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Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michaël Youn, Nawell Madani, Carla Poquin, Jérôme Le Banner, Matthias Quiviger, Kaaris | Written by David Charhon, Vincent De Brus, Sebastien Fechner | Directed by David Charhon

The Gardener (Le Jardinier), not to be confused with the Gary Daniels/Robert Bronzi film, reunites Jean-Claude Van Damme and David Charhon who directed him in The Last Mercenary. And like that film, it’s an action comedy, but with the comedy dialed up a bit higher, and the action a bit more on the brutal side.

This time out, The Muscles From Brussels plays Leo, a man who simply wants to tend to plants on the large estate owned by Serge Shuster Special Adviser to the President of France. Nobody seems quite sure how he ended up with the position, and they think he’s a bit odd, but he does a good job so they’ve let him stay on.

Awards contenders dominate new releases at UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as Babygirl, Maria and A Real Pain all launch.

Nicole Kidman returns withBabygirl,which Entertainment Film Distributors is opening in 575 locations. Halina Reijn’s 18-ratederotic drama stars Kidmanas a high-powered CEO who becomes embroiled in an affair with a young intern, played by Harris Dickinson. Further cast include Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde.

Other awards contenders with 18-ratings include this year’s Anora, which grossed just shy of £2m for Universal and 2023’s Poor Things, with a £1.6m opening and a £7.1m total run for Disney’s Searchlight.

Universal’s “Nosferatu” made a chilling debut at the U.K. and Ireland box office, securing the overall top spot with £5.2 million ($6.5 million), including previews.

Over the three-day weekend the gothic horror remake, with $3.8 million, was just behind Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King.” The photorealistic animation continued to roar with $4 million in its third week, bringing its total to $25.9 million.

Studiocanal’s “We Live in Time” landed in third place with $3.5 million. Meanwhile, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” from Paramount, last weekend’s chart-topper, dropped to fourth, adding $3.3 million to its total of $23.4 million. Disney’s “Moana 2” continued to show remarkable staying power, rounding out the top five with $2.2 million in its sixth week for a cumulative gross of $47.8 million.

Universal’s “Wicked” held firm in sixth place, earning $2 million in its seventh week, pushing its total to $71.7 million. The family favorite “Paddington in Peru” from Studiocanal slipped to seventh,...

Screenis listing the 2024 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch withScreenhere.Screenis also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2025here.

January

Wednesday, January 1

Nosferatu(Universal),2073(Altitude),Vanangaan(DJ Tech),Game Changer(Dreamz),We Live In Time(Studiocanal)

Friday, January 3

Nickel Boys(Curzon),Rocco And His Brothers(BFI),Diabel(Magnetes)

Wednesday, January 8

A Real Pain(Disney)

Friday, January 10

Babygirl(Efd),The Girl With The Needle(Mubi),Maria(Studiocanal),The Damned(Vertical/Miracle),It’s Raining Men...

Saturday Night Live brought back a familiar face to poke fun at Kamala Harris’ contentious sit-down with Fox News.

Alec Baldwin, who’s hosted SNL more than anyone else and played Donald Trump during the 2016 election season, returned to Studio 8H to play Fox News host Bret Baier, who grilled Harris in a TV interview this week — and admits he looks “like someone made a businessman in Minecraft.” Baier challenged Maya Rudolph’s Harris with tough questions right away: “Give me the exact number of murderers you let into this country.” Harris, though, boasted about the drug cartels she broke...

Beyoncé has so many audacious culture-clash triumphs all over Cowboy Carter. But one of the most stunning moments is also one of the simplest: her version of the Beatles classic “Blackbird.” Paul McCartney wrote the song in the summer of 1968, inspired by the American civil rights movement. All that history is right there in Beyoncé’s version. She keeps the folkie Paul guitar, complete with the squeaks, but adds her heavenly gospel-soul harmonies. What she does with the word “arise” is incredible in itself.

It’s a stroke of Beyoncé...

A record 54 market premieres will be hosted at the Rendez-Vous showcase held by the French film promotion org Unifrance in Paris which will kick off Jan. 16 with the world premiere of Pascal Bonitzer’s “Auction.”

The biggest film market dedicated exclusively to French movies, the Rendez-Vous in Paris will welcome 420 buyers from 50 countries and 47 sales companies. As many as 1,000 professionals have registered for the week-long event. Since Unifrance has now merged with TV France International, the event will also gather 100 TV buyers from 27 countries.

“After returning last year with a post-pandemic edition, we’re back to normal with over 400 buyers — and we even have new buyers from Quebec and Africa, along with about 15 Latin American distributors,” said Gilles Renouard, Unifrance’s co-managing director.

More than 80 completed movies will screen at the Rendez-Vous, 54 of which have never been shown at an international festival or market. Renouard says the large roster of...