News

Netflix beat most Wall Street consensus estimates in its third quarter earnings and reported a 5.1m paid member net addition and 14% year-on-year increase to reach 282.72m.

Revenue of $9.83bn increased 15.7% year-on-year, while earnings per share was $5.40, operating income of $2.9bn represented 52% growth, operating margin was 29.6%, and free cash flow amounted to $2.19bn.

In its letter to shareholders, Netflix said advertising tier membership grew 35% quarter-on-quarter, and its ad tech platform was on track to launch in Canada in Q4 and more broadly in 2025.

Stock closed at $687.65 after a marginal gain on the start of the day and was up around 4% in after hours trading.

Netflix beat most Wall Street consensus estimates in its third quarter earnings and reported a five million paid member net add and 14% year-on-year increase to reach 282.72m.

Revenue of $9.83bn increased 15.7% year-on-year, while earnings per share was $5.40, operating income $2.9bn representing 52% Yoy growth, operating margin was 29.6%, and free cash flow amounted to $2.19bn.

In its letter to shareholders, Netflix said advertising tier membership grew 35% quarter on quarter, and its ad tech platform was on track to launch in Canada in Q4 and more broadly in 2025.

Stock closed at $687.65 after a marginal gain on the start of the day.

Approaching the...

Alvin Rakoff, the Canadian-born filmmaker who directed Laurence Olivier in A Voyage Round My Father, has died. He was 97.

His death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by his longtime publicist, Nick Pourgourides. He passed away on Oct. 12 surrounded by family at home in Chiswick, a neighborhood in London.

Rakoff as a writer, director and producer of over 100 TV, film and stage productions, as well as novels, directed Olivier and co-stars Alan Bates and Jane Asher in the 1982 TV drama A Voyage Round My Father, a film written by John Mortimer and which earned the director his second Emmy Award.

Alvin and Olivier also worked together on Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson and A Talent for Murder, both shot in 1983. The two-time Emmy Award winner also gave a young Sean Connery his first leading role in the 1957 film Requiem for a Heavyweight, and Alan Rickman as a young actor was...

The much-loved director gave an unknown Sean Connery his first leading role as well as overseeing some of the biggest TV dramas of the 1970s and 80s

Alvin Rakoff, prolific director and producer of scores of film and TV productions including Requiem for a Heavyweight, Passport to Shame and A Dance to the Music of Time, has died aged 97. His family announced his death in a statement, saying Rakoff “passed away … surrounded by his loving family in the same, beautiful old house in Chiswick he had bought back in 1971”.

Born in Toronto in 1927, Rakoff came from a family of east European Jewish immigrants to Canada, but came to the UK in 1952 after turning his back on the family shop and committing to a career in show business. Having worked as a writer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Rakoff was quickly accepted on the BBC’s directors’ training course and...

Alvin Rakoff, the veteran Canadian filmmaker best known for pics like the 1982 feature A Voyage Round My Father starring Laurence Olivier, died in Chiswick, London, October 12 surrounded by his family. He was 97.

Rakoff’s former personal agent confirmed the news with Deadline this morning.

Born on on February 6, 1927, in Toronto Rakoff was the third of seven children. After graduating from the University of Toronto with a psychology degree, Rakoff spent time as a news reporter. His first job as a writer was with the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), which later sponsored Rakoff to visit the UK. Within days of arriving, he sold his first fiction script to the BBC. He was soon invited to join the BBC’s director’s training course and, the following year at the age of twenty-six, Rakoff became the youngest producer/director in the BBC drama department.

As Rakoff once recalled: “I trained at the BBC as a director-producer.

Alvin Rakoff, the Canadian director who made films including Say Hello To Yesterday and who helped launch the careers of Sean Connery and Alan Rickman, has died at the age of 97.

Rakoff died on October 12, “peacefully…surrounded by his loving family in the same, beautiful old house in Chiswick he had bought back in 1971”, according to Nick Pourgourides, a long-time representative of the filmmaker.

Rakoff directed 11 feature films across a near 70-year career, including 1969 crime film Crossplot starring Roger Moore and Claudie Lange; 1970 drama Hoffman led by Peter Sellers; and 1971 romantic comedy Say Hello To Yesterday starring Jean Simmons.

He...

Canadian director, writer and producer Alvin Rakoff, best known for directing Laurence Olivier in “A Voyage Round My Father,” has died at the age of 97.

The cause of death was “old age,” his publicist told Variety. He died on Oct. 12 at home, surrounded by his family.

Over a career spanning more than four decades, which began when television was still only available in black-and-white, Rakoff was involved in over 100 television, film and stage productions as well as writing novels. According to his representatives, he was still working into his ’90s.

Rakoff was the third of seven children born to Sam and Pearl Rakoff in Toronto in 1927. His parents owned a dry goods shop but the director grew up in poverty after the Great Depression hit in 1929. He would later recount the experience in his novel “Baldwin Street.”

After seeing his first film in a theater at the age of 6, his...

More’s hopelessly vain out-of-work actor is joined by a blue chip cast in a zippy tale that does unfortunately rather show its age

Before Richard E Grant’s Withnail, there was Kenneth More’s Chick Byrd. In Alvin Rakoff’s 1964 British drama, Byrd is an out-of-work actor whose breezy, cynical exuberance masks increasing terror of permanent unemployment and, like Withnail, he is desperate for his agent to call, stunned by his flatmate booking a glamorous film job and stuck living in a scuzzy boarding house in Camden Town (although exteriors were shot in Paddington).

After being fired from his job in provincial rep, Chick has come back down to London to try his luck, meeting up with all the old faces, the familiar parade of ageing thespian losers hanging round West End pubs and cafes during the day and mooching desolately past theatres with huge hoardings showing rave reviews for successful actors.

To celebrate the release of The Comedy Man, on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital from 18th March, we are giving away Blu-Rays to 2 lucky winners!

Boasting a career-best performance from Kenneth More and skilfully directed by Alvin Rakoff, this often-forgotten example of the late British New Wave features an outstanding supporting cast including Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Edmund Purdom and Billie Whitelaw.

The Comedy Man depicts the life of a struggling actor in Swinging London. Fired from his job in repertory theatre after seducing the producer’s wife, Chick Byrd (Kenneth More) moves to London. At 40 years old, he realises this is his last chance to make it as an actor. After moving into digs in London with Julian (Edmund Purdom), a fellow actor, Julian’s career soars after a successful screen test, but Chick’s meets with continued failure.

After a tumultuous event, Chick finally gets a break and finds...

Lee Grant, the Oscar-winning actress (“Shampoo”) says she decided after her win to try to direct since good roles for older women were limited. It turns out that was about the halfway point of her 98 year (so far) life. What followed was a narrative feature (“Tell Me a Riddle”) and several documentaries, including “Down and Out in America,” which won an Oscar.

When we last ran our list of the oldest living feature film directors in late 2022, where Grant stood was a mystery. Since her breakout in William Wyler’s “The Detective Story” (1951), her first nomination, her year of birth was unclear. But recently she has clarified that that she was born in 1925. That makes her, to the best of our knowledge, older than any of her peers.

Below are listed the 25 oldest. Since our most recent list, Norman Lear, Robert M. Young (both of who briefly were the oldest...

Many kids dream of one day getting to play a superhero/villain in a major Hollywood motion picture. The thing is, while it must be incredibly edifying to see yourself performing fantastic feats on the big screen via the assistance of wires and computer-generated effects, actually making these movies can be a slow, arduous undertaking.

While film production in general is often a frustratingly piecemeal process, it gets particularly drawn out when you're dealing with people in complex make-up and tremendously uncomfortable costumes. There are myriad horror stories of actors getting stuffed into suffocating suits that can't be donned or removed easily. You may look and move like Batman in the finished film, but, on set, you feel more like Frankenstein's monster.

Indeed, it often feels like the cooler the outfit looks, the more uncomfortable it is to wear. And if you want proof of this, you need look...

For fans of Sean Connery, his lasting legacy will always be the seven James Bond movies that starred the legendary actor as the iconic badass secret agent. But while becoming 007 was certainly his breakthrough, his string of minor supporting roles and being an extra in Hollywood films ended when he landed his first leading part in BBC's Alvin Rakoff directed Requiem for a Heavyweight as Mountain McLintock, a once-successful boxer who is no longer in demand. But had it not been for Rakoff's late first wife Jacqueline Hill, Connery would have never gotten the role. 

In the early 1950s, Sean Connery was a struggling actor who only managed to grab unnoticeable side roles in films. But then came along Alvin Rakoff, himself a young budding producer/director for BBC at the time, who spotted the late actor. Connery had been "an extra several times" in Rakoff's films, including a BBC...

The idea of the late Sean Connery being anything other than a cinema icon may be a difficult one to comprehend, but there once was a time when the Scot was a struggling extra looking for work.

It was actually the director Alvin Rakoff who — in 1957 — gave a 26-year-old Connery his first leading role, although, as he admits to The Hollywood Reporter, it was his late first wife Jacqueline Hill who convinced him to do so.

A young Canadian filmmaker who had come over to the U.K. in the 1950s — becoming the youngest producer/director in the ...

The idea of the late Sean Connery being anything other than a cinema icon may be a difficult one to comprehend, but there once was a time when the Scot was a struggling extra looking for work.

It was actually the director Alvin Rakoff who — in 1957 — gave a 26-year-old Connery his first leading role, although, as he admits to The Hollywood Reporter, it was his late first wife Jacqueline Hill who convinced him to do so.

A young Canadian filmmaker who had come over to the U.K. in the 1950s — becoming the youngest producer/director in the ...

Alvin Rakoff’s black comedy was almost banned – not by overzealous censors but by its own star Peter Sellers who felt the role of a lonely businessman blackmailing a young woman was too close to his own personality. Sinéad Cusack plays the object of Sellers’ misguided affections. Adapted from a play with the squirm-inducing title Call Me Daddy, the beleaguered film was produced in 1970 but wasn’t screened in New York till 1982.

The post Hoffman appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

From the golden age of Canadian tax shelters comes a horror movie about a fiendish, fearful freighter fraught with frills, I mean, chills. A notable cast — George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Sally Ann Howes, Kate Reid — shows up for paycheck duty, and must have gone through real torture getting this one in the can. It’s got a reputation, and if being ripoff-remade is a marker of success, then it’s earned its place on the horror map: See George Kennedy apparently really doused in awful oily bilge water!

Death Ship

Blu-ray

Scorpion Releasing

1980 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 94 min. / Street Date December 11, 2018 / 19.69

Starring: George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, Nick Mancuso, Kate Reid, Saul Rubinek.

Cinematography: René Verzier

Film Editor: Mike Campbell

Original Music: Ivor Slaney

Written by John Robins story by Jack Hill, David P. Lewis

Produced by Derek Gibson, Harold Greenberg, Sandy Howard (?)

Directed by Alvin Rakoff

What in the living Hell is on board?...

The best thing about vessel bound horror is the dearth of escape routes; hide in a cabin, behind a mast, or head over the side – these are your viable options. This is also the worst thing about same; fewer options can lead to repetition which can lead to boredom. So then, the bigger the vessel, the bigger the hellscape, and when you throw in some creepy Nazi haunting, you end up with Death Ship (1980), an oddly compelling thriller that plays like The Poseidon Adventure meets The Evil.

Okay, that’s a little bit of a sizzle sell; Death Ship doesn’t have the scope of the former or the effects of the latter, but it does achieve a grimy buzz as it progresses. Released by Avco Embassy in early March stateside, critics hated it and audiences failed to come aboard; it only brought in about a third of its $4.5 million dollar budget.

Ooh, it’s a great week for horror fans, as this Tuesday’s Blu-ray and DVD releases are a stellar bunch of films that will make for great additions to your personal collection of movies to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Because it is the holiday season, I’m stoked to see Scream Factory show a little love to Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 with their Collector’s Edition Blu that hits shelves tomorrow, and for those of you who enjoy your horror movies with a side of sleaze, William Lustig’s Maniac has been given the 4K treatment by Blue Underground (and the film has never looked better).

The Mangler is also getting a brand new Blu-ray this week, and Scorpion Releasing is resurrecting Death Ship with their new Special Edition release as well. Vinegar Syndrome is keeping busy with both Ice Cream Man and Beware My Brethren,...

By Todd Garbarini

Plagiarism, if done willingly and poorly, generally does not go unnoticed and one cannot help but see certain similarities in various works be it literature, art, or cinema. In listening to the audio commentary with author Jonathan Rigby and director Alvin Rakoff on the new, limited edition Blu-ray of 1980’s Death Ship, a horror oddity about an abandoned old ship inhabited by the ghosts of members of the Third Reich(!), a remark is made that the poster for 2002's Ghost Ship was remarkably similar to the poster art for Death Ship, and it’s true that the similarities are uncanny. I can't help but wonder who came up with the idea for the poster for Ghost Ship, as Death Ship was well over twenty-five years-old and seemed to be relegated to the land of forgotten cinema.

Captain Ashland (George Kennedy) is at the helm of a cruise ship,...

By Lee Pfeiffer 

The Shadowplay niche market DVD label has released the obscure British film noir crime thriller Room 43. The 1958 B&W film was directed by Alvin Rakoff and features some intriguing star turns. The real star of the film is Odile Versois, a French actress who is largely unknown in English language films. She plays Marie Louise, a young Parisian waitress who is framed for a petty crime in a human trafficking scheme. Faced with trial and jail, she accepts the help of a British benefactor, Aggie (Brenda de Banzie), a middle aged tourist who invites her to immigrate to London to work as her personal assistant. Once in London, she is housed with many other comely young women in a building run by Aggie. She is also introduced to Nick (Herbert Lom), an assertive but seemingly kindly businessman who pretends to have her best interests at heart.

A Planet Fury-approved selection of notable genre releases for December.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) 20th Century Fox Blu-ray and DVD Available Now

Six-year-old Hushpuppy (fearless newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis) lives in the “Bathtub,” a southern Louisiana bayou community far removed from the civilized world. Her father Wink (Dwight Henry), a poor fisherman, keeps her at arm’s length but ensures her well-being within the cultural confines of their rough-and-tumble society. Seen through the eyes of the feisty Hushpuppy, the lines between myth and reality are blurred. An impending storm coincides with the melting of the arctic ice caps (and the thawing of some mythical creatures), which changes the world of the Bathtub forever. This heartbreaking little fable came out of nowhere last summer after building some positive buzz on the festival circuit. Shot on 16mm film for under $2 million, Beasts is a true independent film: a fiercely original and moving...

British-born director known for Anne of the Thousand Days and Mary, Queen of Scots

The film and television director Charles Jarrott, who has died of cancer aged 83, began his career during a golden period of British TV drama, working on Armchair Theatre and The Wednesday Play in the 1960s alongside writers and directors such as Ken Loach, Dennis Potter and David Mercer. Both series were presided over by the Canadian producer Sydney Newman, who encouraged original work – what he called "agitational contemporaneity" – and had an astonishing impact. But in 1969 Jarrott's career took a different turn when he left for Hollywood, thereby increasing his income a hundredfold, while having to contend with far less adventurous material. His best films were his first, two Elizabethan costume dramas, Anne of the Thousand Days and Mary, Queen of Scots, enlivened by the Oscar-nominated performances of Richard Burton (Henry VIII), Geneviève Bujold (Anne Boleyn) and...

UK's Mill at Sonning theatre will premiere a musical about Doris Day this spring as part of its 2009 season. Sally Hughes will play Day in the show. Alvin Rakoff directs, with choreography by Joseph Pitcher. Press notes describe the new musical as, "Doris Day was one of the most prolific actresses of the 1950's and 1960's. A vivacious blonde with a wholesome image. Able to sing, dance, play comedy and dramatic roles, she became one of the biggest box-office stars in the world... But behind the screen, there was a story that rivalled any script Hollywood could ever dream up".