With the UK’s production landscape continuing to flourish, Screen profiles some exciting UK-made projects coming to cinemas and streamers over the coming months.
Film
Barbie
UK locations: Warner Bros Studios Leavesden, SE England
Greta Gerwig brings the iconic Mattel brand to big screen live action life with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling starring as Barbie and boyfriend Ken respectively. Robbie also grabs a producer credit for the film co-written by Gerwig and indie filmmaker Noah Baumbach. Warner Bros produces and distributes the film which details the story of a Barbie doll who is expelled from Barbieland to the human world.
UK/US theatrical release date: July 21, 2023
Damsel
UK locations: Troubadour Meridian Water Studios, London
Millie Bobby Brown stars in this fantasy feature as the eponymous damsel who thinks she is marrying a prince, only to be thrown into a pit as a sacrifice for a dragon. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), star Brown also exec produces the Netflix-backed action film.
Streaming on Netflix from: October 13, 2023
Havoc
UK locations: Great Point Seren Studios, Wales; Cardiff locations
Welsh born writer/director Gareth Evans (The Raid) will play Havoc with Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker in this British-American crime drama film for Netflix. Evans wrote and produced the thriller for One More One Productions, alongside producers Hardy, Ed Talfan for Cardiff-based Severn Screen and Aram Tertzakian for XYZ Films.
Streaming on Netflix: 2023 TBC
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
UK locations: Pinewood Studios, SE England; NW England, NE England, and Scotland locations
James Mangold directs Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, a Disney/Lucasfilm feature starring Harrison Ford as the intrepid explorer alongside a cast including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, John Rhys-Davis,Toby Jones, Shaunette Renee Wilson and Thomas Kretschmann. The film is set in 1969, right in the middle of the Cold War and the Space Race.
UK/US theatrical release date: June 30, 2023
Lift
UK locations include: Belfast Harbour Studios, Northern Ireland; Northern Ireland locations
Starring US actor/comedian Kevin Hart alongside Sam Worthington (Avatar: The Way of Water), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Summerland) and Ursula Corbero (G. I. Joe: Snake Eyes), Lift is a heist comedy directed by Straight Outta Compton’s F Gary Gray about a master thief who is persuaded by his ex-girlfriend and the FBI to pull off an impossible heist on an international flight from London to Zurich.
Streaming on Netflix from: August 25, 2023
The Little Mermaid
UK locations: Pinewood Studios, SE England
Disney’s live action take on its 1989 animated Oscar-winning film The Little Mermaid stars Halle Bailey as Ariel the Mermaid, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric and Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy as baddie Ursula. Directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago), the film follows the adventures of the titular mermaid.
UK/US theatrical release date: May 26, 2023
The Marvels
UK locations: Pinewood Studios and Longcross Studios, SE England; London locations
Filmmaker Nia DaCosta, who delivered the 2021 Candyman horror reboot, returns to big screen duties with the Captain Marvel sequel starring Oscar winner Brie Larson as Carol Danvers. Teyonah Parris (Wandavision), Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton and Samuel L Jackson also star. Disney distributes the Marvel Studios production worldwide.
UK/US theatrical release date: November 10, 2023
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1
UK locations include: Longcross Studios SE England; NW England locations
Tom Cruise stars in the latest entry in the blockbuster spy franchise that launched in 1996. Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames also return with Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, and Hayley Atwell joining the globe-trotting, stunt laden thriller’s cast. Christopher McQuarrie directs the Paramount-backed film.
UK/US theatrical release date: July 14, 2023
Napoleon
UK locations include: Ridgeway Studios, SE England; SE and NW England locations
Ridley Scott’s biopic stars Joaquin Phoenix as the eponymous French emperor and Vanessa Kirby as his wife Josephine in the Apple Studios bankrolled feature. Billed as an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins, his relationship with his wife and his rise to power as a military leader and subsequently emperor, the feature is produced by Scott and Kevin Walsh for Scott Free.
Streaming on AppleTV+: 2023 TBC
Wonka
UK locations include: Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, SE England; SE and SW England locations
Paul King’s Wonka, a musical origin story of famed Roald Dahl created chocolatier Willy Wonka, aims to melt hearts with the casting of Timothée Chalamet as the titular character. The musical’s plot remains under wrappers for the Heyday Films production for Warner Bros. Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson and Sally Hawkins are among the myriad British cast names.
UK/US theatrical release date: December 15, 2023
High-end TV
Black Mirror
UK locations: Scotland and SE England
The Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones-created dystopian anthology series Black Mirror returns to screens after a four year absence, with Aaron Paul, Zazie Beetz, Paapa Essiedu and Josh Hartnett among the cast — Brooker and Jones’s Broke & Bones has a deal with Netflix.
Streaming on Netflix: 2023 TBC
Citadel
UK locations: Bray Film Studios SE England; SE England locations
Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra star in this sprawling new Amazon series, created by Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo. The action-packed spy series will feature a central UK-set series with several additional local language series set in Italy, India, Spain and Mexico.
Streaming on Amazon from: April 28, 2023
Culprits
UK locations: London
Billed as a ‘dark and funny heist series’, Culprits follows the aftermath of a heist as the criminal gang are picked off one-by-one by what looks like a serial killer. J Blakeson (I Care A Lot) created and directed five episodes with Claire Oakley behind the lens for four. It is one of Disney+’s first U.K. original series, commissioned under the Star label.
Streaming on Disney+ from: May 24, 2023
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
UK locations include: UX1 Studios, SE England; SW England locations
India Amarteifio, Golda Rosheuvel and Freddie Dennis star in this Bridgerton TV show spin off produced forNetflix by Shondaland, the US television production company founded by television writer and producer Shonda Rhimes. The glossy Bridgerton prequel shot in various locations around the UK, and details the rise and love life of a young Queen Charlotte (Amarteifio).
Streaming on Netflix from: May 4, 2023
Sexy Beast
UK locations include: The Depot, Liverpool; NW England
James McArdle (Mare of Easttown) and Emun Elliott (The Gold) star in the roles played by Ray Winstone (Gal) and Ben Kingsley (Don) respectively in this prequel to the original British gangster film made in the 2000s. The series follows Gal and Don as best mates and small-time thieves living the good life in 1990s East London. Produced by Chapter One and VIS for Paramount TV Michael Caleo is showrunner and writer.
Streaming on Paramount+: 2023 TBC
Silo
UK locations include: Hoddesdon Studios, SE England
Created by Canadian producer and writer Graham Yost, whose screenwriting credits include Jan De Bont’s Speed, Silo is directed by Morten Tyldum and based on the series of novels by author Hugh Howey. The sci-fi action series, produced for Apple TV by AMC Studios is set in a toxic dystopian future starring Rebecca Ferguson, Iain Glen, David Oyelowo and Rashida Jones.
Streaming on AppleTV+ from: May 5, 2023
