Sky recruits stars including Florence Pugh and Adam Driver for streaming wars

Sky Cinema announces 100-strong slate of films to take on Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+

Sky is enlisting names such as Florence Pugh, Natalie Portman and Adam Driver in their attempt to take on the likes of streaming giants Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ by assembling a 100-strong slate of films.

Sky Cinema has announced a number of brand-new titles, including Michael Mann’s Ferrari biopic starring Driver, and the Todd Haynes-directed May December, featuring Portman alongside Julianne Moore. Pugh appears in the previously announced A Good Person, a drama set against the opioid crisis, directed by Zach Braff.

Other highlights include Lee, a biopic of celebrated photographer and war correspondent Lee Miller starring Kate Winslet, and political thriller The Independent, starring Jodie Turner-Smith and Brian Cox as journalists who uncover a financial conspiracy.

Sky launched its Sky Cinema Original Movies strand in 2018, and in 2019 launched in-house production arm Sky Studios along with plans to “double” its investment in original programming, as rival studios, including NBC and Paramount, are spending large amounts to reorganise their streaming and pay-TV offers. However, Comcast, which owns Sky and NBC, announced it had lost $978m (£793m) on NBC’s Peacock player, while revenue on Sky’s pay-TV unit declined to $4.4bn from $5.1bn.

Contributor

Andrew Pulver

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Actors are back on the promo beat. And – as Adam Driver shows – this time, they mean business
Driver’s calm but forthright response to a cheeky audience question was a fine example of When Actors Fight Back, but he may now forever be baited

Stuart Heritage

14, Nov, 2023 @12:22 PM

Article image
Rising stars of 2015: actor Florence Pugh
Guy Lodge: The ambitious star of Carol Morley’s forthcoming film The Falling has been preparing for fame since the age of seven

Guy Lodge

28, Dec, 2014 @9:00 AM

Article image
Sky UK boosts original content as it takes on streaming rivals
Exclusive: TV company aims to be releasing a new film every week by 2022, with 30 due this year

Tara Conlan

24, Jan, 2021 @3:26 PM

Article image
Florence Pugh releases first songs as singer-songwriter
The Best Part and I Hate Myself are performed by her character in A Good Person, written and directed by Zach Braff

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

24, Mar, 2023 @11:19 AM

Article image
Florence Pugh: ‘Me, the next Kate Winslet? That’s ridiculous’
After starring in Lady Macbeth, the Oxford-born actor has hopped from job to job, been taught to punch by The Rock and cast in a John Le Carré miniseries

Cath Clarke

28, Dec, 2017 @12:00 PM

Article image
Adam Driver hits out at big film studios over Hollywood strike
Ferrari star tells Venice film festival that leading studios, such as Netflix and Amazon, should support actors and writers

Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent

31, Aug, 2023 @3:44 PM

Article image
Vanishing act: what happens when stars don’t show up for the red carpet?
As the Sag-Aftra strikes roll on, film schedules are being torn up and A-listers are ditching promotional duties. But what’s a film festival without the talent?

Ryan Gilbey

01, Sep, 2023 @4:00 AM

Article image
Florence Pugh hits back at ‘vulgar’ criticism of her body on social media
Black Widow actor rails at ‘how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see’

Catherine Shoard

11, Jul, 2022 @10:07 AM

Article image
Sparks musical with Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard to open Cannes film festival
Written by Ron and Russell Mael and set in Los Angeles, Annette is the first English-language film by Holy Motors director Leos Carax

Andrew Pulver

19, Apr, 2021 @11:20 AM

Article image
Terry Gilliam on finally filming Don Quixote: 'Adam Driver is bankable! Thank God for Star Wars!'
The director speaks in Cannes about the ‘disease’ of trying to shoot Cervantes’s book, casting man-of-the-moment Driver, and the guilt he feels about the shoot for Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Henry Barnes

20, May, 2016 @5:25 AM