James R | On 12, Oct 2019

This weekend sees Netflix’s The King released in UK cinemas, following its debut at the London Film Festival.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s play, and written by Director David Michôd and star Joel Edgerton, the film sees Timothée Chalamet play Hal, wayward prince and reluctant heir to the English throne. He has turned his back on royal life and is living among the people. But when his tyrannical father dies, Hal is crowned King Henry V and is forced to embrace the life he had previously tried to escape. Now the young king must navigate the palace politics, chaos and war his father left behind, and the emotional strings of his past life — including his relationship with his closest friend and mentor, the ageing alcoholic knight, John Falstaff.
 
Chalamet is joined on screen by Edgerton, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, Robert Pattinson and Ben Mendelsohn.

With that kind of star-studded cast, Netflix will eyeing up possible awards success, launching the film at the Venice Film Festival this summer. The online disruptor remains surrounded by controversy within the industry, though, with major exhibitors refusing to screen Netflix titles, because the streaming giant typically releases movies day-and-date worldwide or with a much shorter theatrical window than the conventional 16 weeks. The streaming giant has, though, increasingly begun releasing movies in cinemas with a brief exclusive window. In the UK, that has been through a partnership with Curzon Cinemas and a handful of other venues, including Scotland’s Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Filmhouse – more than a dozen other indie cinemas have petitioned for Netflix to work with them too. (Vue and Cineworld cinemas have both said that they will not be showing Netflix movies in cinemas at present.)

The King has one of Netflix’s largest theatrical windows to date. It was released in select UK cinemas on 11th October, before being available to stream worldwide on 1st November – an almost three-week window that matches that of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. That will also be on the big screen this weekend, with a simultaneous screening across the UK when it closes the London Film Festival on Sunday 13th October.

“With an excellent cast and enjoyably grubby action, this revision of Henry V is far from Shakespeare, but far from dull,” we wrote in our review of The King.

You can currently see it on the big screen at London’s Curzon Victoria, where it is showing twice a day – click here for tickets. It is also showing at the Glasgow Film Theatre from 18th October – find out more here.

Add to Watchlist