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Following its rip-roaring success at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment is delighted that the British horror comedy Members Club will be available on UK Digital Platforms from 21st October.

Written and Directed by Marc Coleman, Members Club stars a host of British talent including Dean Kilbey, Perry Benson, Barbara Smith, Juliet Cowan, Mark Monero, Steve Oram, David Schaal, Alan Ford, Liam Noble as well as Peter Andre.

Wet Dreams, a middle-aged male stripper group, have hit rock bottom. After a string of disastrous gigs, the gang considers disbanding. Alan, the group’s happy-go-lucky front man, takes over the business and books the boys a lucrative and mysterious gig in rural Essex. But when the group arrive at the desolate club, their night quickly takes a dark turn when they find themselves tangled up in a plot to raise a murderous 16th century witch from the dead.

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The first look of Éanna Hardwicke as Manchester United and Ireland soccer legend Roy Keane alongside Steve Coogan as his embattled Irish national manager Mick McCarthy, has been revealed from upcoming comedy biopic “Saipan.”

The film — first announced earlier in the year by Variety — chronicles one of the most infamous moments in Irish sporting history, when Keane and McCarthy had a very public falling out. Alongside Hardwicke and Coogan, the supporting cast includes Alice Lowe (“Sightseers”), Jamie Beamish (“Derry Girls”), Alex Murphy (“Young Offenders”), Harriett Cains (“Bridgerton”) and Peter McDonald (“The Batman”).

“Saipan” is being directed by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa — the duo behind “Good Vibrations” and “Ordinary Love” — — working from an original script by Paul Fraser (“Dead Man’s Shoes”). Bankside Films is handling sales and will be showing a promo to buyers at the American Film Market.

Described as a “true-life comedy of the most epic proportions,...

Kill List Ben Wheatley returns to the small screen this month with Channel 4 zombie comedy series, Generation Z. Here’s a trailer:

Kill List director Ben Wheatley is about to television with this autumn’s Generation Z, which Wheatley has written and directed for Channel 4.

According to the British Comedy Guide, the series is a horror satire which pits a group of small-town teenagers (the gen-z of the title) against a horde of toxin-infected, rabid pensioners. It’s a little bit like Rabid Grannies, then, but with a distinctly political, post-austerity, post hope-for-the-future spin.

As the synopsis points out, it’s about “the increasingly stark divisions between generations,” and depicts “a modern Britain at war with itself. Sounds good!

The cast is itself a platter of multi-generational comedy talent. Elder states-people of telly Sue Johnston (The Royle Family), Anita Dobson (EastEnders) and Robert Lindsay (Citizen Smith) are joined by...

Five years ago, it was announced that Ben Wheatley would be writing, directing, and executive producing Generation Z, a “hilarious, frightening, and political” series that would consist of six hour-long episodes that would “mix flesh-eating zombies into a story that satirizes how Brexit has divided the UK.” That project didn’t make it into production when it was originally supposed to because of the pandemic shutdown… but after making Meg 2: The Trench (you can read our review at This Link and check out our interview with the filmmaker Here), Wheatley circled back around to Generation Z. The show is now ready to start airing on Channel 4 in October, and in anticipation of the premiere, Empire has unveiled two new images. One can be seen above, and the other can be found at the bottom of this article.

The show is described as “a coming-of-age parable for our very...

Ben Wheatley is no stranger to shock and gore (try watching Kill List or In The Earth without wincing), societal satire (High-Rise), genre thrills (Free Fire), and sly humour (basically all of his films – even the bleakest ones). And his next project looks set to combine all of those facets – get ready for Generation Z, a flesh-eating horror-comedy series in which the old are quite literally eating the young. All six episodes of the Channel 4 series are written and directed by Wheatley, taking an initial horror pitch from George Faber and spinning it into a gory tale of generational divide.

For Wheatley, it’s a series set to sit alongside one of his most beloved works – the darkly funny, often shocking, definitively British caravan-dwelling killer romp Sightseers. “I was thinking a lot about my own films, because they tentatively fit together,” he tells Empire on set. “Tonally, [tt29540551 autoGeneration Z...

Alice Lowe’s second film as director is time travel comedy Timestalker, and the trailer for it has now landed.

Alice Lowe is not only a brilliant actor, but she’s also been behind the camera on some of the most esoteric, original British films of the last few years. From co-writing the screenplay of Sightseers with co-star Steve Oram, which was directed by Ben Wheatley and released in 2012, to her terrific 2016 directorial debut Prevenge, which she also wrote and starred as a pregnant woman who believes her unborn baby is telling her to murder all the men involved in her husband’s death.

Her next film is even more ambitious. Timestalker is a science fiction comedy romance, with a dash of time travel thrown into the mix. The synopsis reads as follows:

From the creative team behind Prevenge comes… Timestalker, a romantic comedy about the eternal humiliation that is the search for love,...

Vertigo Releasing has revealed the official UK trailer and poster for Timestalker, the latest romantic comedy from writer-director Alice Lowe. Known for her offbeat comedic style, Lowe’s new film is a genre-blending tale of love, reincarnation, and misadventure that promises an unforgettable cinematic experience. Timestalker will be released in UK and Irish cinemas from 11th October 2024, and fans can now catch a glimpse of the quirky time-travelling adventure by watching the newly released trailer.

The film follows Agnes, played by Lowe herself, as she stumbles through multiple lifetimes, always doomed to fall for the wrong man, die a grisly death, and be reincarnated to repeat the cycle all over again. As Agnes finds herself tangled in these romantic misadventures, spanning centuries, she begins to wonder if she can ever break free from this fatal loop and attain true enlightenment.

In each lifetime, Agnes encounters familiar faces—including her perpetual romantic interest,...

Black Water Pictures is thrilled to announce that their latest horror comedy, Members Club, will have its world premiere at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on 24th August. This highly anticipated film, written and directed by Marc Coleman, is a wild fusion of The Full Monty and From Dusk Till Dawn, promising a unique blend of laughs and scares. It will certainly bring a bit of light relief to the otherwise rather dark and gruesome festival.

Members Club stars an impressive, extensive list of British talent including Dean Kilbey, Top Boy), Perry Benson, Barbara Smith, Juliet Cowan, Mark Monero, Steve Oram, David Schaal, Alan Ford, Liam Noble, and Peter Andre.

The film follows Wet Dreams, a down-and-out middle-aged male stripper group, as they grapple with a series of disastrous gigs and contemplate disbanding. Alan, the group’s optimistic frontman, seizes control and secures a seemingly lucrative gig in rural Essex.

Alice Lowe’s second film as director is time travel comedy Timestalker, which will be released in the UK on the 27th September.

Alice Lowe is not only a brilliant actor, she has been behind the camera on some of the most esoteric, original British films of the last few years, from co-writing the screenplay of Sightseers with co-star Steve Oram, which was directed by Ben Wheatley and released in 2012, to her terrific 2016 directorial debut Prevenge, which she also wrote and starred as a pregnant woman who believes her unborn baby is telling her to murder all the men involved in her husband’s death.

Her next film is even more ambitious. Timestalker is a science fiction comedy, the synopsis reads as follows:

From the creative team behind Prevenge comes… Timestalker, a romantic comedy about the eternal humiliation that is the search for love, spanning the most romantic epochs of history right into the future.

After she won the 2021 Palme d’Or for Titane, in a which a sociopathic stripper becomes a serial killer and has sex with muscle cars, Julia Ducournau was effusive in her gratitude to the Cannes Film Festival. “Thank you for calling for more diversity in our experiences of film and our lives,” she said. “Thank you for letting in the monsters.”

Titane was only her second movie; the first, Raw, made its humble debut in Critics’ Week, but it was recognizably the work of the same artist, being a tender coming of age story about a veterinary student who discovers that she comes from a long line of cannibals.

Although Cannes has a long way to go in terms of gender parity, the festival has been quick to tap into the new wave of female-directed horror that has sprung up in the wake of Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook 10 years ago.

As an actress, writer and director, Alice Lowe has never much cared if you like the characters she’s penned for herself. From the tourist who develops a taste for murder on her road trip with her boyfriend in Ben Wheatley’s “Sightseers” to a mother-to-be whose baby inspires far more violence than just kicking around in her belly in her own directorial debut, “Prevenge,” Lowe has sacrificed audience approval for the license to explore darker corners of the female experience. However, that might make Agnes the most deliciously miserable of her creations, as someone in desperate need of love, commencing a grimly amusing search for the perfect partner across centuries in “Timestalker.”

If comedy is tragedy plus time, there is plenty of it in Lowe’s latest film. Starting in Scotland in the late 1600s, Agnes can’t escape her attraction to the wrong guy (Aneurin Barnard) and is...

Love never dies, but a lot of people do in Alice Lowe’s gloriously bloody valentine to the romantic comedy. Spanning so much time that it practically goes back to the beginning of it, Timestalker is an ambitious project that not only works, it coheres in a way that cements Lowe as a genuine and quite visionary comedic talent. It recalls classic Monty Python — it’s often very, very stupid and the same time very, very clever — but most of all it’s an idea of what might have been if that all-male team had ever had a woman or two in its core lineup.

Lowe set out her stall in 2016 with Prevenge, a horror comedy in which a bereaved pregnant woman is driven to avenge her late husband, incited to murder by her unborn baby. Timestalker doesn’t fall far from that tree, being another satirical comment on how...

This article appears in the SXSW 2024 issue of Den of Geek magazine. Check out all of our SXSW coverage here.

Seven years in the making, spanning centuries in the telling, Alice Lowe’s latest feature, Timestalker, is a strange beast. A dark comedy, a romance through the ages, a violent sci-fi, and an existential musing on the self, it’s an ambitious romp dressed in spandex and crinoline.

“When you make an independent film, you know there’s a chance you may never make one again,” says Lowe. “Any time one happens, it’s like a miracle. And I really just thought, God, if this was the last film that I ever get to make, what would I want to put in it? It’s like my gravestone in a film.”

What she’s put in it are fabulous costumes, wigs, animals, an ensemble cast playing multiple roles, music, Easter eggs,...

The Brit crime comedy “Down Terrace” was a hit with critics back in 2009. Made on a shoestring budget and shot over a little more than a week, it was lapped up for giving a uniquely dark and hilarious twist to the standard gangster flick while adding splashes of U.K. kitchen-sink social realism into the mix. The film also set up its director Ben Wheatley — making his feature debut after years working on TV, commercials and shorts — for cinematic greatness.

Fifteen years on and Wheatley has more than staked out his territory as one of the U.K.’s most exciting — and unexpected — filmmakers. After landing “cult director” status thanks to his “Down Terrace” follow-ups — the gritty psychological horror “Kill List,” murderous black comedy “Sightseers” and trippy period feature “A Field in England” — he then upped the stakes (and A-list stars) with J.G. Ballard adaptation “High Rise” (starring Tom Hiddleston...

Exclusive: Swede Caroline, a British mockumentary starring Jo Hartley (After Life) and Aisling Bea from Nicola Pearcey, formerly President, Lionsgate UK & Europe, and now CEO of Picnik Entertainment, has landed both a theatrical and digital release.

Belstone Pictures, Deadbeat Studios, and Pearcey’s Picnik Entertainment will jointly send the pic into cinemas on April 19, with Sky Cinema set to premiere the film later this year. The deal with Sky was closed by Finn Bruce of Belstone on behalf of the filmmakers and by Rachel Trawicki and Alexander Wright for Sky.

Swede Caroline is the debut feature of directing duo Brook Driver and Finn Bruce, who previously collaborated on SXSW Special Jury Prize-winning Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break. Swede Caroline was penned by Driver. The story is centered around the eccentric world of competitive vegetable growing. The plot follows Caroline as she readies herself for the big championship when the...

Ben Wheatley will direct Bob Odenkirk in the action film Normal, which WME Independent is launching at next week’s EFM in Berlin.

Derek Kolstad, a writer on the John Wick franchise who scripted Universal’s 2021 action thriller Nobody starring Odenkirk, wrote the screenplay.

Odenkirk will play Ulysses, who is thrust into the temporary role of the sheriff of the titular small sleepy town after the previous incumbent’s untimely death.

When the town’s bank is robbed by an out-of-town couple, Ulysses begins to learn that the town is hiding secrets and everyone – from the bartender to the priest – is in on it.

Ben Wheatley will direct Bob Odenkirk in the action film Normal, which WME Independent is launching at next week’s EFM in Berlin.

Derek Kolstad, a writer on the John Wick franchise who scripted Universal’s 2021 action thriller Nobody starring Odenkirk, wrote the screenplay.

Odenkirk will play Ulysses, who is thrust into the temporary role of the sheriff of the titular small sleepy town after the previous incumbent’s untimely death.

When the town’s bank is robbed by an out-of-town couple, Ulysses begins to learn that the town is hiding secrets and everyone – from the bartender to the priest – is in on it.

Independent production giant Banijay’s U.K. arm unveiled the acquisition of scripted producer The Forge, the company behind such dramas as Marriage, starring Sean Bean, Help, starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham, and Becoming Elizabeth.

Banijay lauded the company’s “well-established reputation for high-quality, ambitious and award-winning TV drama.” Financial details weren’t disclosed.

The Forge’s other successes have included the likes of National Treasure (Channel 4), The Miniaturist (BBC), Kiri (Channel 4) and Collateral (BBC).

Banijay also highlighted that The Forge currently has multiple, high-profile titles for linear and streaming platforms in production. They include eight-part series The Buccaneers for Apple TV+, due to launch globally Nov. 8, whose plot description says it revolves around “the daughters of America’s new rich — beautiful and untameable, despite the best efforts of England’s finest governesses, they are on their way to London to snare themselves an aristocrat, low in funds...

October is here, and with it a whole host of new movies are available to stream. There is, of course, a bounty of new horror movies coming our way this month as many are ready to celebrate Halloween, but our curated list of the best new movies to stream in October includes plenty of non-horror fare as well. We’ve gone through what’s new on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, Peacock, Paramount+, Hulu and Disney+ to put together a viewing guide that offers something for everyone. From bona fide new releases to library titles newly streaming, you won’t be disappointed.

Check out our picks for the best new movies to stream in October 2023 below.

“The Faculty” Miramax Films

Peacock – Oct. 1

One of the most underrated movies of the 1990’s, “The Faculty” was an attempt by Dimension to replicate the success of “Scream,” which they had released two years earlier and had become a sensation.

Stars: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Cliff Curtis, Sienna Guillory, Melissanthi Mahut | Written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Dean Georgaris | Directed Ben Wheatley

There was a significant degree of excitement in horror circles when it was announced that British director Ben Wheatley was going to be directing the sequel to 2018’s Jason Statham vs Giant Shark blockbuster The Meg. The hope was that Wheatley’s horror sensibilities and eye for jet-black humour would add a bit of bite to what was otherwise a passably entertaining, but ultimately uninspired Jaws retread. Unfortunately, those hopes have not come to pass, as there’s very little trace of the acclaimed British director’s signature touch in this largely derivative sequel.

The plot, such as it is, essentially boils down to “Jason Statham vs More Giant Sharks”, though this time round, his character Jonas Taylor has had...

The term “alien” takes on multiple meanings in writer-director Moin Hussain’s intriguing and rather gloomy debut feature, Sky Peals, which follows a lonely rest-stop cook whose life is upended by the death of his estranged father. Although extraterrestrials are evoked at some point, this intimate indie is less of a sci-fi thriller than a minimalist character study, focusing on a multiracial protagonist who doesn’t seem to be at home anywhere.

Screening in Venice’s International Critics’ Week sidebar, the film marks a promising first feature for Hussain, who shows a steady command of tone in a story that’s basically set in one colorless, extremely alienating place. But it can also be too much of a one-note affair at times, lacking the dramatic energy to take it to wider audiences.

What’s important to note about Sky Peals’ young hero, Adam (Faraz Ayub), is that his mother (Claire Rushbrook...

There has always been a strand within horror cinema fascinated by, for want of a better term, the wages of sin – by seeing people punished for committing acts deemed immoral, even when very similar acts have probably been committed by at least half of the people in the audience. Just what counts as immoral has evolved over the years, and some films, like Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, have pointed out that there’s no limit to how petty a killer’s approach can get when all that’s really desired is an excuse. Latterly, though – perhaps prompted by the polarisation of society at large – a conversation has begun to emerge about just where the harm in particular choices lies. On the surface, Cheat may look like a conventional supernatural thriller in which sexual betrayal is punished by death, but underneath it’s something quite a bit smarter.

It begins with a flashback scene.

This month marks four years since it was announced that Ben Wheatley, whose latest film Meg 2: The Trench is in theatres now (you can read our review at This Link and check out our interview with Wheatley Here), would be writing, directing, and executive producing Generation Z, a “hilarious, frightening, and political” series that would consist of six hour-long episodes that would “mix flesh-eating zombies into a story that satirizes how Brexit has divided the UK.” That project didn’t make it into production because of the pandemic shutdown… but now it has been revived, and Wheatley has confirmed that it’s going to be his next project!

During an appearance at an Empire VIP screening of Meg 2: The Trench, Wheatley said (with thanks to Fangoria for the transcription), “What I’m doing next is six hours for Channel 4, [a] TV series, a horror-based thing […] In the same...

Stars: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Cliff Curtis, Sienna Guillory, Melissanthi Mahut | Written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Dean Georgaris | Directed Ben Wheatley

There was a significant degree of excitement in horror circles when it was announced that British director Ben Wheatley was going to be directing the sequel to 2018’s Jason Statham vs Giant Shark blockbuster The Meg. The hope was that Wheatley’s horror sensibilities and eye for jet-black humour would add a bit of bite to what was otherwise a passably entertaining, but ultimately uninspired Jaws retread. Unfortunately, those hopes have not come to pass, as there’s very little trace of the acclaimed British director’s signature touch in this largely derivative sequel.

The plot, such as it is, essentially boils down to “Jason Statham vs More Giant Sharks”, though this time round, his character Jonas Taylor has had...

Plot: When an evil mining operation unearths prehistoric beasts from the ocean’s depths, including multiple megalodons, rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) must suit up to face the return of an old enemy.

Review: 2018’s The Meg overcame middling reviews (including one from yours truly) to become an unlikely global success at the box office. Like its predecessor, Meg 2: The Trench is based on a novel by author Steve Alten, and what’s exciting to genre fans is that the great Ben Wheatley is behind the camera. For those who may not know his work, Wheatley is widely considered one of the UK’s best genre directors, with him having made Kill List, Sightseers, Free Fire, High Rise and – recently – the Netflix remake of Rebecca. This is different for him because it’s a big-budget event movie. How does it fare compared to the original?

Honestly, it’s a mixed bag.

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ looks for piece of the action.

Shark sequel Meg 2: The Trench is the first major challenger to the Barbenheimer supremacy, opening in 544 cinemas at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend.

Meg 2 will look to challenge both its Warner Bros stablemate Barbie, and Universal’s Oppenheimer, while benefitting from the surge in audiences those titles have brought in the past fortnight.

The first title, 2018’s The Meg, started with £3.7m also in early August; and ended on a sharp £15.9m.

Jason Statham returns for the sequel, which sees a research team encounter multiple threats...

Director Ben Wheatley serves up a busy but flavourless bouillabaisse of ideas nicked from Jaws, Jurassic Park, Alien and Sharknado, and leaves it to Statham to occasionally raise a droll smile

“A relationship, I think, is like a shark,” says Woody Allen in Annie Hall. “It has to constantly move forward or it dies.” Ditto franchises. A prologue set in the Cretaceous period hints that Meg 2: The Trench will exceed the enjoyably tacky thrills of the 2018 seaborne monster movie by going weirder and wilder – a suspicion encouraged by the presence of Ben Wheatley as director. In fact, the sequel alternately treads water and splashes around frantically in search of an identity. Never settling on whether he wants his film to be Alien, Jaws, Jurassic Park or Sharknado, Wheatley serves up a bouillabaisse of all four.

Battling a 75ft-long megalodon with an 8ft dorsal fin and five rows of teeth is another sort of formidable,...

Of course Ben Wheatley had a monster movie in him.

Before he directed "Meg 2: The Trench," Jason Statham's second "giant prehistoric shark threatens the world" outing, Wheatley proved himself capable of floating between genres with a remarkable ease. Nasty, head-splitting horror movies like "Kill List." Pitch-black comedies like "Sightseers." Impossible literary adaptations like "High-Rise." Slick streaming remakes like "Rebecca." And then there are his memorable episodes of "Doctor Who." It was only a matter of time before he made a massive studio-funded B-movie (a term used here with love) where one of the great modern action heroes goes mano-a-sharko with a beast big enough to devour a boat in a single bite. To call this the natural evolution of one of the most interesting modern filmographies would be an understatement. 

I sat down with Wheatley over Zoom ahead of the film's release. Naturally, we talked about monster movies,...

Five years ago, The Meg came out and was a pleasant summer-ending surprise. Placing its tongue firmly in its cheek for 113 minutes, the watery spectacle allowed us to watch the ever-watchable Jason Statham go mano-a-mano with a 75-foot shark. The idea behind the movie (which was based on a much more sober-minded novel by Steve Alten than had been in development for nearly a quarter century) was apparently to make a good old-fashioned monster movie with a few knowing winks to the audience.

The Meg’s box office success and its final shot also virtually ensured a sequel, so now Meg 2: The Trench arrives with Statham and a few other holdovers back for another round. Meanwhile workmanlike director Jon Turtletaub has been replaced this time by the eccentric indie maverick Ben Wheatley.

Set 10 years after the first film, the screenplay by Jon and Erich Hoeber and Dean Georgaris (the...

Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 movie The Meg (watch it at This Link) delivered on its promise of being a “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” adventure – and now director Ben Wheatley’s sequel Meg 2: The Trench is set to reach theatres on August 4th. In a newly released featurette, which you can watch in the embed above, Wheatley says his intention with this film was to make a supercharged sequel with bigger creatures and bigger action… and judging by the footage on display in the featurette, it definitely looks like this follow-up has a change of being better and more exciting than its predecessor.

The screenplay for Meg 2: The Trench has been written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, the same writing team that was on the first film. These films are inspired by a series of novels written by Steve Alten.

Jason Statham is back in...

Meg 2: The Trench, director Ben Wheatley’s sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” movie The Meg (watch it at This Link), is set to reach theatres on August 4th – and while this sequel will feature multiple giant sharks, those aren’t the only prehistoric creatures that will be rampaging across the screen. In fact, a newly released promo, which you can check out in the embed above, says that this time “the Megs are just the beginning”. One of the other giant creatures we’ll be seeing in Meg 2: The Trench is an octopus, and you can get a glimpse of some giant octopus action in this promo, including a moment where the octopus gets in a fight with a Meg! A moment that brings to mind the 2009 classic Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus.

The screenplay for Meg 2: The Trench has been written by Dean Georgaris,...

Meg 2: The Trench, director Ben Wheatley’s sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” movie The Meg (watch it at This Link), is set to reach theatres on August 4th – and with that date right around the corner, Warner Bros. has unveiled a new poster for the film… one that features multiple sea creatures lurking beneath unsuspecting swimmers. You can check it out at the bottom of this article.

And if that one doesn’t handle your craving for new Meg 2 promotional art, maybe one of these new posters will:

#Meg2 Meg 2 releases posters for IMAX、Cinity、中国巨幕、Dolby、MX4D and Wanos pic.twitter.com/hNu7MXFPvp

— Meg 2: the trench (@Latteeaaee) July 17, 2023

The screenplay for Meg 2: The Trench has been written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, the same writing team that was on the first film. These films are inspired...

Exclusive: Paris-based Goodfellas has unveiled a raft of deals on French genre title Vincent Must Die by Stéphan Castang following its buzzy world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week in May.

In Europe, it has sold to Benelux (O’Brother), Switzerland and Germany (Ascot Elite), Spain (La Aventura), Greece (Cinobo), Italy (I Wonder), Portugal (Alambique), Scandinavia (Njuta), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Ads), Romania (Independenta), Poland (Moonshot Company) and Cis (Russian Report).

Outside of Europe, it has been acquired for Turkey (Bir Film), Japan (Pflug), South Korea (Contents Panda) and Taiwan (Av Jet).

As previously announced, a buyers consortium consisting of Flawless, XYZ Films and Tea Shop Productions acquired all English-speaking territories during Cannes, including the North America, the UK and Australian and New Zealand.

The thriller stars Karim Leklou, best known internationally for his role Netflix hit The Stronghold, as a graphic designer who starts coming under attack from...

It was only a matter of time before “Black Mirror” came for the streaming industry, and Season 6 takes a couple of swings directly at Netflix right out of the gate. First with the star-studded, hyper-meta episode “Joan Is Awful,” which introduces the Netflix clone Streamberry (and an arsenal of Easter eggs and references therein). But Episode 2, “Loch Henry,” quiets things down to tackle a much more specific streaming ill — the soulless, exploitative true crime industrial complex and the constant stream of true crime docs digging up traumas from the past.

“Loch Henry” follows an aspiring filmmaker back to his Scottish hometown, where he intends to make a documentary about eggs, only to get sucked into making a film about the horrific crime case that transformed his hometown from a former tourist destination into a desolate ghost town. In “Black Mirror” tradition, the ensemble is a healthy mix of familiar faces,...

Recently split from his co-worker girlfriend, Vincent (Karim Leklou) is having a bad day at the office. First, a young intern batters him over the head with a laptop, and then Yves from accounting stabs him savagely with a pen. And after a meeting with human resources, the poor guy is left with the curious feeling that, somehow, he deserved it. Even his shrink, who has a print of J.M.W. Turner’s ironic masterpiece “The Fighting Temeraire” on his wall, thinks so, planting further seeds of doubt in Vincent’s mind. “I think you’re looking for attention from those who attack you,” he decides.

Vincent’s “crime” is to make eye contact, and after a further series of interactions — notably with a middle-aged female motorist, who tries to run him down, and, crucially, his upstairs neighbor’s young children — Vincent drops everything and heads to his family’s country home.

Last week, Warner Bros. unveiled the trailer for Meg 2: The Trench, director Ben Wheatley’s sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” movie The Meg (watch it at This Link). If that trailer left you wondering if the sea creature mayhem of this film was going to boost it into the R rating territory, you can stop wondering. Because it hasn’t. Just like The Meg, Meg 2: The Trench has earned a PG-13 rating. The Motion Picture Association ratings board has given it a PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images, language and brief suggestive material.

The screenplay for Meg 2: The Trench has been written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, the same writing team that was on the first film. These films are inspired by a series of novels written by Steve Alten.

Jason Statham is back in the lead...

One of the most varied careers in filmmaking today, Ben Wheatley has jumped around from horror freak-outs like Kill List and In the Earth to black comedies like Sightseers to ambitious adaptations like High Rise to action pics like Free Fire to even the Hitchcock remake Rebecca. The English director is now entering his blockbuster phase with Meg 2: The Trench. Ahead of an August release, the first trailer has now arrived.

Following up the 2018 film, which grossed a staggering half-a-billion-plus worldwide, the sequel features the return of Jason Statham and the addition of Wu King as the plot ups the ante with multiple Megs, underwater action, and, judging from some shots in the trailer, truly inspired popcorn thrills. While Jon Turteltaub’s film felt like it didn’t truly embrace the cheesy fun of the premise, Wheatley looks to leave no expense spared here.

See the trailer below.

Meg...

Last month, attendees at CinemaCon – including JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray – had the chance to watch the first trailer for Meg 2: The Trench, director Ben Wheatley’s sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” movie The Meg (watch it at This Link). Now those of us who weren’t at CinemaCon get our chance to watch the trailer, which is now online. Check it out in the embed above!

The screenplay for Meg 2: The Trench has been written by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, the same writing team that was on the first film. These films are inspired by a series of novels written by Steve Alten.

Jason Statham is back in the lead as rescue diver Jonas Taylor and is joined in the cast of the sequel by returning co-stars Cliff Curtis, Shuya Sophia Cai, and Page Kennedy, as well as...

Ben Wheatley is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today. His projects always are unique and worth a watch. Sure, there are slight missteps, such as with “Rebecca,” but that doesn’t take away from films such as “Sightseers,” “High-Rise,” and “Kill List.” All that to say, it’s really quite surprising that his next film is “The Meg 2: The Trench.” This seems like a big departure for someone who could be seen as an auteur, right?

Continue reading ‘The Meg 2: The Trench’ Trailer: Ben Wheatley Directs Jason Statham In The Underwater Monster Sequel at The Playlist.

Exec will report into Spt’s president of international productions Wayne Garvie.

Sony Pictures Television (Spt) has appointed Big Talk managing director Matthew Justice to the newly created role of EVP, head of UK & Europe.

Justice, who announced earlier this week that he was stepping down from The Outlaws producer Big Talk after 16 years, will report into Wayne Garvie, Spt’s president of international productions.

Justice will manage Spt’s international studio operations and European co-productions business, and work closely with Spt production labels and joint ventures. These include: Bad Wolf (His Dark Materials), Eleven Films (Sex Education), Left Bank Pictures...

In what is likely to be considered a major poach, Sony Pictures Television has hired Mathew Justice — a seasoned U.K. industry vet and currently managing director of the ITV Studios-owned Big Talk — for the newly created role of executive vp, head of U.K. and Europe.

Reporting to Spt president of international productions Wayne Garvie, Justice will directly manage the company’s International Studio operations and European co-productions business, as well as work closely with Spt International Production’s wholly owned and joint venture production companies in the region, which include Bad Wolf (His Dark Materials, Industry), Eleven Films (Sex Education) and Left Bank Pictures (The Crown). He joins later this year.

“Joining Wayne and the team at Spt is an opportunity that dreams are made of,” said Justice. “The Spt labels are outstanding, so it is a rare honor to get to work with them and the people behind them.

Sony Pictures Television has appointed Matthew Justice as executive VP and head of U.K. and Europe.

In the newly created role, he will report into Wayne Garvie, president of International Productions. Justice will directly manage Spt’s international studio operations and European co-productions business, as well as work closely with Spt International Production’s wholly-owned and joint venture production companies in the region, which includes Bad Wolf, Eleven Films and Left Bank Pictures.

Justice most recently served as managing director at ITV Studios-backed Big Talk. He will start at Spt later this year.

Garvie said: “Matthew is a highly respected figure in the U.K. television and film industry — together he and Kenton Allen have built Big Talk into a significant international player. A smart operator, a strategic thinker and, just as importantly, a very good person, Matthew brings just what we need to build our UK and...

Warner Bros. debuted a first look at the upcoming shark attack sequel Meg 2: The Trench during CinemaCon today, and attendees seem to be pretty impressed with the footage.

Journalist Jeff Sneider tweets, “WB should just rename The Meg 2 to The Hit, because that’s what it’s gonna be. She’s hungry and back for seconds! Creatures have escaped an untouched, underwater ecosystem and are wreaking havoc in our world. Trailer is set to Barracuda.”

Eric Goldman adds, “… trailer for The Meg 2… begins with a Meg killing a dinosaur. They’re hunting in packs this time! Statham is fighting them! I’m so in!”

Rob Keyes writes, “Meg 2: The Trench trailer has the same over-the-top laughs and insanity as the first. The Megs are hunting in packs, there’s a dinosaur flashback, Jason Statham holds one back with his foot, there’s even a giant octopus or Kraken thing.

The Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, is currently in progress, and as part of the presentation they showed attendees the first trailer for Meg 2: The Trench, director Ben Wheatley’s sequel to Jon Turteltaub’s 2018 “Jason Statham vs. a giant shark” movie The Meg (watch it at This Link).

JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray was in attendance to see the trailer, and this is what he had to say about it: “First trailer: We see footage of The Meg killing dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Looks much more expensive than the last movie. Jonas (Jason Statham) is sent into the trench the deal with whatever creature is down there – which of course is The Meg! Wu Jing, from Wolf Warrior, is a co-star. This version of The Meg is bigger because it’s an Apex predator. It escapes The Trench and starts eating people.

People spend a great deal of time searching for their other half, and once they find that perfect love, they will do everything to keep it. That determination is plain to see in Ben Wheatley’s movie Sightseers, a romantic comedy without equal. Two awkward lovebirds’ road trip turns into an appalling travelogue as soon as […]

The post ‘Sightseers’ – Sardonic Mumblegore from ‘Kill List’ Director Ben Wheatley [Horrors Elsewhere] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It’s summer, everyone! And with its relatively sparse list of new releases for July 2021, Hulu seems to be subtlety imploring its subscribers to go outside.

Don’t get us wrong: Hulu’s library offerings get a big upgrade this month. July 1 sees the arrival of great films like Galaxy Quest, Fargo, and Caddyshack. Bill and Ted Face the Music premieres on July 2 and its followed by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar on July 9. Not bad stuff! It’s just that, outside of the library titles, there isn’t much to go off of.

Hulu’s only major original release this month is the FX on Hulu production American Horror Stories on July 15. As its name implies, the show is a spinoff of American Horror Story and will feature self-contained horror episodes rather than a season-long arc. If you’ll allow this geriatric millennial to deploy one truly ancient meme: “Yo dawg,...

The director on his new horror movie set during a pandemic, fearing he’d never work again, and why audiences love Jason Statham

For many of us, much of the past year will have felt like the plot of a horror film. So when, in March 2020, the British writer and director Ben Wheatley, 48, found himself with some unexpected free time, it was clear what the genre of his next project would be. The result, the terrifying and blackly comic In the Earth, went from concept to virtual Sundance premiere in less than 12 months. It is set in the midst of a pandemic that may feel familiar in some senses but, on a two-day forest trek, a scientist (Joel Fry) and a park scout (Ellora Torchia) also have to contend with a malignant woodland spirit and a deranged Reece Shearsmith. Wheatley has an eclectic, never-dull, often grisly backlist that includes Sightseers,...

Ben Wheatley released his most recent film, Rebecca, only six months ago on Netflix. He’s already back with his second film to arrive during the pandemic: a horror feature inspired by the virus called In the Earth. He shot it in fifteen days and wrapped the movie during lockdown, using the latest on-set procedures to ensure everyone’s safety.

In the Earth is based in a world not unlike our own. A disastrous virus explodes with millions of infected people across the earth, sending civilization’s brightest scientists on a mission to cure the outbreak. Joel Fry plays a scientist and Ellora Torchia plays a park scout who ventures deep in the forest for a routine equipment run. During the night, their journey becomes a terrifying voyage of survival when they’re encountered by hostile forces and a forest that comes to life around them.

I spoke with Wheatley...

Trust Ben Wheatley to devote a fair chunk of lockdown to trying to creep audiences out.

The cult British filmmaker — who made a name for himself with indie genre titles such as Kill List and Sightseers, moved into bigger budget action with Free Fire and High Rise and recently went in a totally different direction with Netflix’s period adaptation of Rebecca — used the pandemic to go back to his roots.

In the Earth, which Neon recently released in theaters after the film bowed at Sundance, is a trippy folk horror film set — funnily enough — in the midst of a deadly pandemic. The increasingly ...

Trust Ben Wheatley to devote a fair chunk of lockdown to trying to creep audiences out.

The cult British filmmaker — who made a name for himself with indie genre titles such as Kill List and Sightseers, moved into bigger budget action with Free Fire and High Rise and recently went in a totally different direction with Netflix’s period adaptation of Rebecca — used the pandemic to go back to his roots.

In the Earth, which Neon recently released in theaters after the film bowed at Sundance, is a trippy folk horror film set — funnily enough — in the midst of a deadly pandemic. The increasingly ...