Tim Richards Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

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.

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.

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.

Warner Bros. has no worries in The Flash.

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

Vue International, the largest privately owned cinema operator in Europe, has appointed Stella David as its non-executive chair.

EXCLUSIVE: In an unprecedented move, Netflix and major exhibition circuits in the U.S. and UK recently agreed a 30-day theatrical window for Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. This comes after years of discussions on finding “a way forward to show their high-quality productions on our screens,” says Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue International which will be showing the anticipated sequel in its theaters in the UK, Germany and Italy.

Rian Johnson’s murder-mystery sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will receive a theatrical UK release after Netflix struck deals with Vue International and Cineworld.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Netflix has struck deals with European cinema giant Vue International and Cineworld to put “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” in British movie theaters. The film will screen at select Vue and Cineworld cinemas across the U.K. an entire month before the movie hits the streaming service. “Glass Onion” will screen from Nov. 23-29, and then leave cinemas for three weeks before dropping on Netflix on Dec. 23. Tickets are now on sale for the U.K. cinema run. Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue International, said: “This is an exciting moment in our relationship with streaming platforms and for the wider ecosystem as a whole. Studios have recognized the value of the theatrical window and now we’re seeing Netflix embracing the big screen theatrical release too.

Manori Ravindran International Editor With a week to go before kicking off the London Film Festival, the British Film Institute gathered the U.K.’s titans of cinema to toast the return of moviegoing and celebrate the next generation of filmmakers. The BFI’s Luminous gala took place at the swanky Londoner hotel in Leicester Square on Thursday evening (Sept. 29), where Variety had exclusive access. The event, which also featured the BFI and Chanel’s inaugural Filmmaker Awards, used to be a biannual bash, but was the first of its kind since the pandemic. The starry dinner convened around 400 guests, including actors Daisy Ridley, Ncuti Gatwa, Morfydd Clark, Rebel Wilson, Lily James, Malachi Kirby, Dame Joan Collins and Eddie Redmayne; directors Edgar Wright, Gurinder Chadha, Steve McQueen and Terry Gilliam; and producers including Working Title co-founder Eric Fellner, screenwriter Jemima Khan, and former BBC drama commissioner-turned-A24 international boss Piers Wenger.

K.J. Yossman European cinema chain Vue International has received approval from its lenders to receive a further £75 million ($88 million) to fund recapitalization of the company. Its lender syndicate unanimously approved the move, which is expected to be completed later this year. According to the cinema chain: “This will enable Vue to implement the new money financing on a fully consensual basis with those lenders, such that the scheme of arrangement that was underway in connection with the transaction has been discontinued.” Vue was keen to emphasise that landlords, suppliers and employees would not be impacted by the transaction.

Manori Ravindran International EditorEuropean cinema giant Vue will see its lenders take full ownership of the company in a £1 billion ($1.18 billion) takeover as the exhibitor battles back following the pandemic.Vue confirmed on Thursday that its first-lien lenders will take 100% equity ownership of the business. Under the new deal, around £465 million ($548 million) of debt will be converted into equity.

EXCLUSIVE: James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has revealed that it will be “at least two years“ before the next 007 movie begins filming and that the task of finding an actor to replace Daniel Craig hasn’t begun “because it’s a reinvention of Bond.”

Naman Ramachandran James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are being accorded BFI Fellowships, the highest honor bestowed by the British Film Institute. The fellowships will be presented at the BFI chair’s dinner, hosted by BFI chair Tim Richards, on June 28.

Manori Ravindran International EditorEuropean cinema giant Vue is partnering with the British Film Institute to create more exhibition opportunities for British, independent and international movies.From May, the cinema chain is set to screen a series of films curated by the BFI across all of its venues in the U.K. The program will be called “BFI Presents” and films will screen at Vue’s 88 movie theaters across the country.Vue and the BFI have a special connection given the exhibition chain’s CEO and founder Tim Richards was appointed chairman of the film org in February 2021.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe British Film Institute has announced five new board members including Netflix’s film chief Scott Stuber.Stuber joins the BFI’s board of governors along with eminent British industry exec and academic Monica Chada; producer Elizabeth Karlsen, co-founder of Number 9 Films (“Carol”); Laura Miele, vice-president and COO of interactive entertainment giant Electronic Arts; and writer, producer and director Edgar Wright (“Baby Driver,” “Shaun of the Dead”).The appointments were announced by U.K. Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Nadine Dorries.Each new BFI board member will serves a term of four years beginning in May 2022.“It’s a privilege to be appointed a Governor of the BFI, an institution I have long admired,” Stuber said in a statement “I wholeheartedly endorse their mission to promote the next generation of U.K. storytellers, widen access to screen culture and support the continued growth of this extraordinary sector,” he added, noting that, “Our industry is in a state of constant evolution and I look forward to playing my part in ensuring the BFI remains best situated to champion its past, present and future.”The BFI’s new board recruits join the current BFI board, which includes Michael Birshan; Idris Elba; Gerry Fox; Jay Hunt; Robin Saunders; Andrew Smith; Phil Stokes and Nell Whitley.Said BFI Chair Tim Richards: “I am honored to be welcoming five new incredibly talented industry professionals to the BFI Board of Governors.“Their knowledge and experience across film, television, games, technology and business combined with that of our existing governors, will be invaluable to the BFI and the industry as a whole.

The British Film Institute (BFI) has added five experienced executives to its Board of Governors.

Manori Ravindran International EditorVue International boss Tim Richards is stepping in as chair of the British Film Institute (BFI) at one of the most pivotal moments in the org’s history.The U.K. industry has weathered close to a year of the coronavirus pandemic and three national lockdowns, the most recent of which is still in place.

Tim Richards, CEO and founder of exhibition chain Vue, has been appointed the next Chair of the British Film Institute.