Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Media myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The boss of British film studio Working Title has warned that UK government plans to weaken copyright laws to appease AI developers are an \u201cexistential threat\u201d to the country\u2019s creative industries. \u201cWe\u2019ve been making films there for 40 years [and] it\u2019s gone from a cottage industry to a very serious contributor to GDP,\u201d said Eric Fellner, who has co-chaired the group behind the Bridget Jones franchise since the early 1990s. \u201cThe creative industries are now one of the most important parts of the UK economy,\u201d he told the Financial Times. \u201cIf they\u2019re going to give away the IP to the tech companies, that is going to make a huge dent in our future ability to operate and our future ability to generate revenue here in the UK.\u201d Ministers are consulting on plans to require artists, authors and companies to \u201copt out\u201d of allowing their work to be used to train AI programs. The proposals have been criticised by thousands of British musicians and artists, including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, The Clash and Hans Zimmer. Film-making has become a major source of economic growth for the UK, with a system of generous tax credits attracting Hollywood studios to make their blockbuster movies at sites such as Leavesden, Pinewood and Shepperton.\u00a0Film and high-end television production spending in the UK was \u00a35.6bn in 2024, according to the BFI, an increase of almost a third on 2023 and ahead of 2019 pre-Covid production spending.Working Title is best known for some of its romcoms with Richard Curtis such as Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Love Actually, but also has a vast portfolio of more serious dramas such as Senna, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and most recently Substance. The fourth Bridget Jones film, which opened this month, was set to be the largest in the company\u2019s history, Fellner said, predicting that it would surpass the last record for the group of \u00a348mn. \u201cEvery single territory has opened bigger than any of the other three Bridget films,\u201d he added. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy achieved the highest-ever opening for a romantic comedy in the UK, as well as the highest-ever opening for a Working Title film.Fans have flocked to its warmth and comfort at a time when the news is often bleak, while critics say that the movie has played into a trend for authenticity popular with the younger generations. He added: \u201cHow does a crowd of teenagers enjoy a story about people in their 50s struggling with grief and trying to date?\u201dMeanwhile, older generations remember the first movie \u2014 and the popularity of the original, taboo-busting book \u2014 meaning a nostalgic night out with an old friend.Fellner said that audiences had been \u201cpleasantly surprised by the fact that the script is really good\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. the story is a lot more meaningful and emotional than I think anybody anticipated\u201d.\u00a0The franchise had been unusual in seeing the actress who played the part age with the character in the films, he said. \u201cNormally people tend to recast,\u201d he added, but \u201cwe love the character and are really proud of the fact that it\u2019s very rare that a character gets stories told over 20 years, and the actress ages with the character\u201d. He said that too often with sequels \u201cthe creativity becomes tired. It is very, very hard to keep being original in a world where you\u2019ve already told three stories\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Media myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The boss of British film studio Working Title has warned that UK government plans to weaken copyright laws to appease AI developers are an \u201cexistential threat\u201d to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-226098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226100,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226098\/revisions\/226100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}