The Magic Faraway Tree is the widest new release in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend, hoping to take advantage of the Easter holidays.
Entertainment Film Distributors is releasing The Magic Faraway Tree in 700 locations. Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy star in the Enid Blyton adaptation about a family who move to the countryside and discover a magical tree.
The film was adapted by Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote the screenplays for Paddington 2 (£8.3m opening), Paddington In Peru (£9.7m) and Wonka (£8.9m), with the latter going on to gross over £63m across its run.
Ben Gregor directs The Magic Faraway Tree, which also stars Nicola Coughlan, Jessica Gunning, Rebecca Ferguson and Jennifer Saunders.
Also hoping to lure in family audiences is Vue Lumiere’s launch of Bluey At The Cinema: Playdates With Friends in 509 sites. Screenings comprise a collection of episodes from the animated TV series about a family of dogs.
Counterprogramming comes from Warner Bros with its latest horror title They Will Kill You launching in 490 venues. The film follows a woman who takes a job as a housekeeper in a New York City high-rise with a history of disappearances. Cast includes Zazie Beetz, Tom Felton, Heather Graham and Patricia Arquette.
Park Circus is re-releasing Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 romance Romeo + Juliet in 314 cinemas.
Cannes 2025 titles keep rolling out
Romantic comedy Splitsville is opening in 168 locations via Universal. The Cannes premiere centres on two couples whose lives become complicated when one of them splits up. Michael Angelo Covino directs and stars in the feature alongside Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona and Kyle Marvin.
In event cinema, Trafalgar Releasing is screening concert film Bring Me The Horizon: L.I.V.E. In Sao Paulo in 156 venues on Saturday (March 28).
Irish thriller No Ordinary Heist launches in 64 cinemas through Wildcard Distribution. Eddie Marsan and Eanna Hardwicke star in Colin McIvor’s film based around the 2004 Northern Bank robbery in Belfast.
Anime title The Last Blossom opens in 53 sites via Anime Ltd. The Japanese film follows a dying prisoner as he reflects on his final summer of freedom in 1986.
Cannes award-winner Two Prosecutors launches in 29 cinemas via Curzon. Sergei Loznitsa’s legal drama centres on a prosecutor in 1937’s USSR who discovers an undestroyed letter from a prisoner that reveals corruption in the secret police, the NKVD. The film finished joint top of Screen’s Cannes jury grid last year.
Fellow Cannes premiere Orwell: 2+2=5 opens in 24 venues through Altitude. Raoul Peck’s documentary follows the career of George Orwell and particularly his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four with its timely political observations.
Conic Film opens Macedonian feature DJ Ahmet in 15 locations. The film won the audience award in Sundance’s world cinema competition last year and centres on a 15-year-old boy who desires to be a DJ.
Further releases include Taiwanese documentary All And Nothing via Day For Night; UK conspiracy thriller Empire Of Lies via Magus Films; Swedish drama Redoubt via Sovereign Film Distribution and Sandra Huller-narrated documentary Underland via Dogwoof.
Amazon MGM’s Project Hail Mary, distributed by Sony, is the key holdover title after opening on £4.6m last weekend.
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