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Cheers! Bernard Campan and Isabelle Carré in Ivan Calbérac’s The Tasting Photo: UniFrance If there is one moniker that Ivan Caldérac, playwright, film director, producer and script doctor, would be delighted to assume it would be “wordsmith”.

Unlike many in the profession he loves writing, can barely find a keyboard that keeps up with his bursts of creativity and is even happy to help friends who may have writer’s block as well as hiring out his talents on a professional basis.

He has made something of speciality of transferring his hit stage plays to the screen such as The Tasting (La Dégustation) about an odd couple. They comprise: Jacques, whose wine business is on the brink of bankruptcy, and Hortense, a nurse with a penchant for babies, who stumbles into his shop and eventually reveals she is determined to find love and have a child of her own.

Warner Bros horror Companion leads new releases at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend in 561 cinemas.

Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid star in the dark comedy about a weekend away that goes wrong when a human android, built for companionship, reveals itself. It marks the feature debut of Drew Hancock while further cast include Rupert Friend, Lukas Gage and Jaboukie Young-White.

Thatcher most recently starred in fellow horror title Heretic which surpassed £6m late last year and Quaid had a role in 2023’s Oppenheimer (£60m). Companionis produced by Zach Cregger who wrote and directed Barbarian which cracked £1m...

Disney’s “A Complete Unknown” held its spot at the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office for a second weekend, earning £1.6 million ($2 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The cumulative total of the Bob Dylan biopic, starring Timothée Chalamet, now stands at $7.3 million.

In second place, Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” added $1.7 million in its sixth weekend, raising its total to $34.7 million. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” from Paramount remained steady in third, collecting $1.09 million during its fifth weekend and pushing its total to $29 million.

Lionsgate U.K.’s “Flight Risk,” directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg, debuted in fourth place with a solid $1.01 million. Universal’s awards season favorite “The Brutalist” debuted in fifth, earning $938,452 in its opening weekend.

Universal’s “Nosferatu” dropped to sixth with $666,526 in its fourth weekend. The gothic horror reboot has reached $15.1 million overall and continues to attract genre enthusiasts.

Screenis listing the 2024 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch withScreenhere.Screenis also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2025here.

January

Wednesday, January 1

Nosferatu(Universal),2073(Altitude),Vanangaan(DJ Tech),Game Changer(Dreamz),We Live In Time(Studiocanal)

Friday, January 3

Nickel Boys(Curzon),Rocco And His Brothers(BFI),Diabel(Magnetes)

Wednesday, January 8

A Real Pain(Disney)

Friday, January 10

Babygirl(Efd),The Girl With The Needle(Mubi),Maria(Studiocanal),The Damned(Vertical/Miracle),It’s Raining Men...

Ginger & Fed, the new international film sales arm of Federation Studios headed by former TF1 Studio boss Sabine Chemaly, will launch several high profile titles at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous, including “The Future Awaits,” Niels Tavernier’s WWII-set drama based on the true story of a Holocaust survivor. Ginger & Fed will also bow sales on “Riviera Revenge,” a heartwarming comedy starring André Dussollier (“The Crime is Mine”), Sabine Azéma (“Tanguy”) and Thierry Lhermitte (“The Dinner Game”), along with continuing deals on “Rachel’s Game,” “Survive” and “Oldies and Goodies.”

Produced by Yves Darondeau at Bonne Pioche Cinema (“March of the Penguins”), “The Future Awaits” tells the story of Tauba Birenbaum, whose testimony was collected in July 1997 to become part of Steven Spielberg’s Institute for Visual History. The film opens in July 1942, during the Vel’ d’Hiv’ Roundup of Jewish families in Paris. 13-year-old Tauba and her parents, who are Polish Jews,...