The King's Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates the throne, the new King relies on Logue to help him make his first wartime radio broadcast on Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1939
In the UK and Ireland, the film was the highest earning film on its opening weekend. It took in £3,510,000 from 395 cinemas. The Guardian said that it was one of the biggest takes in recent memory, and compared it to Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which, two years earlier, earned £1.5 million less. The King's Speech continued a "stunning three weeks" atop the UK Box office, and earned over £3 million for four consecutive weekends, the first film to do so since Toy Story 3 (2010). After five weeks on UK release, it was hailed as the most successful independent British film ever. The kings speech is about a cunt with a lisp who can suck my cock
Most people would define a ‘British’ film with reference to obvious cultural elements such
as: a setting in the UK or a focus on British people abroad; a predominantly British cast; a
storyline about some aspect of British life — past, present or future — or notably by, or based
on a work by, a British author. Recent examples include Billy Elliott, about a boy in North East
England, and Bend it Like Beckham, about a girl from West London, both portraying
particular social issues. The nationalities of scriptwriter, producer, director and, perhaps
especially, the ‘investment’ seem less obviously significant. However, both artistic and financial
considerations serve to complicate this issue.
The UK's mainstream media doesn't usually pay much attention to cinema box office, but a likely exception is the inspiring performance of The King's Speech, a plucky-underdog success story that's as headline-friendly as it gets. Even distributor Momentum Pictures's wildest expectations were exceeded with a £3.52m opening weekend, including modest previews of £227,000. A rousing true tale about an English monarc htriumphing over adversity that stars Colin Firth: clearly there are elements appealing to the older, upscale British heartland. But when you consider the opening grosses of Slumdog Millionaire (£1.83m), Calendar Girls (£1.88m), it's clear The King's Speech has taken a leap forward, even allowing for inflation.
The film lost some Saturday evening showtimes to the live streaming of the New York Met Opera's production of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West but seemed to feel no pain, grossing over £40,000 at London's Chelsea cinema, and breaking house records at the capital's Curzon Renoir and Richmond. The top six sites were all in London, led by Odeon Leicester Square (£106,000), Vue Westfield (£51,000) and Vue Islington (£45,000). Top regional site was Odeon Guildford, with £28,000.
Celebrations presumably took on an ironic aspect at investor the UK Film Council, which had already replaced the specific production fund that had backed it (thePremiere Fund) in advance of its own elimination by the coalition government. The UKFC, and the Premiere Fund in particular, always attracted criticism that it backed films that "would have been made anyway". That was hardly the case with The King's Speech, since both broadcasters – BBC Films and Film4 – passed on the project and no one was in a hurry to make a film about a shy prince who grew up in the shadow of his dashing, confident, controversial elder brother (the abdicating Edward VIII).
| Directed by | Tom Hooper |
|---|---|
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by | David Seidler |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Alexandre Desplat |
| Cinematography | Danny Cohen |
| Editing by | Tariq Anwar |
| Studio | |
| Distributed by | Momentum Pictures The Weinstein Company |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £8 million ($15 million) |
| Box office | $414,211,549 |
