DIRECTOR: Edgar Wright [see his BoMojo record]
BOX OFFICE: UK $17m, US $108m, China $17m, World $227m [BoM]A stark message from senior players in the UK indie sector, who warn that distinctively British film could largely disappear with the double whammy of Brexit and American streaming giants' growing dominance (on top of the traditional talent drain to Hollywood). While both Netflix and Amazon (with others like Apple following suit now) spending BILLIONS each year, the BFI annual film budget is £15m and the BBC's even less at just £11m.
The likes of Warp are highly reliant on such financing - unless they transform their production style to more of a commercial, globalised approach as Working Title (mostly!) have.
Streaming could kill UK independent film industry, experts say https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/07/streaming-could-kill-uk-independent-film-industry?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1070601-production-begins-horror-pic-last-night-in-soho
https://movieweb.com/last-night-in-soho-poster/
Sharon Maguire, who directed the original Bridget Jones’s Diary in 2001, returned to direct the feature film from a script she co-wrote with David Nicholls (One Day) [source]
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| BoxOfficeMojo BJD franchise page. |
IN THIS POST:
Starting with Saunders' excellent Telegraph article I'll look at arguments that BJB is too British for the US market; non-English markets experience a radically different Bridget through culturally-weighted translations (eg Spain) - and even censorship (Japan). Japanese subtitles reposition Jones as closer to a traditional stereotypical female through certain formalities of grammar. Greeks were among many non-UK/US (Australia/NZ/Canada?) audiences to be left none the wiser when Aretha's Respect kicked in at a key point in the original movie - iconic tunes that 'everyone knows' don't necessarily cross Western, English-language borders.
A nuanced view of WT's strategy.
Saunders cites a number of academic studies in doing so - this is a much-studied franchise and cultural phenomenon, so challenge yourself and look out for more in-depth reading!
One such example that I will re-read in due course, not least as it presents intriguing arguments on the tensions between WT and Richard Curtis' script between appealing to the domestic and US markets: Jones is at once Americanised and critical of American culture ... is the book Falling in Love Again: Romantic Comedy in Contemporary Cinema (Abbott, Jermyn eds. (2008)).
I'll get to view the film in due course - but your own (or second hand) observations from this would be welcomed (post a comment).
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| Headline for the Saunders piece. |
Great quote on the biz not supporting mid-budget, non-franchise productions like theirs. Most of their prior movies have been produced by Working Title - mid-budget is very much their niche, though arthouse (as Coens flicks would be termed despite their level of mainstream success) is less associated with WT!
https://www.darkhorizons.com/coens-on-why-scruggs-is-at-netflix/
The deal they've inked is for film productions from A24, a company with separate deals with Amazon and DirecTV.
This is part of Apple's long expected gearing up for an Amazon rivalling subscription service, rumoured to include film, music, TV, magazines, possibly more.
It shows the increased possibilities for Indies beyond theatrical distribution, with Amazon Prime likewise an important outlet for many low budget productions.
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/11/15/apple-hires-indie-studio-a24-to-produce-films/
“The part that shocked Hollywood was that the film’s stunning success was fuelled by ‘girl power,’” says Melissa Silverstein of Women and Hollywood. “The general consensus in Hollywood is that films and books made for men and boys are seen as ‘universal’, and things that are made for women and girls are somehow seen as ‘other.’ Women are seen as a ‘niche’ audience. This ‘nichification’ of women has been one of the most enduring problems facing the much-maligned chick flick.”
The sensation of Twilight in 2008 caused Hollywood studios to perk up and pay attention to a new ticket-buying demographic – young women (and, let’s be honest, their vampire-struck mums). For years, the superhero and adventure franchises had faithfully served the 12- to 25-year-old male audience, without taking the economic power of the handbag into account.
Ten years of Twilight: the extraordinary feminist legacy of the panned vampire saga https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/02/ten-years-of-twilight-the-extraordinary-feminist-legacy-of-the-panned-vampire-saga?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
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| The empire strikes whack |
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gelfond, who has led IMAX for the past decade, was a speaker at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference earlier this week – the same conference where the new owner of HBO called Netflix the Walmart of streaming services. Gelfond, however, had nothing bad to say about Netflix or any other company.
Instead, he said that his company is “in active discussions with all of the streaming [services] about an IMAX release”, so we may be looking at more than just a Netflix IMAX partnership, but a team-up between the large-screen exhibitor and every streaming service out there – assuming these talks lead to deals. Gelfond called out the fact that many of the streaming services’ original films are lacking an “opening day,” and implied that IMAX was the best way to cut through the clutter of the entertainment marketplace, saying “the number one way to event-size the size [of a movie] is in IMAX.”
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| That's quite a line-up!!! See the site for screening dates |
NB: some of these contain swearing. Any BBFC age rating is listed, but many are pre-release (use trailers and descriptions as a guide). Do bear in mind that UK ratings are routinely much higher then in BeNeLux. Synopses from BIFS.
Any guest speaker/s in red.
