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.
