Movies from production house Film4 could be set for a record haul of awards this weekend.
The company, funded by state-owned Channel 4, has seen its films nominated for 20 awards at this Sunday’s Baftas — more than any other company bar the US goliath Fox.
The awards push is led by the 12 Bafta nominations for The Favourite by director Yorgos Lanthimos.
The film, starring Olivia Colman as Queen Anne, cost less than $20 million (£15.4 million) to make — split three ways between Film4, Fox Searchlight and Waypoint Entertainment — but has taken $60 million at the box office so far.
Film4 director Daniel Battsek said: “It will be very profitable.”
The company has 13 Oscar nominations for its films, again led by The Favourite. The movie was nominated for 10 Oscars – equal to its previous best, Slumdog Millionaire in 2009.
This is Film4’s second biggest nominations year ever. Only 2016, with 22 Bafta nominations, scored higher.
Film4 is given a production budget of around £25 million a year from Channel4 to make British films, from shorts to bigger-budget Oscar contenders. Recent years have seen it allowed to make bigger bets on certain movies in a drive to get bigger returns and be self-sufficient by 2020.
Battsek said: “When you are building a slate [of films] you know most independent, low budget films don’t get their money back, so you need one or more hits to make up for that. We need to replenish our budget to not be a drain on Channel 4.”
As a UK film company, he said Brexit had not had a sizeable effect on its operations, but said the fluctuations in the pound had made it difficult to budget for its international sales. Around half of The Favourite’s box office receipts so far have come from the US.
British producer Working Title has had three Bafta nominations for Mary Queen of Scots, as has Fable Pictures’ Stan & Ollie.
