International Insider: Stories To Track In 2024; Festival Film Picks; BAFTA Noms

Happy New Year, everybody. Jesse Whittock with you for the first Insider of 2024, as we look forward to bringing you the biggest stories throughout the year. Read on, and please and sign up here to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week.

10 Stories To Track In 2024

What to follow: This year is set to be a crucial one for the future of the global entertainment business, with the resolution of several key talking points set to color the agenda years into the future. Our team pulled together to discuss the big trends and narratives, and then published our ‘Ten Storylines Set To Dominate The International Market In 2024’ feature as the clocks struck twelve and the New Year began. Our predictions include: Continuing market contraction around the world, union talks and possible labor action outside the U.S., big-scale M&A of some nature, debate around AI and ongoing questions around the future of arthouse cinema. For the full rundown and a bag of analysis, click here.

Track to the future: Over the past month, we’ve also published stories looking at the future of U.S. late-night, TV development, the domestic box office, the news media, streaming advertising, M&A and theater in the West End and Broadway. Read up and you’ll be set with some serious knowledge of the biz.

A look back: Over the holiday season, Deadline also rounded up the most-read news stories of 2023, the best movie performances, the key U.S. TV narratives, showbiz stock performance and the top international films of the year, and published a box office analysis. Plenty to get your peepers trained on, so if you’d forgotten what made last year one of the craziest in entertainment and media history, you’ll be up to speed in no time.

Festival Films To Watch

63 of the best: Our annual rundown of the top U.S. and international films set to dominate the festival circuit published this week, with more than 60 movies listed. Chief among those are the likes of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis passion project, Todd Phillips’ sequel Joker: Folie à Deux and the Angelina Jolie-starring biopic Maria. Last year, more than 70% of our pics went on to gain major festival berths, with most of the others delayed by the strikes or still in post, so our guys know what they’re talking about. Here’s the list.

BAFTA Film Noms

The long and short of it: The BAFTA Film Awards longlists are in, and there are few surprises. Barbie, Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon are leading the pack, tied with 15 nods apiece and equalling the record haul All Quiet on the Western Front set last year. Poor Things, Maestro, Saltburn and All of Us Strangers have also put in strong showings, as Oscars buzz ramps up. Read the full list here. Former Doctor Who star David Tennant has been set as the host of the awards, which take place on February 18 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall by the River Thames in London.

Littler And Large Ratings 

Darthouse cinema: The UK collectively survives on a diet of left-over Christmas Day scraps, chocolate coins and booze during the hazy days before the New Year. A growing part of this is the PDC World Darts Championship, where a heady mix of alcohol intake and party vibes at London’s Alexandra Palace draws in bumper live and TV audiences. The tournament’s carnival atmosphere was turned up to 11 when 16-year-old Luke Littler became the youngest player ever to reach the final. His underdog story helped steadily build the ratings for Sky Sports, and the final against ‘Cool Hand’ Luke Humphries landed the pay-TV broadcaster its biggest ever non-football peak rating. No wonder Sky ordered all-access doc series Darts (working title) — think Drive To Survive, but with louder walk-on music, beer stains and commentators screaming, “ONE HUNDRED AND EEEEEEEEEEIGHTY!”

Meta Off This Way

UK closure: Our new International Content SVP Stewart Clarke broke the news that Meta is shuttering its Frank Gehry-designed London base at One Rathbone Square. London is where the Facebook parent firm has its most employees outside of the U.S., but this is the second major office it’s dumping in less than six months. Having cut thousands of staffers to address the carnage that was U.S. tech media in 2023, this latest move will be of concern to workers. However, Meta said there will not be a reduction in headcount as a result of the move, which comes amid a developing hybrid working culture in the UK. Read on.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: BBC Storyville acquired Sundance prize-winning doc Bad Press.

🌶️ Another One: Cohen Media Group set a nationwide release for Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-shortlisted pic, Io Capitano.

📹 Casting: Jack Bannon, Douglas Henshall and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson helped round out acting talent attached to CBS Studios’ Icelandic co-pro The Darkness.

😡 Angry clash: The director of a top UK diversity body denied ‘liking’ allegedly antisemitic LinkedIn posts about Stephen Fry’s alternative Christmas speech.

📈 Ratings: The Traitors saw viewers remain faithful in the UK, as the show returned with 3 million for the BBC.

🍿 Box office: Global cinema takings reached $33.9B in 2023, according to Gower Street Analystics data.

🍿 More box office: Indonesian cinema admissions grew 14.5% in 2023 to reach 114.5 million, still below pre-pandemic levels.