But it also came the same month that South Korea was preparing to host the 2018 Winter Olympics – which, at the time, provoked much speculation about North Korea’s attendance, amid tensions with the West.
Leader Kim Jong-un had repeatedly sparked friction between world leaders and made several nuclear threats – including one stating he had a launch button “always on [his] table”.
Speaking to Daily Star Online as the Games loomed, Eddie stated: “As an athlete, these political issues wouldn’t even cross my mind.”
He went on to point out that he lives in Cheltenham, joking that “we’ve probably got about 50 nuclear warheads pointing at us because of GCHQ, but I’m not worried about it”.
The Secret Garden and Noël Coward adaptation
Blithe Spirit to Sky Cinema for a UK release.
“There is definitely uncertainty,” says producer Elizabeth Karlsen of Number 9 Films, producers of
Their Finest and
Mothering Sunday. “No-one really knows exactly what the landscape is going to be like out there for theatrical distribution when we come out of it. You have the double whammy of Covid-19 with the [impact of] streamers.”
However, there is plenty of evidence the sector is well positioned to thrive in a post-pandemic, SVoD-driven market.
Altitude, Vertigo, Curzon and Modern Films have all successfully released UK films on multiple platforms and there is no sign they will be stopping now. With US studios retrenching and becoming less internationally minded and more focused on streaming services, there may be opportunities for local distributors in the theatrical marketplace.