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Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, Peter Cattaneo’sThe Penguin Lessons and Dylan Southern’sThe Thing With Feathers are among the 14 titles to receive the latest round of UK Global Screen Fund award (Ukgsf) totalling £448,330 through its international distribution fund.

Administered by the British Film Institute (BFI), 111 awards totalling over £3.1m have now been given out by this strand, financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms).

Support for international distribution provides sales agents and producers with funding via two tracks – prints & advertising (P&a) and festival launch.

The Penguin Lessons,starring Steve Coogan, has received the...

RankFilm (origin)DistributorApr 25-27 grossTotalWeek 1 A Minecraft Movie (US) Warner Bros £2.5m £51.7m 4 2 Sinners (US) Warner Bros £2.4m £7.3m 2 3 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith (US) Disney £1.8m £1.8m 1 4 The Accountant 2 (US)

Warner Bros £906,660 £906,660 1 5 Until Dawn (US) Sony £566,028 £566,028 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.33

A Minecraft Movie held off the excellent second weekend of Sinners for another Warner Bros one-two at the UK-Ireland box office.

Minecraft added £2.5m on its fourth weekend – a 53% drop that brought it to £51.7m. Extending its lead as the highest-grossing release of 2025, it has now entered the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time in the UK & Ireland,...

Sinners held off the re-release of Revenge Of The Sith to stay atop North American box office as an estimated $45m haul in the second weekend boosted the running total to $122.5m and ensure a Warner Bros film ruled the charts for the fourth consecutive weekend.

A strong late-April session elevated box office and earned $146.5m, pushing the year to date to $2.28bn and approximately 11% ahead of 2024 by the same stage.

Playing in 3,347 locations,Ryan Coogler’s period vampire tale starring Michael B. Jordan dropped an impressive 6% from last weekend.That was the lowest second-weekend drop for an R-rated film...

UK-Ireland top five, Apr 18-20, 2025 RankFilm (origin)DistributorApr 18-20 grossTotalWeek 1 A Minecraft Movie (US) Warner Bros £5.3m £47.4m 3 2 Sinners (US)

Warner Bros £2.4m £3.3m 1 3 The Amateur (US)

Disney £903,139 £3.3m 2 4 The Penguin Lessons (UK-us-Sp) Lionsgate £772,196 £1.4m 1 5 Warfare (US-uk) A24 £637,810 Tbc 1

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners started with a healthy £2.4m at the UK-Ireland box office, as A Minecraft Movie held top spot for a Warner Bros one-two.

A Minecraft Movie added £5.3m on its third weekend from Friday 18-Sunday 20 – a drop of 27%. Including takings on the Monday, April 21 Bank Holiday, the videogame adaptation is up to £47.4m, and has overtaken the £46.3m...

Dream will continue his journey through the cosmos after almost three years. Based on Neil Gaiman’s DC comic series, the first season of The Sandman was much loved by the viewers for the way it balanced dark fantasy and supernatural horror. The show follows Morpheus (aka Dream), the anthropomorphic personification of dreams and stories, as he rebuilds his realm after a century of imprisonment, with the story exploring a ton of myths and family drama.

Now, the finale season is almost here. Showrunners Allan Heinberg, David S. Goyer, and Neil Gaiman will soon bring Dream’s story to an end, but not before one last ride. Here’s everything you need to know before The Sandman returns.

What is The Sandman Season 2 about? Tom Sturridge in The Sandman | Credit: Netflix

The second season of The Sandman picks up just a few weeks after the events of Season 1. Dream has...

La serie llegará a su fin este verano. © Netflix

Netflix ha compartido el primer teaser tráiler de la segunda y última temporada de Sandman, además de confirmar su fecha de estreno.

Basada en la galardonada serie de cómics de DC escrita por Neil Gaiman, Sandman es una combinación de mitos y fantasías oscuras. La primera temporada giraba en torno a Sandman (Tom Sturridge) –o Sueño– el poderoso ser cósmico que controla todos los sueños y que, tras ser capturado y encarcelado durante más de un siglo, debe embarcarse en un viaje a través de diferentes mundos y épocas para resolver el caos que provocó su ausencia. La descripción oficial de la segunda temporada de la serie señala que Sandman está llamado a «salvarse a sí mismo, a su reino y al mundo despierto» tras un «fatídico reencuentro con su familia».

Entre las nuevas caras que se unen al reparto se...

Tom Sturridge As Morpheus (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Sandman is back with its second and final season, making it a bittersweet moment for fans of the fantasy series. While they are happy to get more of their favorite universe and characters, they are aware there won’t be any more. The Tom Sturridge starrer has made a place in the hearts of viewers.

The show is based on the comic book of the same name by Neil Gaiman. Tom’s portrayal of Morpheus in the drama has managed to impress not just comic fans but also audiences who found the show intriguing and worthy of watching. Here’s what we know about season 2 including its date and cast.

Sandman Season 2: Release Date & What To Expect

Season 2 of Sandman will be released on Netflix in two parts. Volume one, consisting of six episodes, will be out on July 3, 2025. The second volume,...

One of this week’s new releases stars Steve Coogan and a penguin, so here’s a film quiz about other actors and their animal co-stars.

They say you should never work with children or animals, but that’s not stopped movie stars teaming up with animal co-stars. There are usually mixed results – even the can’t-lose buddy pairing of “Tom Hanks and a French mastiff” definitely didn’t end happily for both of them (spoilery details here). Now in UK cinemas, Peter Cattaneo’s new movie The Penguin Lessons teams up Partridge and penguin, so we’ve got some quiz questions about other live-action animal star vehicles as part of your usual movie-related trivia safari.

Once you’ve completed this week’s film quiz, you’ll find a link to a separate post with the correct answers at the bottom of this post. As always, this is just for fun,...

One of the finest additions to the world of fantasy dramas, The Sandman lore has been amusing fans for ages — first through its comic book series, which was released in 1989, and then its live-action adaptation in the form of a television series, which first debuted on the screens in 2022. But it is not done leaving fans at the edge of their seats just yet.

That said, fans of the live-action saga might as well rejoice once again, for the masterpiece series will soon be returning with its second season to the television screens. And, this time around, it is expected to bring about even more entertainment than before as it seems to be here to school every fantasy drama a thing or two on sibling rivalry.

The Sandman S2 finally gets an update, and boy, have they upped the sibling rivalry game! The Sandman. | Credits: Netflix.

A little over two...

Get ready for the return of The Sandman!

On Thursday (April 17), Netflix debuted the teaser trailer for the second and final season of the Tom Sturridge-led series, which has been split into two separate volumes.

Here’s the synopsis: “After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless (Sturridge) must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom, and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past misdeeds. To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes, gods, monsters, and mortals. But the path to forgiveness is full of unexpected twists and turns, and true absolution may cost Dream everything. Based on the beloved award-winning DC comic series, the second season of The Sandman will tell Dream’s story arc in full to its thrilling conclusion.”

Keep reading to find out more…Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park, Donna Preston,...

Back in February, Netflix announced that the upcoming second season of The Sandman would be its last. The news came shortly after the publication of a New York Magazine piece outlining - in disturbing detail - allegations of sexual assault made against creator and series EP Neil Gaiman.

Now, the streamer has released the first trailer for the final season of The Sandman, which will be split into two parts. The 6-episode Volume 1 premieres on July 3, and the 5-episode Volume 2 arrives on July 24.

An updated synopsis reads: “After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge) must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom, and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past misdeeds. To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes, gods, monsters, and mortals. But the path to forgiveness is full of unexpected twists and turns,...

It's not the Stranger Things season 5 release date or even the Wednesday season 2 release date, but those highly anticipated announcements will surely come from Netflix in due time. But on April 17, fans of the streamer's DC Comics fantasy series finally received the news they have been waiting for about the second and final season of The Sandman.

Drumroll please... The Sandman season 2 release date has been set for July 2025, but there's a catch! Netflix will be releasing the final season in two parts. The first volume of season 2 arrives on July 3, just before the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and the second volume drops on July 24. In total, season 2 contains 11 episodes, with volume 1 consisting of six episodes and volume 2 sending the show off with the last five episodes. Episode runtimes haven't been revealed just yet.

In addition to revealing the release dates for the two-part final season, Netflix also unveiled...

Despite the unfortunate recent news of its cancellation, Netflix‘s epic fantasy series The Sandman returns for its second season in two Volumes this July: Volume 1 premieres July 3, 2025 (6 episodes) and Volume 2 premieres July 24, 2025 (5 episodes). The new season features a cast that includes Tom Sturridge, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park, Donna Preston, Esmé Creed-Miles, Adrian Lester, Barry Sloane, Patton Oswalt, Vivienne Acheampong, Gwendoline Christie, Jenna Coleman, Ferdinand Kingsley, Stephen Fry, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Razane Jammal, Ruairi O’ Connor, Freddie Fox, Clive Russell, Laurence O’Fuarain, Ann Skelly, Douglas Booth, Jack Gleeson, Indya Moore, and Steve Coogan.

The official synopsis reads,

“After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge) must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom, and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past misdeeds. To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes, gods,...

The Sandman finally has a return date set on Netflix. The second season of the show, which also serves as the final season, has gotten some first look images and a new trailer along with its release dates for both volumes.

The Sandman Season 2: Volume 1 is set to premiere on Netflix on July 3, 2025. This will be followed by Volume 2 premiering on July 24, 2025. As previously announced, these episodes will conclude the story. To get an early look at the final episodes of The Sandman, check out the preview video below, along with the official first look photos.

The official description for the new season reads, "After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge) must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom, and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past misdeeds. To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes,...

Netflix will release the second and final season of “The Sandman” in two volumes: the first six episodes will premiere on July 3, followed by the final five episodes on July 24.

The dark fantasy series was cancelled in the wake of the disturbing allegations against Neil Gaiman — who developed and executive produced the show in addition to writing the comic on which it’s based — but the new season promises to bring Dream’s story arc to its thrilling conclusion.

After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom, and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past misdeeds.

To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes, gods, monsters, and mortals. But the path to forgiveness is full of unexpected twists and turns, and true absolution may cost Dream everything.

Warner Bros’ Sinners and A24’s Warfarego head-to-head in UK and Ireland cinemas as the new releases make use of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

Ryan Coogler’s supernatural drama Sinnersis launching in 614 locations for Warner Bros.

It is the director’s second-widest release behind 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which opened in 700 sites, and ahead of 2018’s Black Panther on 588 sites. Those two titles debuted with £12.4m and £10.5m, respectively. Coogler is also behind the Creed franchise, having directed the 2016 original (£2.2m opening) and produced its 2018 sequel (£3m opening) as well as 2023’sCreed III (£5m opening).

Sinners does not...

Netflix’s epic fantasy series The Sandman will return for its second and final season in two Volumes this July. Consisting of six episodes, Volume 1 will premiere on July 3, and the five-episode Volume 2 will premiere on July 24.

After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge) must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom, and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past misdeeds.

To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes, gods, monsters, and mortals. But the path to forgiveness is full of unexpected twists and turns, and true absolution may cost Dream everything.

Based on the beloved, award-winning DC comic series, the second season of The Sandman will tell Dream’s story arc in full to its thrilling conclusion.

Showrunner, executive producer, and writer Allan Heinberg told the Netflix blog Tudum what fans...

“The Sandman” will come to its “thrilling conclusion” this summer on Netflix with a two-part drop for its second and final season, the streamer revealed Thursday.

Netflix has decided to split Season 2 into two volumes, the first consisting of six episodes launching on July 3, and the second being five episodes releasing on July 24.

Along with the premiere date announcement, Netflix unveiled the first teaser trailer for “The Sandman” final season, which teases a big reunion for Dream (Tom Sturridge) and his family of Endless siblings. The teaser can be seen below.

As Variety previously reported, Netflix and “The Sandman” showrunner Allan Heinberg had plotted the second season to be the final since before it was filmed in the summer of 2023. However, the streamer did not confirm the end of the show until January of this year, which coincided with the timing of sexual misconduct accusations leveled against “The Sandman” graphic...

The Sandman is returning this summer for its second and final season.

Netflix announced it will drop six episodes of the series based on the DC Comic by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, and Mike Dringenberg on July 3. The remaining five episodes to stream July 24.

Here’s the logline for season 2: “After a fateful reunion with his family, Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge) must face one impossible decision after another as he attempts to save himself, his kingdom, and the waking world from the epic fallout of his past misdeeds. To make amends, Dream must confront longtime friends and foes, gods, monsters, and mortals. But the path to forgiveness is full of unexpected twists and turns, and true absolution may cost Dream everything.”

In January, the streamer revealed there would be no third season for the high-concept series. The announcement came amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Gaiman,...

Netflix’s adaptation of the acclaimed comic book series “The Sandman” is coming to an end with the upcoming second season — and now we know precisely when the end is coming.

The concluding installment of the epic fantasy drama will premiere in two parts this July. The first batch of six episodes, designated “Volume 1,” will premiere July 3. The five-episode “Volume 2” premieres later that month on July 24.

Along with the season premiere dates, Netflix also released a chilling new teaser, which you can watch below:

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Based on the acclaimed 1989-1996 comic book series by Neil Gaiman (who served as an executive producer on the series but has since been sidelined by accusations of sexual misconduct), “The Sandman” tells the story of The Endless, anthropomorphic embodiments of certain basic aspects of existence.

For instance, Dream lives in the world living...

The Penguin Lessons came to us in the form of a memoir by Tom Michell in 2016, and it has finally been made into a movie. Adapted by BAFTA-winning writer Jeff Pope, the story follows a British teacher who takes a job in Argentina in 1976. With the country’s political turmoil as the backdrop, the movie tells a human tale that reminds us that even in times of chaos and uncertainty, the bonds we form become the reason to stay alive.

Oscar-nominated director Peter Cattaneo helmed the dramedy and promises to bring his signature blend of heartfelt storytelling and nuanced character portrayal. Cattaneo is known for creating the comedy film The Full Monty, for which he won multiple accolades. Military Wives is another one of his projects that gained recognition.

Steve Coogan, the acclaimed actor, takes on the leading role along with an extensive list of the ensemble cast. This project...

The Penguin Lessons balances the tricky tonality of a film film rich in comedy and drama, which exists on the shoulders of its leading man, Steve Coogan. To mark the film’s Good Friday release, we had the pleasure of speaking to the man himself, paired with screen legend Jonathan Pryce.

We discuss penguins, naturally, and what it was like to shoot with a real-life animal on set, and what that did to the overall atmosphere of the production. They also speak about the importance of the story being told, and we also ask them about their own experiences with pets. Though more of the cat and dog variety, rather than flightless birds.

Watch the full interview with Steve Coogan & Jonathan Pryce here:

Synopsis

An Englishman experiences personal and political changes after adopting a penguin during a turbulent time in Argentina’s history.

The Penguin Lessons is out on April...

Coogan does his best, but there’s a tonal mismatch here: the animal-teaches-lonely-human narrative jars with a depiction of lives in totalitarian Argentina

Here is a well-meaning, awkward tonal jumble of a movie, based on the bestselling memoir by former teacher Tom Michell; it is a quirky true-story heart warmer, in which an adorable penguin is apparently supposed to redeem not merely the human hero’s personal heartbreak but maybe even the agony of Argentina during the 70s junta. It stars Steve Coogan, who has often in the past shown brilliant technique as a straight actor, and in Philomena with Judi Dench proved he is perfectly capable of carrying an un-ironised emotional story. But his performance here is bafflingly underpowered and opaque, as if he is slightly perplexed by the script he’s been given.

Coogan plays Tom, who takes a job in Peronist Argentina in 1976, teaching English at a...

From the jaunty opening music and wry delivery of Steve Coogan’s introductory few lines, you'd be forgiven for experiencing a sinking sensation that we're back in whimsical British feel-good film territory: this time, with a cute, waddling bird. Happily, Peter Cattaneo’s new film offers a little more drama and nuance than you might fear, managing real emotion as well as a few laughs from deeply unusual subject matter.

Drawn from a 2015 memoir by Tom Michell, who Steve Coogan plays, this follows a misanthropic teacher who's cruising sourly through life, barely engaging, in an Argentinian boys’ school. Through an odd series of events, he ends up reluctantly adopting a penguin christened Juan Salvador — but he's also on the fringes of Argentina's 1976 military coup, and witnesses a left-leaning acquaintance being ‘disappeared’ by the military police. So it's Dead Poets Society meets I'm Still Here meets… Happy Feet?

Works surprisingly well to soften tough subject matter.

Warner Bros. and Legendary’s “A Minecraft Movie” held onto the top spot at the U.K. and Ireland box office for a second straight weekend, building on its record-breaking debut with another £7.2 million ($9.3 million), according to Comscore.

The film has now amassed $40.1 million, cementing its place as the year’s box office behemoth so far.

Disney’s espionage thriller “The Amateur” was the strongest new opener of the weekend, landing at No. 2 with $1.4 million. Universal’s “Six the Musical” continued its chart-topping stage-to-screen success, earning $1.1 million in its second weekend and has a running total of $5 million.

One of the weekend’s standout performances came from “Andre Rieu’s 75th Birthday Celebration: The Dream Continues,” from Piece Of Magic Entertainment. The two-day-only concert film waltzed into fourth place with $771,116, a robust showing for an event cinema release celebrating the beloved Dutch violinist and conductor’s milestone year.

Disney’s...

Update: Warner Bros./Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie has extended its rule over North American box office in the second weekend thanks to a confirmed $78.5m that boosted the running total to $278.9m.

The mighty second weekend produced the highest sophomore session by a video game adaptation behind onlyThe Super Mario Bros. Movieon $92.3m almost exactly two years ago. It alsohelped swing box office into a slender 0.58% year-to-date lead over 2024 after it had fallen approximately 13% behind by the start of April.

The family smash plays in 4,289 locations and dropped a decent 50%.Screenwill report in more detail on the $553m global box office on Monday.

Warner Bros./Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie has extended its rule over North American box office in the second weekend thanks to an estimated $80.6m that boosted the running total to $281m.

The mighty second weekend produced the highest sophomore session by a video game adaptation behind onlyThe Super Mario Bros. Movieon $92.3m almost exactly two years ago. It alsohelped swing box office into a slender 0.58% year-to-date lead over 2024 after it had fallen approximately 13% behind by the start of April.

The family smash plays in 4,289 locations and dropped a decent 50%.Screenwill report in more detail on the $550m global box office on Monday.

The What We Do in the Shadows vampires are taking one final bite at the Emmys.

Gold Derby has confirmed that FX is submitting nine members of the bloodthirsty mockumentary ensemble for Emmy consideration in the comedy acting categories.

Undead roommates Kayvan Novak (Nandor), Matt Berry (Laszlo), and Natasia Demetriou (Nadja) are being entered as leads, while Mark Proksch (Colin Robinson), Harvey Guillén (Guillermo), and Kristen Schaal (The Guide) will contend for supporting. Steve Coogan, Doug Jones, and Alyssa Limperis will be submitted for their guest roles.

What We Do in the Shadows was created by Jemaine Clement and executive-produced by Clement, Paul Simms, Sam Johnson, Sarah Naftalis, Yana Gorskaya, Kyle Newacheck, Taika Waititi, Garrett Basch, and Eli Bush. A spin-off of the eponymous 2014 film written and directed by Clement and Waititi, the series followed a den of vampires ensconced on Staten Island and struggling with both the quotidian and the supernatural.

One of the stars from Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1 has confirmed their status in in Season 2. The first season of Percy Jackson took the world by storm and was hailed by critics and audiences alike as one of the most faithful book adaptations ever. The show earned strong scores of 91% from critics and 79% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, but it wasn’t until shortly after the Season 1 finale that it was renewed for Seasons 2 and 3. Jay Duplass, who plays Hades in Percy Jackson Season 1, Episode 7 “We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of,” recently caught up with People Magazine to talk about his new show Dying For Sex, and he confirmed he will not be in Season 2, but he didn’t rule out a return in the future:

"I am not in Season 2. But, there have been some potential droppings about Season 3."

Steve Coogan portrays Hades in the controversial...

The comedy, about a curmudgeon played by Steve Coogan and his waddling new friend, joins a subgenre of movies from King Kong to John Wick – in which men are emotionally and socially rescued by animals

The penguin at the centre of The Penguin Lessons, a new movie by Peter Cattaneo, is nothing if not hard-working. The film, adapted from the 2015 memoir by Tom Michell, uses the political turmoil of Argentina in 1976 as a backdrop for the personal transformation of an English teacher at a boys’ school. Michell (Steve Coogan) is an idle curmudgeon when he rescues an oil-drenched Magellan penguin from a beach in Uruguay in an attempt to impress an attractive woman. She leaves, but he is stuck with the bird, whom he duly names Juan Salvador, and who thaws him out sufficiently to bond with students and colleagues, process past trauma and rekindle a political idealism.

Naturally, there...

UK-Ireland top five, Apr 4-6, 2025 RankFilm (origin)DistributorApr 4-6 grossTotalWeek 1 A Minecraft Movie (US) Warner Bros £15m £15m 1 2 Six The Musical (US) Universal £2.1m £2.1m 1 3 Snow White (US)

Disney £667,761 £8m 3 4 Death Of A Unicorn (US)

Efd £458,031 £485,853 1 5 A Working Man (US-uk)

Warner Bros £330,209 £1.4m 2

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.28

Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie has breathed new life into the UK-Ireland box office with an outstanding £15m opening weekend – the biggest ever for a videogame adaptation.

Playing in 675 cinemas, the film took an astonishing £22,169-per-cinema average. Both of those figures are the biggest in the territory since Barbie, which opened to...

Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is rightfully regarded as one of the great dark comedies, and one of the first really modern black comedy films. It was pretty shocking 60 years ago, with its dark critique of the military and the President, not to mention its hilarious titular Nazi scientist and the apocalyptic finale. It's morbidly funny to watch as Dr. Strangelove (one of three characters played by the great Peter Sellers) frequently tries to stop his arm from Sieg Heling to "Mein Führer!" It's even more morbid in 2025, though, when the richest man on Earth attends the Presidential Inauguration (after contributing nearly $300 million to its victor) and defiantly gives the Nazi salute on stage — twice. Dr. Strangelove may be more topical than ever, so it's good that there is a new adaptation of the classic Stanley Kubrick film.

Taking on the roles...

In a conversation with uInterview, Steve Coogan shared details from his new movie The Penguin Lessons, which follows a teacher (Coogan) who takes a job in Argentina in 1976 during a time of political upheaval. When he adopts a penguin he finds orphaned on the beach, the events that ensue cause him to have a personal and political awakening. Speculating on what his character learns from the penguin, Coogan told uInterview founder Erik Meers, “Sometimes it’s projection, but there’s something quite zen about penguins. Penguins tend not to suffer from lots of neurological conditions because they’re too busy being penguins – and there might be a lesson there for humanity, and certainly for Tom Michelle, the character I play, so it becomes sort of the catalyst.” The Penguin Lessons is now in theaters.

The post Exclusive Video: Steve Coogan On Challenges Of Working With Live Penguins In ‘The Penguin Lessons’ appeared first on uInterview.

Who knew that combining a sweet story about an adorable penguin and one about the atrocities of a political uprising in 1976 Argentina could have such charm? “The Penguin Lessons” does just that, thanks to the balancing act of director Peter Cattaneo — and the Magellanic penguins playing Juan Salvador (the bird is named after Jonathan Livingston Seagull).

After Cattaneo was given the script by one of the producers, he went back to its source material, a memoir of the same name by Tom Michell, which was a tale of the unexpected bond between man and penguin in the setting of a British private school in Buenos Aires. “I thought, ‘Wow, you would never come up with this out of thin air if you were told to come up with some ideas for movies,” Cattaneo tells Variety. “I was really intrigued by the tonal challenge of balancing the penguin story, the school story,...

Update March 31, 2025: Like a true huntsman, Jason Statham took down Snow White over the March 28-30 weekend box office. The international superstar's latest action flick, A Working Man, exceeded expectations and debuted in first place with $15.2 million. Meanwhile, Snow White was put to sleep faster than expected — tumbling into second place with just $14.2 million in its second week at theaters (a staggering 66.2 percent drop from it's opener). Fatham's The Chosen: Last Supper upset major studio films to take third place with $11.5 million. Universal's The Woman in the Yard took in $9.5 million for fourth place, followed by Death of a Unicorn, A24's bomb starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, which earned just $5.8 million.

Original story published March 28, 2025:The first quarter of the 2025 box-office season wraps up this weekend — and the results are grim. Hollywood continues to fail to deliver compelling content; reviews for all four new releases this...

UK-Ireland top five Mar 28-30, 2025 RankFilm (origin)DistributorMar 28-30 grossTotalWeek 1 Snow White (US) Disney £2m £6.8m 2 2 L2: Empuraan(India)

Rft Films/2G Entertainments £764,499 £1.4m 1 3 A Working Man(US-uk) Warner Bros £658,134 £1.2m 1 4 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (UK-Fr-us)

Universal £562,233 £544,000 7 5 Novocaine (US)

Paramount £441,777 £3.1m 1

Disney’s Snow White live-action remake topped the UK-Ireland box office for a second weekend, with A Working Man starring Jason Statham as the top new title.

Directed by Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler, Snow White added just over £2m on its second session – a 48% drop that brought it to £6.8m. It is down on...

UK-Ireland top five Mar 28-30, 2025 RankFilm (origin)DistributorMar 28-30 grossTotalWeek 1 Snow White (US) Disney £2m £6.8m 2 2 A Working Man (US-uk)

Warner Bros £658,134 £658,134 1 3 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (UK-Fr-us)

Universal £561,120 £45.5m 7 4 Novocaine (US)

Paramount £442,000 £544,000 1 5 Black Bag (US)

Universal £421,458 £3.1m 3

Disney’s Snow White live-action remake topped the UK-Ireland box office for a second weekend, with A Working Man starring Jason Statham as the top new title.

Directed by Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler, Snow White added just over £2m on its second session – a 48% drop that brought it to £6.8m. It is down on the £16.2m of 2023’s The Little Mermaid,...

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This April, Tubi is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the thrilling crime action film Play Dirty to the beloved animated series The Looney Tunes Show. However, for this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Tubi in the next month and have an 80% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the thirteen best movies coming to Tubi in April 2025 with an 80% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2 (April 1) Rotten Tomatoes Scores: 85% & 84% Credit – Miramax Films

Kill Bill is a two-part martial arts action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The 2003 and 2004 films follow an assassin known as the Bride who wakes up from a coma and swears revenge against the people who tried to kill her and her unborn child. Kill Bill stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox,...

Steve Coogan as Tom Michell and Baba/Richard as Juan Salvador in The Penguin Lessons Photo: Andrea Resmini. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Director Peter Catteneo and screenwriter Jeff Pope's adaptation of Tom Michell's memoir, The Penguin Lessons, stars Steve Coogan as the disillusioned and cynical Englishman, who takes up the position of English teacher at the prestigious St. George's private school in Argentina in 1976.

When a military coup forces the school to temporarily close, Michell travels to neighbouring Uruguay, where he rescues a penguin who he first names Peter, before settling on Juan Salvador. In spite of his initial reluctance to embrace Juan Salvador's affections, this unexpected friend helps him to inspire his students.

When the political tensions penetrate the school's walls, Michell must confront the horrors of authoritarian rule.

Tom urges Juan Salvador to return to the sea. Photo: Andrea Resmini. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics...

Disney’s “Snow White” is sinking fast at the box office, so much so that Amazon MGM’s “A Working Man” has taken No. 1 from it this weekend with a $15.2 million opening from 3,262 theaters compared to a $14.2 million second weekend for the Rachel Zegler-starring remake.

Heading into the weekend, “Snow White” was projected for a second weekend of $16-18 million, with some optimistic projections topping out at $20 million. “A Working Man” was projected for $10-12 million.

Instead, “A Working Man” has nearly matched the $16 million opening of star Jason Statham’s last film, “The Beekeeper” in January 2024. As expected, the film skewed 60% male and, while getting mixed critical reviews, has earned mostly positive reception from audiences with a B on CinemaScore and an 84% overall positive rating on PostTrak.

The film will now try to match the $66.2 million domestic/$162.6 million global total of “The Beekeeper” against its reported $40 million budget produced by Black Bear.

In a surprise win, Jason Statham’s action thriller “A Working Man” topped the box office with $15.2 million in its opening weekend. The film, from “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer and Amazon MGM, knocked down the previous champion, Disney’s “Snow White,” which plummeted by more than 66% in its second outing.

After a sleepy $45 million start, Disney’s live-action remake of the classic fairy tale has dropped to the No. 2 spot with $14.2 million from 4,200 theaters. “Snow White,” starring Rachel Zegler as the eponymous princess and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, has generated $66.8 million domestically and $143.1 million worldwide to date. The tentpole cost above $250 million before factoring in marketing expenses, so “Snow White” needs to show some endurance at the box office to justify its hefty price tag. It’ll face competition for family audiences as the Warner Bros. video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie” opens next weekend.

“A Working Man...

"You don't often see penguins in films about human rights abuses," Steve Coogan told Variety, and he's right. The Penguin Lessons operates like it's juggling on a tightrope walk; that's how much of a balancing act the film is. Based on the story of Tom Michel, a teacher at a boarding school over in Argentina during Isabel Perón's right-wing government ahead of the military junta and the Dirty War. The discovery of a tarred penguin leads to changes in his and his school's perspectives. The film exists somewhere between Happy Feet and Life Is Beautiful, and is grounded by Coogan's wonderful performance. Coogan and director Peter Cattaneo spoke with MovieWeb about the penguins and balancing the film's unique tone.

"It was there in the background in the book, but we brought it to the fore. I felt like you had to make it part of the story," said Coogan of...

Penguins are some of the cutest animals in the world, second only to — and I admit that I may be slightly biased — my two cats. Yes, whether penguins are marching, surfing, dancing or trying to blow up Gotham City with rockets strapped to their backs, every movie is better with at least one cute little waterfowl in it. Even a drama about an English teacher fighting fascism in Argentina in the 1970s while learning to love again.

“The Penguin Lessons” stars Steve Coogan as Thomas Michell. He’s a grumpy gus who’s given up on life. He moves into St. George’s, a boarding school for rich children in Argentina in 1976, expecting to coast by with zero effort. He doesn’t even care about the country’s violent political upheaval. When a coup d’état is declared, he’s just happy to get a week off.

Thomas tries to...

This is a nifty indie weekend with a busier and higher profile limited release schedule than we’ve seen in some time. The Ballad of Wallis Island, The Friend, Grand Tour, Viet And Nam, Holy Cow and documentaries The Encampments, which is super timely, and Secret Mall Apartment are peppering theaters in major markets.

Many have festival imprimaturs from Cannes on down and great Rotten Tomatoes critics scores. In moderate release, Sony Pictures Classics is out with Steve Coogan in The Penguin Lessons.

Limited openings: Watermelon Pictures debuts Macklemore-produced The Encampments at the Angelika, which has been adding shows, and the doc looks like it’s heading to a super opening of $70+k at one location. The distributor moved up the release date given the timeliness of the film, which follows students at Columbia University who launched a movement protesting the war in Gaza. It features detained student activist...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson for Wbgr-fm on March 27h, 2025, reviewing the new film “The Penguin Lessons,” featuring comic actor Steve Coogan in a care-giving role. In theaters beginning March 28th.

Coogan is Tom, an expatriate Brit who is teaching English classes at a boarding school in 1976 Bueno Aires, Argentina, a country in the midst of a military coup. In a series of high concept events, Tom finds himself caring for an errant penguin that had been caught in an oil spill. In his effort to both get rid of the bird and nurture it, he starts to learn the title lessons that lift him out of entrapped doldrums and allows him to participate in his world again.

”The Penguin Lessons” is in theaters on March 28th. Featuring Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Vivian El Jaber, Björn Gustafson and Alfonsina Carrocio. Screenplay adapted by Jeff Pope,...

Baba/Richard the penguins as Juan Salvador, and Steve Coogan as Tom Michel in ‘The Penguin Lessons’

Image: Lucia Faraig Ferrando. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Steve Coogan is terrific in true story-based comedy The Penguin Lessons which combines a quirky story about an ex-pat English teacher who accidentally acquires a penguin while teaching in 1970s Argentina, just as a dictatorship takes hold. Directed by the Full Monty’s Peter Cattaneo, The Penguin Lessons has some of that same mix of humor and humanity, in a off-beat tale that starts out comedic but ends up being moving, and saying something significant about people in a changing society.

Are penguins and authoritarianism having a moment? Could be. There was My Penguin Friend, another true story set in South America, about a grieving man whose life is changed when he is befriended by a lost penguin. And there was the Oscar-winning I’M Still Here,...

Jason Statham and Jack Quaid go head-to-head in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as action titles A Working Man and Novocaine lead the new releases.

Paramount’s Novocaine is in 549 cinemas. Quaid stars as an introverted bank employee who cannot feel physical pain and seeks revenge when his co-worker, and new love interest, is taken hostage.

Quaid also starred in this year’s Companion which opened with £670,512 for Warner Bros and a £1.8m cume. Novocaine has already opened Stateside and has grossed $22m worldwide so far.Dan Berk and Robert Olsen directs the feature from a script by Lars Jacobsen.

Actor Steve Coogan ('The Trip') and director Peter Cattaneo ('The Full Monty') join Matt Mahler to discuss their new film, 'The Penguin Lessons.' They touch on the book by Tom Michel, bonding with the two penguins on set, balancing tragedy and comedy, and bringing 'Dr. Strangelove' into the modern world with Coogan's latest stage play. 'The Penguin Lessons' hits theaters on May 28, 2025, from Sony Pictures Classics.

'The Penguin Lessons' is inspired by the true story of a disillusioned Englishman who went to work in a school in Argentina in 1976. Expecting an easy ride, Tom discovers a divided nation and a class of unteachable students. However, after he rescues a penguin from an oil-slicked beach, his life is turned upside-down.

After a lackluster $42 million opening weekend and soft mid-week returns, the outlook is bleak for Disney’s “Snow White.” But despite that, it is expected to hold on to No. 1 even as five wide releases, including Amazon MGM’s “A Working Man” and A24’s “Death of a Unicorn,” are set to hit theaters.

Between Monday and Wednesday, the latest Disney remake grossed $8.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $50.8 million after six days. By comparison, the 2019 remake of “Dumbo,” opened to $45.9 million and grossed $9.8 million in its first Mon.-Wed. period before earning a second weekend total of $18.2 million, a 60% drop from its opening weekend.

“Snow White” should have a similar second weekend total, perhaps doing a little better and cracking $20 million. The one bit of good news for the film is that reception has been strong among family and female audiences, the core audience Disney needs to leg out through spring break.

Why don’t people keep pet penguins? They’re lovely looking birds, personable and affectionate once one gets to know them, and capable of adapting to a wide range of environments. The answer, you will learn here, is that they smell really bad. But that’s just one of the lessons in a film whose story becomes more pertinent by the day. As the US follows certain of its southern neighbours into becoming the kind of place where students are snatched from the streets in broad daylight for expressing non-approved thoughts, the complexities of avian companionship might not seem all that important, but the biggest lesson here is that simple friendship is the starting point for positive change.

Tom Michell, whose real life story the film is based on, and who is played here by Steve Coogan, enters the narrative as a quiet, withdrawn man with little in his life outside of work.