FDA’s Summer of Cinema Film Quiz Report

Last Thursday saw the UK Film Distributor’s Association reveal the line-up for this summer’s film releases through the medium of a film quiz and what seemed suspiciously like a rather large piss-up. As everyone knows, the film industry historically does inversely well in times of recession; well, we must really be screwed financially if the statistics in the FDA’s press release are to be believed: the UK box office is at the time of writing 4% ahead of its takings from this time last year and has passed the £300m barrier faster than ever.

After finding myself the only representative from B3K at the event and being disinclined to go solo on the quiz, I was readying myself to make my apologies and do one, however, a kindly attendee sought out an equally accommodating team from the excellent Find Any Film website who were willing to take on a Billy-no-mates straggler. Inside scoop: they want to make an app and are looking at their options. We made a good team and made a decent attempt at the quiz (hosted by Russell Brand tribute act, Alex Zane); however we made a stronger show of polishing off canapés and endeavouring to empty seemingly bottomless wine glasses.

The FDA – whose member companies are responsible for the distribution of 97% of the UK’s cinema releases – are promoting their summer line-up with a teaser trailer featuring fifty-one of the new releases, a series of vod and podcasts and this rather nice website.

Highlights of the coming months include superhero shindigs The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man, sci-fi shenanigans from Prometheus and Total Recall and Jason Segel-‘em ups Jeff Who Lives at Home and The Five Year Engagement. Other notable releases include Pixar’s latest, Brave, which features the wonderful Kelly Macdonald, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom and Step Up 4: Miami Heat. Classic films such as Jaws, Beauty and the Beast and Chariots of Fireare all being rereleased.

So in short: FDA organise nice big party, cinema singlehandedly saving UK economy (maybe) and lots of exciting sounding films are being released. For me, it’s difficult to get beyond anything other than The Dark Knight Rises in terms of anticipation, but what are you looking forward to this summer? Voice your thoughts in the comments below.

You can check out pictures from the event on the official Facebook page.

The Dark Knight Rises Casting

If it has not already been drawn to your attention, it was announced today that Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy have been cast as Catwoman and Bane in Christopher Nolan’s third Bat-film,The Dark Knight Rises. Whilst it is a little early to gauge a prevailing popular opinion on this news, allow me to offer my two cents on the matter.

It seems clear to me that a great deal of the point of The Dark Knight was to set up The Joker as the proposed trilogy’s final villain – as the late, great Heath Ledger taunts Christian Bale’s Batman at that film’s conclusion, ‘I think you and I are destined to do this forever’. Unfortunately, sad real life events put a stop to any further outings for The Joker in Nolan’s saga. Also unfortunate (but to a far lesser degree), was the decision to kill off Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent, who would have served as an excellent third film villain in Ledger’s absence. These two deaths, both fictional and real, have forced Nolan to enlist new villains for the inevitable third film.

Of course, the watch-word for Nolan’s series thus far has been realism, or at least something approaching it, which rules out a great deal of Batman’s rogues gallery (Killer Croc, for example). There were also rumours regarding an admirable ambition on the scriptwriter’s behalf of a reluctance to utilise villains that had appeared in Batman films before (though that clearly hasn’t materialised). As such, Catwoman seems like a reasonable choice, though Bane perhaps less so.

Like Batman, Catwoman traditionally is a superpower-less character (barring a vague ‘nine-lives’ power in some iterations), who operates as a thief, so that fits into Nolan’s world relatively nicely. Hathaway seems like a reasonable choice for the role and the tone of the previous Nolan Batman films suggests that The Dark Knight Rises would bridge the gap between her more mature roles (in films such as Brokeback Mountain and Rachel Getting Married) and her more family-friendly fare (The Princess Diaries, Get Smart, Bride Wars). The woman has decent range and so long as her part is written well, she could well be exemplary in the role. It would be interesting (though perhaps ill-advised) if Nolan were to tackle the romantic angle between Batman and Catwoman, though probably unlikely given Bruce Wayne’s devastation at the death of Rachel Dawes in the previous film.

Bane, on the other hand is a more risky choice. Traditionally portrayed as a magic potion enhanced super soldier, he may have to be adapted to fit into Nolan’s world, perhaps as a steroid freak? His major contribution to Bat-lore would be breaking the Caped Crusader’s spine back in the early nineties. Whilst that was a thrilling arc in the comics, it is hard to imagine how it would be written into what is presumably the final instalment in Nolan’s saga, without leaving an awful lot of loose ends or making for an awfully rushed film. Hardy, however, is an extremely promising actor and his turn in Bronson as a semi-psychotic hard arse would suggest he could suit the role.

If the previous two films (and his other work) have taught us anything, it’s that Nolan has more than earned our trust with the Batman franchise, having not put a foot wrong thus far. Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow is still potentially in the mix, so we should not rule out an appearance from him. If there has been one positive from Ledger’s death, it would be the fact that his excellent performance in The Dark Knight has forced any other actors entering the franchise to really raise their game. If Hathaway and Hardy comply, then I’m sure they’ll shine in The Dark Knight Rises.