World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
The LFF crowns Imperium, Street Fighter‘s $51 million start, a documentary’s historic debut, Whalefall flops, Tamil composer Deva is mourned and a very personal anniversary.
Morning, all. Bit of a later post for me today, after a much deserved post-LFF leisurely start! But now the final day has come and gone, the London Film Festival has handed out its jury prizes. Monday also means the weekend box office. And it happens to be one of those weekends where the most interesting story is NOT the number one film.
London Film Festival: The 70th BFI London Film Festival closed on Sunday with the UK premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut (which I saw and which is FANTASTIC… 5 stars… review to follow). But this closing film was after announcing this year’s LFF award winners in the afternoon. Sergei Loznitsa’s Imperium, an archive-based documentary about the Soviet Union in the early 1970s, which premiered out of competition in Venice, won the Best Film Award in the Official Competition. The Sutherland Award for best first feature went to Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples to Heaven, in which a man takes his family on a pilgrimage to nine temples after a prophecy that his mother may die soon. Asmahan Bkerat’s Concrete Land, an intimate portrait of a mixed-race family fighting displacement in Jordan, won the Grierson Award for best documentary, with a special mention for Queer Edward II, and Rahul Roye’s Aman won the Short Film Award. (Of all of these films, I sadly saw none: there is just too much to choose from at the LFF!) Voting for the Audience Awards closes on Wednesday: my money will be going on the seven films I gave 5 stars to: they were Wicker, Josephine, Elsinore, Wild Horse Nine, La Bola Negra, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother and The Debut. (The last two I still have to write up.) If pushed for which film I would really like to take home the prize out of those, it would be Wild Horse Nine.
The weekend box office, worldwide: The new films led the way. Street Fighter opened at number one in North America with $31 million, plus $20.1 million from 65 international markets, a worldwide start of $51 million against a reported budget of $82 million, which is solid rather than spectacular. Whalefall had a miserable weekend, opening to $8 million in North America and $9.5 million internationally, a $17.5 million worldwide start against a $60 million budget. Sense and Sensibility opened to $7.2 million in North America and $11 million from international markets, while Other Mommy fell 70% in its second weekend, with $8.3 million, taking it to $44.8 million in North America and $78.7 million worldwide. Tamil blockbuster Jailer 2 made the North American top ten in ninth place with $3.2 million. The whole North American weekend came to an estimated $103.8 million, and the year-to-date total is $8.21 billion, up 20% on the same point in 2025. (These are still Sunday studio estimates, with the confirmed figures due later today.)
A documentary makes history: The real story of the weekend, though, is A24’s You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s almost three-hour documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, which came second with $15 million from just 855 cinemas, the biggest documentary opening in North America since Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004. Around 70% of the audience was under 35, and it expands nationwide in the coming weeks. It’s a good day for anybody who has ever been told that nobody goes to the cinema to watch a long documentary.
UK and Ireland: The official UK-Ireland chart for the weekend isn’t published yet, so I can’t tell you how Forgotten Island, Street Fighter and Whalefall fared. I’ll fold it in as soon as it lands.
Taika Waititi’s Star Wars film put on ice: As a side note, Taika Waititi has said that his long-linked Star Wars film, which was first announced six years ago, has been put on ice.
Deva, 1950–2026: The Tamil film composer and singer Deva, known as “Thenisai Thendral”, died of a sudden cardiac arrest on Saturday at a hospital in Chennai, aged 75. A pioneer of gaana music, which he took from the streets of North Chennai into the mainstream, he composed music for more than 400 films across Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema. He’s best remembered for his work with Rajinikanth, including Annaamalai, Baashha and Arunachalam, and his music was woven into the Tamil film industry for nearly four decades. He was laid to rest with full state honours on Sunday near Arcot, with tributes from Tamil Nadu’s chief minister, Vijay, and from Rajinikanth, who will be thinking of him as Jailer 2 goes from strength to strength. Rest in peace.
Birthdays: John Lithgow, star of Conclave, Cabrini and Cliffhanger, turns 81 today, and Jon Favreau, the director of Iron Man and recent Mandalorian film, reaches 60. Also celebrating is Trey Parker (57), co-creator of South Park and director of Team America: World Police.
Happy Anniversary!: On the personal note, today marks 47 years since I first met the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man at a drunken freshers ball at the University of Exeter. Behind every great man is a great woman, rolling her eyes, and she is she. Who else would put up with their spouse buggering off to the London Film Festival for 3 weeks each year? Happy Anniversary Sue and all my love. xx
That’s all for today.
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