focus features – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Week In Women: Georgia Oakley’s new take on SENSE AND SENSIBILITY – Brandy McDonnell reports

August 9, 2026August 9, 2026 Brandy McDonnell Diana Reid, focus features, Georgia Oakley, jane austen, twiw, Universal Pictures International (UPI), week in women, Working Title

Writer-director Georgia Oakley’s new screen adaptation of iconic English writer Jane Austen’s first novel will bow in movie theaters in fall, released by Focus Features, Universal Pictures International (UPI) and Working Title in U.S. theaters on Oct. 16. Oakley is following up on her award winning Blue Jean (2022), directing from a script by bestselling author Diana Reid. Filming started last summer in the United Kingdom. Focus has worldwide rights on the movie, and UPI will handle international distribution for the studio. The film was initially scheduled for a September theatrical release in the United States.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Alicia MacDonald’s FINDING EMILY in U.S. Theatres via Focus Features – Brandy McDonnell reports

August 5, 2026August 5, 2026 Brandy McDonnell Alicia MacDonald, angourie rice, Cannes Lions, Finding Emily, focus features, Minnie Driver, Rachel Hirons, Working Title

British filmmaker Alicia MacDonald’s first feature, Finding Emily, comes to U.S. theaters on Aug. 28 via Focus Features. The award-winning MacDonald already has created an impressive body of work that spans film, television, commercials and short films. She has worked with global leading brands such as McDonald’s, Walkers, Toyota, Jaguar, Google and more. Her airline safety film for TUI – Safety: A Global Film – gained industry recognition at the British Arrows advertising awards and was listed in Campaign’s Top 5 Ads of the Year. Her short films Bad News and Domestic Policy won gold at the Young Director Awards and played in the New Creators’ Showcase at Cannes Lions, respectively.

Reviews

OBSESSION – Review by Susan Granger

May 27, 2026May 28, 2026 Susan Granger Cooper Tomlinson, Curry Barker, focus features, Inde Navarrette, Megan Lawless, Michael Johnston, Obsession

Hollywood history was made on Memorial Day weekend as Obsession became the first movie since Shrek to earn more at the box-office its second weekend than its first – without the help of a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Boosted by impressive world-of-mouth, enthusiastic reviews and a social media blitz, Curry Barker’s creepy horror movie is bringing youthful Gen Z audiences back into theaters. With a budget of under a million dollars, Obsession cost less than the catering for The Mandalorian and Grogu.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Focus to release Chloe Zhao’s adaptation of HAMNET – Brandy McDonnell reports

November 29, 2024 Brandy McDonnell chloe zhao, focus features, Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell, the week in women, twiw

Looking ahead to highly anticipated projects expected in 2025: Focus Features is releasing Hamnet, the latest film from Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao, in the United States. The film is adapted from Irish writer Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Hamnet has sold 2 million copies in the U.K. and U.S. and has been translated in to 40 languages. In the bestseller, O’Farrell, who was born in Northern Ireland, fictionalized the life of William Shakespeare and his son, Hamnet, who died at a young age.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Focus Features to release Amy Winehouse biopic – Brandy McDonnell reports

April 4, 2024April 3, 2024 Brandy McDonnell amy winehouse, back to black, biopic, eddie marsan, focus features, Jack O'Connell, lesley manville, marisa abela, monumental pictures, Sam Taylor-Johnson, the week in women, twiw

Focus Features will release “Back to Black,” the anticipated biopic of the late Grammy winner Amy Winehouse, in U.S. theaters on May 10. Back to Black is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson from a script written by Matt Greenhalgh, following their successful collaboration on Nowhere Boy in 2009. Back to Black is billed as a never-before-seen glimpse into Winehouse’s early rise to fame and the release of her groundbreaking studio album “Back to Black.” Told from the singer-songwriter’s perspective, the film is meant to be “an unapologetic look at the woman behind the phenomenon and the relationship that inspired one of the most legendary albums of all time.”

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Zelda Williams’ LISA FRANKENSTEIN opens for Valentine’s Day – Brandy McDonnell reports

January 3, 2024January 5, 2024 Brandy McDonnell Carla Gugino, Cole Sprouse, focus features, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, Kathryn Newton, Lisa Frankenstein, Liza Soberano, twiw, week in women, Zelda Williams

Focus Features plans to release the eagerly awaited horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein, the feature film directorial debut for Zelda Williams, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Set in 1989, the highly anticipated film is billed as a “coming-of-rage love story” about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. After a set of playfully horrific circumstances brings him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness – and a few missing body parts along the way.

Reviews

ASTEROID CITY – Review by Diane Carson

June 18, 2023September 4, 2023 Diane Carson Alexandre Desplat, Asteroid City, bryan cranston, Edward Norton, focus features, Wes Anderson

A who’s who of over twenty fine actors contribute fabulous, droll interpretations to characters’ encounters and collisions. Deriving maximum comic effect from all this, director Wes Anderson presents his skewed humor as if nothing could be more natural or normal. Alexandre Desplat’s music interprets and complements the ambiance as the film shape shifts through topics: science and science fiction, musicals and heartfelt romance, existential drama and philosophical treatise. All this is embedded in an hour forty-five minutes of fabulous entertainment.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK April 28, 2023: POLITE SOCIETY

April 23, 2023April 25, 2023 Jennifer Merin betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, Crispin Layfield, Ella Bruccoleri, focus features, jennifer mwrin, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, nell minow, nida manzoor, nikki fowler, Nimra Bucha, Pam Grady, polite society, Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Rob Luck, sandie angulo chen, Saraphina Beh, sherin nicole

If you crossed Bend It Like Beckham with The Marvels and put an Everything Everywhere All at Once filter on the finished product (with maybe a dash of Jane Austen or Bridgerton for kicks), you might come up with something like Polite Society. But make no mistake: Nida Manzoor’s energetic, gonzo action comedy about an aspiring young stuntwoman doing everything she can to prevent her older sister’s marriage is a true original.

Interviews

Nida Manzoor on POLITE SOCIETY and Feminist Stunt Fighting – Leslie Combemale interviews

April 18, 2023April 25, 2023 Leslie Combemale Crispin Layfield, focus features, nida manzoor, polite society, Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Rob Luck, stunt women

There’s not been a film that focused on a South Asian teenage girl quite the way that Polite Society does. For over a decade, London-based writer/director Nida Manzoor has been nuancing the script that is now releasing as her feature debut. Manzoor recently found success on the small screen with her award-winning series We Are Lady Parts, which follows a feminist all-girl Muslim punk band. Still, Polite Society is far more personal to her own life. It springs from her experiences as a sports-playing and karate-trained teenage tomboy who both loved and hated her big sister.

Reviews

POLITE SOCIETY – Review by Nikki Fowler

April 18, 2023April 23, 2023 Nikki Fowler Crispin Layfield, Ella Bruccoleri, focus features, nida manzoor, Nimra Bucha, polite society, Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Rob Luck, Saraphina Beh

Polite Society, is bursting with culture, comedy, stunts, sisterhood and friendship in a eye popping cinematic joyride. With a premiere at Sundance, the directorial debut feature from British filmmaker Nida Manzoor will quickly become one of your favorite films this year. It’s quirky and real and is filled with some really big lessons on being true to yourself and not caving to societal pressures.

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