PI - news breaks of 2017
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We recently brought you the first part of a look back at some of the news breaks and exclusives enjoyed by Production Intelligence subscribers during 2017.
In this second part of our round-up we cover some Very Big Films Indeed as well as an original Netflix drama. Enjoy the memories.
Spring forward
March saw Production Intelligence exclusively detail a new original Netflix drama, The Innocents. The 8 x 60 comes from New Pictures, makers of The Missing and Rellik, and began filming in London, Yorkshire and Norway in late summer. We provided names of key production hires including the location manager, production designer and line producer.
Also in March came PI’s exclusive alert that another major Disney live-action feature would shoot in the UK. Christopher Robin (pictured above) revisits the character of the little boy at the centre of the much-loved Winnie-the-Pooh books, this time as a grown man (Ewan McGregor) who must rediscover how to find joy in life, with a little help from a certain bear.
We published the studio details along with a handful of crucial UK production hires on the film.
A Pokemon character, Detective Pikachu, is the latest videogame creation to make its way to the big screen. Production Intelligence was the first with the news in April that the major US feature from Legendary Entertainment would film in the UK.
We subsequently listed the studio details and key names including the UPM, production designer, location manager and production co-ordinator.
During the Cannes Film Festival in May it was announced that feature film Three Seconds had been greenlit, starring Clive Owen and Rosamund Pike.
The film is largely set in New York but the day after the project was in the news PI confirmed that it would in fact shoot in London later in the summer.
Those following the film on our site then received details of the main UK production names.
Big news for the big screen
June was a very big month for film exclusives on PI. We brought news of UK filming on Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic of rock band Queen and flamboyant frontman Freddie Mercury.
An 11-week shoot started in mid-September with Bryan Singer at the helm, although the director eventually left the project before principal photography had been completed.
Then came PI confirmation – another exclusive – that Disney’s Artemis Fowl would make its production base in this country.
Kenneth Branagh will direct the big-screen adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s book about the eponymous young criminal mastermind. The casting director, DoP, UPM and production designer are detailed on PI with filming pencilled in for March 2018.
Still in June, we were first to provide details on a UK shoot for Robert Downey Jr’s new film version of Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle tales. Downey’s company is making the Universal film; the actor will also star as the charismatic medic who can talk to animals.
The feature was added to PI in June with a full round-up of HoDs added soon afterwards. Principal photography is due to start in February 2018.
Look out for the final part of our PI retrospective coming soon.
Clive Owen photo credit Getty Images Ent Elisabetta Villa
Robert Downey Jr photo credit Getty Images Ent WireImage Gary Gershoff
Bohemian Rhapsody photo credit Nick Delaney Twentieth Century Fox
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Blankety Blank wins two more series
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Peaky Blinders film to shoot in September
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Shepperton expansion opens as Amazon MGM and Netflix move in
The major new expansion of Shepperton Studios is now open with the third series of Prime Video’s The Devil’s Hour now filming.
New film and TV studio to open in Hertfordshire
A new, purpose-built film and TV studio is to open in Hertfordshire this spring, the first high-spec facility in the St Albans area.
