NBCUniversal International Studios Rebrands To Universal International Studios

Shinfield Studios, a film and TV facility located roughly 50 miles west of London, has received the green light for a significant development that will see the construction of 18 sound stages.

Almost £1BN ($1.3BN) of spend on UK TV and film studios was pledged or delivered between 2017 and 2020, according to BFI data that demonstrated high-end TV (HETV) overtook film as the British cultural sector’s dominant force.

The University of Manchester has postponed its Winter Graduation ceremonies due to the “increased risk” of Covid-19.

A Scottish university's new test for coronavirus has been proven to be more than 99 per cent accurate in official UK government medical tests.

The UK’s Global Screen Fund, which was created to fill the void left by the absence of funding from Creative Europe’s MEDIA program post-Brexit, has awarded a further £1.32M ($1.75M) in grants spread across nine film and TV projects.

Travel restrictions have been tightened as more cases of the Omicron variant have been reported across the world.

Afternoon International Insiders, Max Goldbart here. Another busy week but we’ve got you covered with all the international headlines and analysis you need. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

BBC Studios’ Los Angles production arm has promoted Ryan O’Dowd.

BIFAs Sets Host

UK’s Alibi Acquires ‘Pretty Hard Cases’

Anna Marie de la Fuente Tapping a widely successful genre, Sony Pictures Int’l Productions (SPIP) is producing the musical romantic comedy “Voy a pasarmelo bien” (“I’m Going to Have A Good Time”) in association with transatlantic production powerhouse, El Estudio and Spanish pop rock band Hombres G.The film is inspired by the music of the iconic band which rose to prominence in the ‘80s with their Beatles and British new wave-influenced music.Based in Madrid, Hombres G is formed by David

Viacom International Studios (VIS) has signed a quintet of first-look deals with emerging British talent as part of a drive to hand more opportunities to diverse creators.

UPDATE: Notably on the menu this weekend overseas were new openers Disney’s Encanto and MGM/Universal’s House Of Gucci. The former came in lower than hoped at the international box office, with $29.3M in 47 material markets, though it did make the low end of its global projection at $69.6M (including domestic‘s 5-day frame).

Happy Friday International Insiders, Tom Grater here delivering your post-Thanksgiving rundown of the week’s top headlines. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

Naman Ramachandran The long-gestating plans for a major studio development in the Northwestern English city of Liverpool are finally going ahead. The £70 million ($93.1 million) redevelopment of the iconic Littlewoods building, which would include major studios, creative office space and new media facilities, has been in discussions since 2018.A report requesting permission for the scheme is going to the Liverpool Council’s cabinet on Dec.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Studios is seeking a Global Acquisitions Manager to buy shows for UKTV and its other global channels due to an overload of work.

Naman Ramachandran The U.K.’s Network Distributing has sealed a deal with iconic British horror label Hammer Films to form Hammer Studios Ltd.

The French comedy Call My Agent and Israeli drama Tehran took the top prizes at the 49th annual International Emmys, which here handed out Monday night during an in-person ceremony in New York. See the full list of winners below.

Filmed with an international cast speaking French, English and Spanish, and co-written with cinematographer Sara Mishara, Ivan Grbovic’s Drunken Birds begins in urban, crime-infested Mexico and swiftly transports us to the rural farmlands of Quebec, where former drug runner Willy has come in search of a former lover is in hiding from her mobster partner.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul has long been an ambassador for his native Thailand, but his latest film—the Cannes Competition hit Memoria—was shot entirely in Colombia, which has chosen the film as its 2021 International Feature Oscar entry. Compounding the truly international flavor of the production, it stars the UK’s Tilda Swinton as a Scottish woman named Jessica who is in Bogotá to see her sister when a mysterious noise she hears at daybreak sets her on a mesmerizing journey of self-discovery.