Tim Richards: Last News

Vue International, Europe’s largest independent movie theater operator, is in discussions with its shareholders and lenders on a fresh debt-for-equity restructuring. This comes after last year’s dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes caused production delays and pushed a number of titles off of the 2023 and 2024 release calendars. Overall, the industry is facing a severe downturn in ticket sales across the coming year.

The major story in Hollywood, says Jeff Goldstein, president of Global Distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, is how expensive it’s getting to make movies and to market them to a fragmented audience even as technology sends first reactions to a film around the world in a “nanosecond”.

Naman Ramachandran Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue Entertainment, Europe’s largest privately owned cinema operator, has said that the cinema exhibition business is poised for a strong comeback after weathering pandemic disruptions and Hollywood strikes. Richards also delivered the keynote address at the European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF) Convention on Wednesday.

Gladiator 2 and Wicked hasn’t had the same impact as last year’s Barbenheimer phenomenon, but it has breathed new life into the box office with huge takings.With a combined $270million (£214.6milion) in worldwide ticket sales over the weekend, it was the third-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2. It was also a record for a Broadway musical adaptation.Jon M.

Gladiator 2 and Wicked was predicted to have the same impact as last year’s Barbenheimer phenomenon, but experts are now saying that may not be the case.Dubbed the Glicked effect, both movies are expected to take the box office by storm over the weekend after being released in the US on Friday (November 22), similar to Barbie and Oppenheimer last year.Jon M. Chu’s Wicked has also been slated by cinema bosses to be the biggest film of the year, and earlier this month, Deadline predicted that the musical adaptation and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 are set to pull in huge takings on their openings with the former expected to pull in over $80million (£62.8million) and the latter $65million (£51million) domestically.The stars of the respective films have also been on board with a potential Glicked phenomenon, with Gladiator 2 star Paul Mescal telling The Hollywood Reporter: “I don’t wanna jinx anything.

Wicked is on course to be the UK’s biggest film of the year, according to a major cinema boss.The film, which is released today (November 22) in both the UK and US, is expected to take the box office by storm.After the global domination of ‘Barbenheimer’ in the summer of 2023, film fans are also looking forward to the phenomenon of ‘Glicked’ when Wicked goes up against Gladiator 2 in the US too.Both movies are expected to make big box office takings in the coming days when they are simultaneously released much like Barbie and Oppenheimer last year.According to Deadline, Jon M. Chu’s Wicked and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 are set to pull in huge takings on their openings with the former expected to clock up over $80million (£62.8million) and the latter $65million (£51million) domestically.Now, Vue founder and CEO Tim Richards has said he believes Wicked could be the biggest film of the year.“Following the huge success of Paddington In Peru and Gladiator 2, and ahead of Moana 2, Mufasa and other amazing films in the lead up to Christmas, Vue has delivered record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked.“The pre-sales are tracking in line with Barbie’s last year and it looks like Wicked could be the biggest film of 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: International cinema chain Vue has hired Ismar Matagic, former technology chief at Pret A Manger, as its new Chief Information Officer, and tapped former Europarcs head Joost Ligthart as its chief in Holland. 

Vue Names Ian Fraser As Chair

EXCLUSIVE: Vue founder and CEO Tim Richards caused a stir last month with an intriguing appearance in front of the UK Parliament’s British Film & High-End TV Inquiry. 

Alex Ritman Jay Hunt has been appointed chair of the British Film Institute. A hugely well-respected name in British TV, Hunt is currently the creative director for Apple TV+ in Europe, and has been a governor of the British Film Institute since 2020.

Apple TV+ exec Jay Hunt has been confirmed as the next chair of the British Film Institute (BFI).

Apple TV+ Europe boss Jay Hunt, who has commissioned the likes of Slow Horses, Bad Sisters and Tiny World, is being lined up as the next chair of the BFI, according to a Sky News report.

Christopher Nolan is to receive a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the UK’s lead organization for film.

Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan is being accorded a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the British Film Institute. “The fellowship recognizes Nolan’s extraordinary achievements and enormous contribution to cinema as one of the world’s most successful and influential film directors, constantly pushing the limits of what large-scale filmmaking can be whilst retaining a reverence for the history of the medium and the primacy of cinema-going,” the BFI said in a statement. The fellowship will be presented to Nolan at the BFI chair’s dinner in London on Feb.

Naman Ramachandran Trafalgar Releasing’s concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” was on song at the U.K. and Ireland box office, debuting at No. 1 with £5.7 million ($6.9 million), according to numbers from Comscore.

Taylor Swift seems set to do for the UK cinema industry what she has pulled off for the live entertainment industry, ie provide a much-needed cash injection.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert film had the highest tickets sales at the Vue International UK and Ireland box office on its opening day.

The UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has opened applications to hire a new chair for the British Film Institute (BFI) as Tim Richards’s tenure in the role is set to end next year.

Tim Richards, CEO of international cinema chain Vue, will step down from his role as chair of the British Film Institute (BFI) in 2024, when his term will come to a close. The boss of the European cinema giant took on the position, which is appointed by the U.K. government, in February 2021.

Naman Ramachandran Despite the humongous success of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in the U.K. and Ireland, the territory’s theatrical exhibition business is not out of the darkness yet, the Vue cinema chain chief has said. Speaking to the Sky News podcast, Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue International, hailed an “amazing summer” citing the latest films in the “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Mission Impossible” franchises and the “absolutely phenomenal” “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” “We knew it was going to be big.

Naman Ramachandran Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” are attracting a record number of punters back to the cinemas in the U.K. and India. In the U.K. the Vue cinema chain said that it witnessed its biggest weekend in four years and second biggest weekend in history by admissions, with “Barbie” on track to become the biggest film of 2023, ahead of “Super Mario Bros.” Vue saw more than a fifth of its customers booking tickets to see both films. Over 2,000 sessions sold out for “Barbie,” delivering the largest ever opening weekend for an original, non-franchise film for the U.K. and Ireland market box office.