News
Sir Patrick Stewart dies aged 86: Remembering the Star Trek and X-Men legend
Sir Patrick Stewart, the British actor whose commanding voice and remarkable screen presence made him one of the most recognisable performers of his generation, has died aged 86. Stewart died at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, 28 October 2026. His family announced his death the following day, confirming that he had been living with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, according to ITV News, which reported the family’s statement. His wife, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, had been caring for him. In their statement, the family described his final days as a time surrounded by loved ones, music and reflection. The news brings to an end a career that stretched from the theatres of Britain to two of the most successful franchises in entertainment history. For millions of vie...
British cinemas are bouncing back – but the recovery is far from complete
British cinemas are enjoying their strongest year since the pandemic, with audiences returning in greater numbers and box-office takings climbing. But beneath the encouraging headlines lies a less comfortable reality: cinema attendance remains well below the levels the industry enjoyed before 2020. Figures published by the British Film Institute show that UK cinemas recorded 67 million admissions during the first six months of 2026, an increase of 9% compared with the same period last year. Box-office revenue reached £552 million, up 11%, according to the BFI Research and Statistics Unit. The recovery continued through the summer. August attracted just over 17 million admissions, while September added a further 9.9 million. For cinema operators, the improvement is welcome. Yet the longer-t...
Can artificial intelligence understand love? What Klara and the Sun tells us about being human
We are becoming increasingly comfortable talking to machines. We ask them questions, follow their directions, trust them with practical tasks and sometimes respond as though there is a person on the other side of the conversation. Most of us understand the difference. A machine may respond convincingly, but that does not mean it understands us. Yet as artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated, the distinction is beginning to feel less straightforward. If a machine listens patiently, remembers what matters to us and behaves with apparent affection, does it matter that its understanding may be an illusion? That question sits at the centre of Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel and now a film directed by Taika Waititi, starring Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams and Mia Tharia....
Why old films are returning to cinemas – and why the big screen still matters
There was a time when an old film returning to the cinema felt like an occasional treat. A restored print might appear at a film festival, an independent cinema would devote a weekend to a particular director, or a major anniversary would bring a familiar title back to the big screen. That has changed. Classic films are now a regular part of the cinema calendar, with new restorations, anniversary releases and carefully programmed seasons competing for audiences alongside the latest Hollywood productions. And there is a good reason for it. However convenient streaming has become, watching a film at home is not quite the same experience as seeing it in a cinema. The difference becomes especially clear with films that were made to be seen on a large screen, in a darkened auditorium, without t...
Why Netflix’s East of Eden is bringing John Steinbeck back to readers
More than 70 years after John Steinbeck published East of Eden, its central question remains as uncomfortable as ever. Are we destined to repeat the mistakes of our parents, or do we have the freedom to become someone different? It is a question running through generations of the Trask family, whose troubled relationships provide the foundation for one of the great American novels of the twentieth century. Steinbeck gave that question a name: timshel, his interpretation of a Hebrew word from the Bible, which he rendered as “thou mayest”. It is the idea that human beings have a choice. Our upbringing, our circumstances and our family history may influence us, but they need not determine who we become. Now a seven-part Netflix adaptation, written by Zoe Kazan and starring Florenc...
The Firm – short film – official teaser trailer
After a busy time on this project we are now proud to present The Firm – short film – official teaser trailer! Since my last article on Film Burner we managed to hit our goal of £700 for the overall budget of the film. £500 of this came from the crowdfunding campaign we set up and pushed throughout pre-production, and the remaining £200 came from a private investment source. This provided us with sufficient funds to confidently go into production with a vision of a fully completed film at the end of it with no need for extra money in post-production. The resources available to us through various members of our crew reduced the need for extra funds going forward on top of the ones we had already raised. The crowdfunding campaign was a huge success, especially with the original target ...
The Firm – crowdfunding, crew, and pre-production
“I try to push ideas away, and the ones that will not leave me alone are the ones that ultimately end up happening”. This fantastic quote from JJ. Abrams helps to describe what my next short film ‘The Firm’ is all about – an idea that didn’t go away. I’m Maxwell Morrison, and I am the director, producer and writer on the upcoming British short film ‘The Firm’. I’m 19 years old and based in North Yorkshire. Making films is my passion, specifically writing and directing, but I’m passionate about the whole process. I’m currently looking to make several shorts over the next year and a half, with the goal of producing my debut feature film towards the end of 2019. This article is the first in a series of articles featuring exclusively right here on filmburners.com regarding the entire process f...
Review: Breathe
Beware the movie that comes bearing the message ‘what follows is based on a true story’. The truth usually ends up playing second fiddle to the story telling and Breathe, the directorial debut from the former Gollum-inhabiting Andy Serkis, is a prime example of this. Robin (Andrew Garfield) is a dashing young Sandhurst graduate, who leaves the Army and moves in to the tea-broker business, in the latter-half of the 1950s. Playing cricket one day, he claps eyes on the stunning, yet reputedly unattainable, Diana Blacker (Claire Foy). Immediately smitten, he smashes the ball for six, she’s duly impressed and, voila, we have a pair of star-crossed lovers. They marry, take-off to Africa, safari a bit, and pretty quickly Diana gets pregnant. Then, when things really couldn’t get any better, life ...
Breathe official trailer
Official trailer for Breathe, starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, which tells the true story of Robin Cavendish, who becomes paralysed from the neck down by polio at age 28. It is released in UK cinemas on October 27, 2017. Andy Serkis’s directorial debut, is this just another Hollywood heart warmer with an actor having his pitch at an Oscar by playing a disabled character in a real-life story. Find out in our review coming soon.
Watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi full trailer
The official trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been released. It aired during half-time of an NFL game on Monday night, and offers the first extended look at the sequel to 2015’s The Force Awakens after a teaser trailer was released earlier this year. This eighth instalment of the Star Wars franchise will be released in December and cinema tickets are available to book now.
Suicide Squad review
DC comics latest superhero outing had such a promising start; all the trailers promised a team match up to rival the likes of the extremely successful Marvel Avengers. However, these tantalising trailers failed to match expectation (a common trend when it comes to DC these days - with the exception of Nolan's Batman trilogy).
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