Films to watch this year

A couple of upcoming films that are coming out this year are:

Stretch,
Directed by Joe Carnahan this film comes out on the 21st of march

Cuban Fury,
Directed by James Griffiths this film comes out on the 14th of febuary

Chancellor announces change to BFI film cultural test

Yesterday in the Autumn statement the chancellor announced some changes in the BFI's culture test, which is used to determine whether a film qualifies as British. If a film does qualify it can benefit from tax breaks among other perks.

The changes are as follows:

• an increase in the amount of tax relief rewarded if the film qualifies
• EU talent will be taken into account as long as the dialogue is in English
• a bigger emphasis on post production and visual effects
• only 10% of the film's budget must be spent in the UK (it used to be 25%)
• 18 points out of 35 are required to pass now (it used to be 16-31)

These changes show that the UK is trying to attract more co-production from America as well as Europe.

Day of the Doctor makes $10m in 3 days

The Day of the Doctor achieved success at the box office this week when it made 10 million dollars in just 3 days. The anniversary episode was made to mark Doctor Who's 50th anniversary and was distributed by the bbc on many distribution platforms such as iTunes, tv broadcast in 19 different countries and in 3D in cinemas across the world including Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. At the box office it even managed to take on some of the high concept blockbusters coming 2nd in the box office after the Hunger Games Catching Fire despite having a much more limited marketing budget, this is likely due to the cult following of the tv show.

Gravity a surprising hit at box office

Gravity, which stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, has taken the box office by storm making a total of $600 million internationally since it opened on the 4th of October. 

After the financial shortcoming of the film After Earth, another high concept science fiction film, many were doubtful of Gravity's chances. The success of gravity is partially due to it being popular not just with the domestic audience but also in many other countries around the world, Gravity beat the latest Hunger Games film Catching Fire in China and maintaining it's number 1 position in the box office for a second week. The film is the latest blockbuster to heavily utilise 3D effects, this also contributed to the film's success. Some people have doubted 3D's place in the film industry but the success of films like Gravity show that there is still a market for it.

Gravity was also received well with critics, receiving a metacritic score of 96, including a 100 from Total Film magazine. Gravity will likely be nominated for awards in the upcoming awards season allowing it's success to continue due to the publicity generated.

Sony downsizes film production- now focusing more on tv

After the disappointing performance of Sony's latest high budget blockbuster After Earth Sony have announced that they're going to be cutting down film production going for 23 films a year to 18.

After earth which was directed by M Night Shyamalan and had big name stars like Will Smith had an estimated production budget of $130m yet only grossed $60m, this flop may partially be the reason behind Sony's decision. In the TV market however Sony has recently had a lot of successful with shows such as Breaking Bad becoming wildly popular.

Sony's tv division is thriving, generating $1.5 billion in revenue in the last year, in contrast to this Sony studios posted a $112 million dollar loss in the second quarter. The decision to slash the number of films is likely a financial decision in order to try and increase the corporation's profits.