Castium Revelio: New Films for a New Year

Before all of that, however, we're kicking off the year with a throwback. Mark Williams's (Arthur Weasley) The Fast Show first came to our screens 30 years ago, and the sketch show will return this year with a tour of the UK. The live show is set to begin on February 18 in London and will tour across the UK until a final performance in Liverpool on April 1.

The White Lotus is also set to return later this year, with more cast members announced earlier this month. Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) will join the show for its third season, which follows a new set of guests holidaying at the White Lotus resort. Production is set to begin across Thailand in February.

Brendan Gleeson (Mad-Eye Moody), meanwhile, is looking into the past. He stars in a documentary that will have its world premiere as part of the Dublin International Film Festival in March. The film is called Brendan Gleeson’s Farewell to Hughes’s and shares the tale of a legendary Irish pub and music venue that closed in 2021 and the final hoorah Gleeson hosted to say goodbye to the venue. You can check out the trailer below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Speaking of documentaries, James Payton (Frank Longbottom) has also released one recently. Who Is James Payton? follows him as he attends conventions and signings for Wizarding World fans and debates how his life has reached the point it has. The documentary was released on digital platforms on January 4.

Legendary composer John Williams has been honored with a new building named after him on the historic Culver City Lot, the former home of MGM Studios and the current home of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The John Williams Music Building was recently renamed in a ceremony attended by Williams. He said that it was "beyond an honor" to have the building named after him.

In the audio world, we've got an exciting announcement about Katie Leung (Cho Chang). She's lending her voice to a new dramatization of George Orwell's 1984 on Audible, alongside Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick... Boom), Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers), and Cynthia Erivo (Harriet). The audio play adaptation will be available from April 4, but you can preorder it now.

We've got a couple of theater-based announcements for you next. First up is Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas), who has joined the cast of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Pericles at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The play will run between July 26 and September 21, with tickets being released to the general public on February 8.

Theater company Red Bull Theater has announced the cast of its next reading, including Christian Coulson (Tom Riddle, Chamber of Secrets). The Revenge was read on January 22 at the Peter Jay Theater, but if you missed it, the recording is available to stream until January 28.

We're heading back to screens now, with a special role for David Tennant (Barty Crouch Jr.). He's set to host this year's BAFTA Film Awards ceremony for the first time. A full nomination list was announced on January 18, with Oppenheimer's 13 nominations giving it the title of most nominations for this year. The ceremony will take place on February 18.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tennant also has a new voice acting role – he will reportedly guest star as a villain on the second season of Marvel's animated series Moon Girl and the Devil Dinosaur. The season debuts on the Disney Channel on February 2 and hits Disney+ the next day.

We've got news from David Bradley (Argus Filch) about his next role. He'll be teaming up with director Guillermo del Toro on his next film, an adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstein. The film will also feature a score by Deathly Hallows composer Alexandre Desplat. It will be produced by Netflix and will star Oscar Isaac (Dune) as Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) as his monster.

Domnhall Gleeson (Bill Weasley) also announced a new film earlier this month. He's joined the cast of Fountain of Youth, a Skydance and Apple collaboration about estranged siblings who join forces to complete a global heist with the possible reward of immortality. There's very little information about the film, but we do know that Natalie Portman (May December) and John Krasinski (A Quiet Place) will costar alongside Gleeson.

Narrator of the UK Harry Potter audiobooks Stephen Fry also has a new film on the horizon. Treasure tells the tale of a father and daughter who take a road trip across Poland to delve into their family history. The film will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival next month. You can check out a first-look image below.

Source: Filmnation/Bleecker Street

Ciarán Hinds (Aberforth Dumbledore) will also be featured at the Berlin Film Festival. Small Things Like These is about a man who discovers the true horrors of the Magdalene Laundries, which were asylums for women run by the Roman Catholic church. The film, which also stars Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), will open the festival on February 15.

Nick Moran (Scabior) has a couple of new projects coming up. First off, he's joined the ensemble cast of Finding My Voice, a dark coming-of-age film about a teenage girl's rise to fame as a singer-songwriter through her struggles with alcoholism and loss. The film is currently in post-production, having wrapped filming earlier this month.

His second project to start his 2024 is the spy thriller Chief of Station. Vertical recently purchased the US rights to the film, with a suggested release date of May. The film centers on a former CIA operative who has to return to the spy world after he receives cryptic messages about his wife's death.

Emma Thompson (Professor Trelawney) is taking up a new executive producer role for her next project. She's boarded Good Boy, a short film about a young man who finds himself driving his mother and a dead pigeon around after a failed heist. Ben Whishaw (Paddington) takes the lead role as Danny in the film, which has been shortlisted in the live-action short film category at this year's Oscars.

There's unfortunate news for Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory) next. His upcoming film Mickey 17 has been delayed indefinitely. The film was set to be released at the end of March but has been pushed back due to conflicts after recent industry strikes. You can check out a teaser trailer that was released for the original release date.

It's even more unfortunate news next, as Callum Turner (Theseus Scamander) has dropped out of an upcoming film. We reported last July that he had joined the cast of Hedda, but for unknown reasons, he has now been replaced by Tom Bateman (Thirteen Lives).

There's good news, however, on Zoë Kravitz (Leta Lestrange). Her directorial debut now has a new name and a release date. Blink Twice was known as Pussy Island when it was first announced back in 2021. It follows a woman who finds herself questioning reality as she parties on the private island of a billionaire. The film will hit cinemas on August 23, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.

Victoria Yeates (Bunty) is making her debut with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the play Ben and Imo. She stars as Imogen Holst, a musician and daughter of composer Gustav Holst, in a story about the creative relationship between her and composer Benjamin Britten. The production will run at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from February 21 to April 6 (just a few months before Alfred Enoch's performance at the same theater).

Last month, we told you about the new Apple TV+ series Criminal Record, which features Zoë Wanamaker (Madam Hooch, Harry Potter) as Maureen. We now know you can also keep an eye out for Cursed Child's Paul Thornley (Ron Weasley) as Stefan Ash. The first season runs through February 21.

We're finishing off this edition with a new play produced by Sonia Friedman. Patriots, a play written by The Crown's Peter Morgan, is set for a limited run on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The play had a sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre before a West End engagement. Previews will begin on April 1, with the play's official opening night set for April 22.