious are former managing director of the...

Exclusive: Ingenious Investments CEO James Clayton joins Simon Fuller’s Xix Entertainment.

Media financier Ingenious has seen three senior members of its film and media team depart in recent weeks.

Former Ingenious Media Investments chief executive James Clayton has left the company to become president of Simon Fuller’s production and management powerhouse Xix Entertainment, which handles the likes of David Beckham and The Spice Girls.

Clayton will report directly to Fuller, creator of the Idol franchise, and be based in La and London.

During his tenure at Ingenious Clayton was key to securing the private equity firm’s lucrative production and finance relationship with Fox Searchlight from 2011 and ensuring its successful investment relationship with Pathe through the Ingenious Pathe Eis Film Fund.

He was executive producer on Matthew Warchus’ well-received Cannes debut Pride as well as films including Happy-Go-Lucky, Amazing Grace and Hannibal Rising.

Also to recently depart Ingenious are former managing director of the media...

After Arthur Christmas and now this, Jim Broadbent will have to be careful he doesn’t end up typecast as Santa Claus (coming in 2016: Mike Leigh’s Kitchen Sink Santa!). He seems happy to fill out the red suit and beard for Get Santa, though, and the trailer is now online. Looking for all the world like Miracle On 34th Street given a more cynical British twist, Get Santa is set a few days before Christmas and finds the jolly figure in a bit of a bind. See, Santa was test-driving his brand new sleigh when he crashed in London. Now the reindeer are wandering through the city and the man himself has ended up in a garden shed, where he’s discovered by 9 year-old Tom (Kit Connor).Being a helpful sort, Tom doesn’t immediately hold him for ransom and demand all the toys in the world, but...

The first trailer for Jim Broadbent's Get Santa has been released.

The actor plays Father Christmas in the festive film, which is written and directed by Christopher Smith.

Rafe Spall, Joanna Scanlan, Jodie Whittaker, Warwick Davis and Kit Connor also star in the film.

The film sees children around the world facing the prospect of no presents on Christmas Day when Santa is put in prison in London.

Broadbent recently joined the cast of the BBC's adaptation of The Go-Between, and will star alongside Vanessa Redgrave and Lesley Manville in the drama.

Meanwhile, he will also feature in the cast of Paddington. The film's world premiere will be held at Odeon Leicester Square on November 23, ahead of its UK release on November 28.

Get Santa will be released in UK cinemas on December 5.

Christmas fast approaching, it brings with it the obligatory Santa movie, and Get Santa promises to be a lot of fun for kids and adults alike, with Jim Broadbent's (his second time connected to the role after Arthur Christmas) Saint Nick finding himself in jail after crashing his new sleigh in London. While he gets used to prison life, a father and his estranged son (Rafe Spall and Kit Connor) attempt to break him out in time for Christmas. Broadbent seems to be having a blast here, and there is a lot of room for director Christopher Smith (best known for horrors Severence and Triangle) to have quite a bit of fun with the premise. Check the trailer out below. Released: 5th December (Irl/U.K)...

Former Scott Free London exec Liza Marshall and Kick-Ass and One Chance producer Kris Thykier are partnering in new UK-based production company, Archery Pictures. The pair will work across film and television with Thykier shuttering his PeaPie Films and moving both the staff and development slate over to Archery. He’s currently in post on Woman In Gold with Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, is producing Kasper Barfoed’s Summer of ‘92, and exec producing John Wells’ Bradley Cooper-starrer Adam Jones for The Weinstein Company. Upcoming releases, Stephen Daldry’s Trash, and Asif Kapadia’s Ali & Nino will go out under the PeaPie banner.

Marshall is a respected exec who recently stepped down from her role as head of Ridley Scott’s Scott Free London which she established in 2009. Her producing and exec producing credits include Before I Go To Sleep with Nicole Kidman, Welcome To The Punch starring James McAvoy...

Thykier’s Peapie to merge into new company Archery Pictures.

Former Scott Free London head Liza Marshall has joined forces with Kris Thykier in new film and TV production company, Archery Pictures.

Marshall who recently stepped down from her role as head of Scott Free London will become joint managing director of the new company with Thykier, who will shutter his company PeaPie Films, and move his staff and slate across to the new outfit.

Key executives at Archery Pictures will include Pip Williams, senior development and production executive, Mairi Bett, head of physical production, and development executive Kitty Kaletsky.

Marshall established Scott Free London four and half years ago and went on to produce films including Before I Go To Sleep starring Nicole Kidman, Welcome to the Punch starring James McAvoy and the upcoming Get Santa starring Jim Broadbent.

Marshall’s television projects include BBC2’s Britain in a Day, Labyrinth and the...

Want to know what British films are coming out this month? Then look no further than our fabulous movie calendar...

Welcome to our new, regularly updated calendar of all the British movies due for release in UK cinemas over the coming months. So if you're keen to keep up-to-date on the latest in home grown cinema - from documentaries to dramas, and comedy horror to science fiction - this is the ideal post for you. 

So here's what's coming up in the future. 

12 September 2014

Pride

Director: Matthew Warchus

Cast: Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Andrew Scott

Details: A drama about a group of gay and lesbian activists donating to people in need during the 1984 miners' strike.

Jack To A King - The Swansea Story

Director: Marc Evans

Cast: Tbc

Details: A documentary about Swansea football fans.

19 September 2014

Night Will Fall

Director: Andre Singer

Cast: Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Bernstein

Details: A documentary...

Liza Marshall is to step down as head of Ridley Scott’s London-based TV and film production arm Scott Free UK.

Since joining Scott Free UK in 2009, Marshall has overseen film projects including Welcome the Punch, Get Santa, Before I Go To Sleep and Kevin Macdonald’s documentary Life in a Day, as well as TV miniseries Labyrinth and upcoming Steven Knight TV project Taboo.

Marshall is understood to have been one of those approached by UK broadcaster Channel 4 as a potential replacement for outgoing Film4 boss Tessa Ross. However, as announced this week, the position was filled by Universal Pictures’ international chief David Kosse.

Before joining Scott Free, Marshall was head of drama at Channel 4.

The news was first reported by Variety and confirmed to Screen by Scott Free UK, which declined to comment further.

Exclusive: Co-pro Hunter’s Prayer marks largest investment and first Us production for fund.

Screen Yorkshire has made its biggest production investment to date on $25m Us-uk co-production Hunter’s Prayer (previously known as For The Dogs).

Avatar and Clash of the Titans star Sam Worthington will star as an assassin in director Jonathan Mostow’s (Terminator 3) thriller, which is due to shoot in the UK and Hungary in 2015.

The film is the first Us production to get backing from Screen Yorkshire, which would not reveal the amount invested but confirmed it to be above £1m.

Casting is currently underway on the female lead. Emma Roberts and Hailee Steinfeld were both previously linked to the project but are no longer in the frame.

Based on the novel For The Dogs by Kevin Wignall, the script has been adapted for the screen by Paul Leyden, Oren Moverman, John Brancato and Michael Ferris.

Producers are [link...

Exclusive: Pathe executive to join Altitude as head of development.

Pathe creative executive Bradley Quirk is to join Will Clarke’s Altitude as head of development.

Quirk will join Altitude in April. Pathe is expected to fill the role vacated by Quirk in the coming months.

The executive worked on a number of prestige titles at Pathe including Stephen Frears’ Oscar-nominated Philomena, Justin Chadwick’s Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Matthew Warchus’s Pride and Sarah Gavron’s upcoming Carey Mulligan drama Sufragette.

Quirk joined Pathé as creative executive in January 2012. Prior to that, he spent four years as story editor and talent tracker for the UKFC Film Fund and subsequently the BFI.

Whilst at the Film Fund, he worked across titles including Clio Barnard’s The Arbor, James Marsh’s Shadowdancer, Rufus Norris’s Broken and Eran Creevy’s Welcome to the Punch.

Cameron McCracken, managing director at Pathe UK, told ScreenDaily:...

Altitude Film Sales to take Benedict Cumberbatch thriller Blood Mountain, documentary Bolshoi Babylon and Sundance award-winner Fishing Without Nets to the Efm.

Altitude Film Sales is to bring three new titles to the European Film Market (Efm) at the Berlin Film Festival next week in addition to its previously announced slate.

Fishing Without Nets, winner of this year’s Sundance Us Dramatic Directing Award, is produced by Vice and Think Media Studios.

It marks the directorial feature debut of Cutter Hodierne, whose short film of the same name won the Sundance Special Jury Prize in 2012. Shot in East Africa using Somali non-actors, the film tells the story of an oil tanker hijacking from the perspective of impoverished Somalis.

As announced yesterday, Altitude will also bring Blood Mountain, directed by Sergei Bodrov and starring Benedict Cumberbatch. UTA Independent Film Group helped arrange financing for the project and will represent the North American rights to the film.

The third new...