Iron Sky: Kermode Uncut

Iron Sky is a dark science fiction comedy directed by Timo Vuorensola and will feature musical score composed by Laibach. The film is produced by Blind Spot Pictures and Energia Productions in Finland, and co-produced by 27 Films in Germany and New Holland Pictures in Australia. Principal photography took place in Germany in November-December 2010 and in Australia in January-February 2011.

Iron Sky premieres at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and opens in theaters in April 2012 with Finland opening on 4th of April and Germany on the 5th of April.

Cannes 2012: Killing Them Softly and The Angels' Share

In today's Guardian Film Show, Xan Brooks, Peter Bradshaw and Catherine Shoard give their verdicts on slick hitman thriller 'Killing Them Softly' and Ken Loach's comedy 'The Angels' Share', both in competition at Cannes. And from the Un Certain Regard section of the festival we take a look at Pete Doherty's screen debut in Confessions of a Child of the Century.

The Raid: Kermode Uncut

BFI sets out five year plan for British film industry funding

The British Film Institute's consultation document, New Horizons for UK Film, allocates £273m of lottery funding, including a third more money on backing new films.

The British Film Institute plans to pump £273m of lottery money into British film over the next five years, spending a third more money on backing new films, digitising up to 15,000 movies from the enormous back catalogue of British films, and equipping up to 1,000 new venues including village halls with digital projectors so such films can be shown nationwide, as well as promoting training in film skills, and a chance for every school child to watch films and experiment in film techniques.

The BFI's New Horizons for UK Film, which incorporates many of the recommendations in Chris Smith's review of film policy launched earlier this year, now goes out for four weeks' consultation, but already has government backing.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey welcomed the new approach, and said as well as promoting welcome inward investment from Hollywood studios, Britain should be looking to the new sources including China and India.

Amanda Nevill, chief executive of the BFI, rejected earlier speculation that the new focus for investment would be feelgood box-office hits – sparked by comments made by the prime minister David Cameron when he visited Pinewood studios – which would be a bitter blow to the long tradition of British filmic miserablism in rain-soaked streets.

"Obviously we want and will fund a mix of films," she said. "What makes a success is always elusive. The King's Speech took us all by surprise – and it needed a lot of support to get that film made."

Boosted by hits including the last Harry Potter film and The Inbetweeners Movie, she said the average market share for British films in cinemas had risen from 6% to 13% last year and to 25% in the first quarter of this year when The Iron Lady and The Woman in Black took off.

The BFI was interested in promoting more family films and films for children than historically, she said, but their policy would be to invest in the best talent – "and also to make certain that the people of Britain can get to see them".

Only 7% of screens currently show non-mainstream films, and almost all of those are London based.

The BFI plans over the next five years to invest £57m a year, boosted by higher than expected lottery revenues, divided between £17m for education and audiences; £28.2m for supporting British film; £3m for film heritage including the digitisation project; and the rest divided between research and statistics, a contingency fund and the cost of delivery.

Apart from work in schools, being planned with the Department for Education, a UK-wide film academy will spot and nurture talent in 16 to 19-year-olds and give them a chance to work with professionals.

As well as providing digital equipment to non-cinema venues including community centres and village halls, a network of hubs based on independent cinemas with links to schools, film societies and archives is planned.

Greg Dyke said that when he took over as chair of the BFI, he warned that it risked becoming the London Film Institute: London was superserved in every way including film, he said, the challenge was to expand that enthusiasm and access across the country.

guardian.co.uk, Monday 14/5/2012

Film4 announce £1m pot to make comedy gold

Film4, the British film studio behind The Inbetweeners Movie, has announced the creation of a £1m film fund to develop comedy movies.

Inspired by the success of The Inbetweeners Movie, British film studio Film4 has announced the creation of a £1m film fund specifically aimed at developing comedy features.

The fund will be overseen by Shane Allen, Channel 4's head of comedy, who has been responsible for recent TV hits such as Facejacker, Star Stories and Friday Night Dinner.

Allen said: "This is a fantastic adrenaline shot for more British film comedy ... with the huge expertise of Film4 it's a brilliant opportunity to tap the cinematic potential of UK writing and performing talent."

The Inbetweeners ran for three seasons on the E4 channel between 2008 and 2010, before the movie spin-off was released in 2011, becoming an unexpectedly successful hit taking over £45m at the UK box office.

guardian.co.uk: 11 May 2012

A Brief History of Superhero Films

With the unparalleled box office success of The Avengers, superheroes are back in the spotlight. Most comic book aficionados are delighted with the recognition. 

The last decade or so was a phenomenal time for the superhero movie genre, both thematically and financially. It wasn't uncommon to have four such films a year, grossing over a billion dollars annually. This period saw some of the most profitable film franchises of all time, as well as a few of the most ambitious and creative takes on our most memorable costumed crime fighters.

But as the decade came to a close, the genre started to have less lofty goals. Since 2008, when the great pairing of Iron Man and The Dark Knight bookended that year's Summer Blockbuster season, there hasn't been a single worthy successor mentioned in the same breath. Some might argue that Watchmen fits that bill, but depending on who you speak to, no superhero movie has captured the same kind of critical and commercial acceptance comic book fans have been searching for (that includes The Avengers).

Edited from: indiewire.com

The Avengers powers to US box office record

Hollywood adaptation of superhero comic overtakes Harry Potter finale with $200m takings.

Hollywood's latest adaptation from the world of comics, The Avengers, has smashed the box office record for the biggest US opening weekend by a margin befitting a film trading heavily on cacophonous superhero-style walloping.

The $200.3m (£124m) debut is by far the biggest American opening to date, shooting past the $169.2m record for the debut of last year's Harry Potter finale. A $200m take from all new movies is considered a great weekend for the business as a whole, so The Avengers has effectively redefined the standards for a blockbuster debut.

"If The Avengers is any indication, we're going to see a leap rather than a gentle little nudge into new territory, and the lineup is there to justify it going forward," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of the Imax cinema chain.

The film – renamed Avengers Assemble for the UK and Irish market, to avoid confusion with the vintage TV series – opened in 39 countries, excluding the US, last week. Crowds in the US were so anxious to see the film on giant Imax screens that Foster said the company had only one problem: it ran out of seats to sell.

The record weekend was the culmination of years of careful planning by Marvel Studios, which has included teasers for an Avengers dream team collaboration in its solo superhero adventures.

Directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), The Avengers features Robert Downey Jnr as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury.

The Avengers added $151.5m outside the US over the weekend. That raised the film's worldwide haul to $641.8m in barely a week and a half, more than its Marvel superhero forerunners, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America, took during their entire runs.

When the final US weekend count is released on Monday, The Avengers will be the first movie to haul in $200m in a single weekend in the US if the estimates currently being put out by distributor Disney hold up.

The Avengers is the first of three superhero blockbusters coming this summer: The Amazing Spider-Man is released on 3 July and The Dark Knight Rises wraps up the current Batman series on 20 July.

Until the Harry Potter finale, 2008's The Dark Knight had held the revenue record with a $158.4m debut. Before that, the record-holder was 2007's Spider-Man 3 with $151.1m.

As admission prices rise, Hollywood's record-breakers often take in more money but sell fewer tickets than previous blockbusters. But The Avengers took in so much money that it has become the undisputed champion among debuts.

guardian.co.uk, 6 May 2012

Prometheus trailer: a spoiler, or sneaky marketing?

Is a revelation in a TV trailer for Ridley Scott's new science-fiction film just a calculated attempt to increase hype?

Ever since the first film blogger put fingertips to typewriter (and probably long before then), eagle-eyed cineastes have been trying to work out the plot of this or that new movie before it has even arrived on the big screen. For film marketing teams, it's a surefire way of gaining free exposure for your product: sow enough seeds, and "seed" enough exclusive unlockable content, and you'll soon be able to sit back and watch the movie promote itself via social networks and film forums.

A key part of such a dynamic is, of course, the trailer, along with its cousin the TV spot and its newer, internet-era offspring, the trailer-for-trailer and the movie clip. We should also mention the "viral videos" featuring footage not seen in the film itself, which fill out the backstory and generate further interest among fans.

Prometheus, the uber-hyped new science-fiction film from Ridley Scott, "set in the universe of Alien", has had all the above in spades. I wrote in a post earlier this week that the movie and its marketing campaign were in serious danger of eating themselves, so many spoilers and potential spoilers were being revealed in promo footage. Well, it now seems that the ever-increasing demand for more information from fans – and the ever-expanding determination of marketing teams to give it to them – may just have given birth to a Prometheus spoiler of epic proportions.

Prometheus fan's have been alerted to the outrage forming on the forum of the film's official website. Someone with good eyesight has taken it upon themselves to scour one of the latest TV spots for the movie, and has apparently discovered a shot in which android David, played by a bequiffed blond Michael Fassbender, appears to have been decapitated.

There are wider issues here, of course. First of all, is this a mistake by Scott and his team, an error which would never have been exposed in the pre-internet era and which fans have a right to be pretty angry about? Or even worse, was it a deliberate "seed" designed to catapult the film's already rampant hype into something truly stratospheric? Thirdly, there exists the possibility that some particularly nefarious troll has photoshopped David's head into a genuine screenshot from the TV spot and posted it on the film's official forum just to annoy people. Oh, and for good measure, it's possible the head doesn't even belong to David: Scott has said there may be more than one android on board the Prometheus, and there are certainly at least two prominent blond(e) crew members.

There's something very irritating about the (alleged) possibility that marketing people are deliberating seeding spoilers here in order to boost interest.

The Android's Noggin Scandal, as it will almost certainly not come to be called in future years, comes on the same day as fanboy blogs revealed that the American release of Avengers Assemble (titled The Avengers anywhere sensible) has not one but two post-credit-scenes, designed to pique fans' interest and presumably irritate cleaners waiting to clear up popcorn and sticky sweets. I remember the days when you turned up to the cinema, having perhaps seen one or two trailers for the film, and duly sat down to enjoy the thing. In 2012 some of us probably know more about what we're about to see before the opening scene begins than many people used to by the end credits. But who is to blame: the rabidly avaricious internet-era filmgoer, or the cynical marketing type who gives away too much?

Edited from: guardian filmblog 3/5/12

'Ill Manors' Trailer: Living With Crime

A NEW film about Britain’s underclass by UK rapper Plan B - real name Ben Drew - is set to cause as much controversy as his recent single Ill Manors. The film features pimping, drug abuse, child killing, shooting, gangland bullying, theft and child trafficking, set to music by the rapper.

Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/film/46697/plan-bs-new-film-ill-manors-gives-yours-middle-england#ixzz1twqyKhC7

'Avengers Assemble' blows 'Battleship' out of the water

Disney's superheroes drive Battleship from first to sixth place at UK box office, while Salmon Fishing in the Yemen holds steady.

Iron Man has always been potent at the UK box office, but would adding relative commercial weaklings Thor, Captain America and the Hulk to the formula increase or detract from the character's appeal? That question has now been answered in resounding fashion, as Avengers Assemble explodes at the UK box office with £15.78m, including Thursday previews of £2.55m. That's more than double the openings of Iron Man (£5.47m including previews of £667,000) and Iron Man 2 (£7.66m including previews of £877,000) from early May 2008 and late April 2010 respectively. The Avengers takings are also more than the entire runs of last year's franchise extensions Thor (£14.05m) and Captain America: The First Avenger (£9.48m) as well as both of the last decade's Hulk movies, which took £8.43m (Ang Lee's The Hulk, starring Eric Bana) and £8.28m (Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton).

Disney is trumpeting the result as the biggest superhero-movie opening of all time. The Dark Knight debuted with £11.19m including £2.50m in previews. Spider-Man 3 kicked off with £11.83m (all from the Friday-Sunday period, no previews) in May 2007. Disney is also celebrating it as the second-biggest four-day weekend ever (behind Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, with £16.49m). However, this achievement loses some of its lustre when you consider certain three-day opening results, notably Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (£18.32m) and Part 2 (£23.75m). Coming off the disappointment of the over-budgeted John Carter, which has failed to crack £5m in total in the UK, Disney will have regained some much-needed spring in its step. Positioning Avengers Assemble as the first major tentpole of summer (unless you count Battleship, which opened 11 April) has proved a smart move, with no major competition for fans of event-movie spectacle. The downside is that by opening outside of a school holiday, audiences are not so available on weekdays to see it, but with such a whopping opening weekend, the Avengers won't need much in the way of midweek grosses to achieve a huge total. Meanwhile, Battleship has fallen from first to sixth place, with a drop in takings of 61% from the previous weekend.

The word-of-mouth hit

With the smallest decline of any film in the top 10 (just 7%), Lasse Hallstrom's Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is proving a hit with its target market. It's not quite in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel league (John Madden's film opened significantly bigger and went up 5% in its second frame) but distributor Lionsgate will be more than happy. Rainy skies can't have hurt, although other films suffered much bigger drops. Principal competition came from middlebrow awards bait Albert Nobbs, featuring Oscar-nominated turns from Glenn Close and Janet McTeer; the period drama debuted with a so-so £107,000 from 75 locations.

The losers

While several films experienced gentle declines, space-prison actioner Lockout and kidnap thriller Gone both fell 72% from the previous weekend. Both lost screens and showtimes, and now look set to make relatively speedy exits from cinemas. That fate likewise surely awaits Outside Bet, a 1980s-set Britcom that didn't win much critical favour (0% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, with eight out of eight reviews falling into the negative camp) and opened with a dismal £8,440 from 34 cinemas. The cast includes Bob Hoskins, Phil Davis and Adam Deacon. Mind you, its screen average of £248 isn't so far behind the £309 earned by Disney documentary African Cats at each of its 134 locations.

The art-house market

Unless you count Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, top upscale contender was Kevin Macdonald documentary Marley, expanding its screen count a bit to help rein in its decline to a gentle 15%. The 10-day gross stands at a healthy £493,000. Best foreign language performer remains Headhunters, now with £1.19m under its belt. Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress did OK in limited play, with £45,000 from 19 screens, including modest previews, and 17th place in the weekend chart. A screening of Russian satirical ballet Bolshoi Live: The Bright Stream competed for audiences on Sunday.

The future

Thanks to that stonking Avengers result, takings overall are a very handy 64% up on the equivalent weekend from 2011, when Thor debuted at the top with £5.45m. The current frame is the third best of the past year, behind the mid-July weekend when Deathly Hallows Part 2 opened, and the late-August one where The Inbetweeners Movie joined a crowded market of still-chugging summer blockbusters. The immediate future looks short on Avengers-size hits, but this weekend, franchise revival American Pie: Reunion presents the first major Hollywood comedy since March's 21 Jump Street, and Zac Efron fans should appreciate his turn in the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Lucky One. The action and horror boxes are ticked by Safe and Silent House, while Disney offers a 3D reissue of animated classic Beauty and the Beast.

Top 10 films

1. Avengers Assemble, £15,778,074 from 521 sites (New)

2. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, £1,085,687 from 417 sites. Total: £3,186,574

3. The Hunger Games, £744,079 from 398 sites. Total: £22,484,112

4. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, £663,775 from 511 sites. Total: £14,908,506

5. The Cabin in the Woods, £561,905 from 383 sites. Total: £4,632,981

6. Battleship, £501,283 from 436 sites. Total: £7,130,300

7. Mirror Mirror, £437,356 from 410 sites. Total: £6,627,586

8. Titanic 3D, £366,749 from 279 sites. Total: £10,774,824

9. 21 Jump Street, £205,514 from 201 sites. Total: £9,863,555

10. Lockout, £169,133 from 300 sites. Total: £1,075,002

guardian.co.uk: 1 May 2012