Rubbish news: True Brit, the company that backed 500 Miles, Sunny Dancer, Giant and The Death Of Robin Hood, is going under. At the one end of the business, there’s a mega-merger going on between two huge studios, where billionaires are playing around with storied gigantic film companies. At the other, some rubbish news came … True Brit | UK distributor files for bankruptcy
Rubbish news: True Brit, the company that backed 500 Miles, Sunny Dancer, Giant and The Death Of Robin Hood, is going under.
At the one end of the business, there’s a mega-merger going on between two huge studios, where billionaires are playing around with storied gigantic film companies. At the other, some rubbish news came in overnight that True Brit Entertainment here in the UK has filed for bankruptcy.
True Brit launched in 2023 with a remit to champion British productions and co-productions. I went along to one of its slate presentations a year or so ago, and it looked true to it word, too. The problem is that it’s not resulted in box office success.
It was out of the gate with the film Marching Powder, which was successful if something of an acquired taste. More Since then, it’s put into cinemas British productions such as Christmas Karma, former Film Stories cover film Giant, 500 Miles, Sunny Dancer and more recently, The Death Of Robin Hood. Its upcoming slate had a bunch of really interesting looking films on it too, but they presumably now sit in limbo.
This is thoroughly rubbish news. As per the official statement that’s been released, “an independent specialist has now been appointed to oversee the company and assess the options available, with the aim of achieving the best possible outcome for the company and its creditors.”
It’s a very long shot that someone swoops in and saves True Brit, although we can but live in hope. A whole bunch of people are affecting by this and now job hunting on the one hand. A distributor actively supporting British films and British filmmakers has now left the market, and not in a way that’s likely to persuade others to follow in its path.
We’ll find out more the fate of True Brit’s titles, and if there’s any way forward for the company. But whether you liked its output or not, nobody was quite doing what True Brit had been doing.
More as we hear it. Our very best to all the True Brit staff affected.
