Latest news with #TheWomaninBlack
The Independent
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Island where Stormzy wrote album and Olly Murs got married could be yours for £25m
An island where Stormzy wrote an album and Olly Murs is reported to have tied the knot has gone on sale with a guide price of £25m. Osea Island is a 380-acre stretch of land situated in the Blackwater Estuary some 40 miles east of central London, which becomes cut off from the Essex mainland at high tide when its causeway is submerged. With a rich history as a secret torpedo boat base during the First World War, and previously as one of England's first addiction rehabilitation centres, the island has since served as inspiration for a host of artists and writers, while setting the scene for numerous films and television series. Under the ownership of music producer Nigel Frieda, known for his work with Sugababes, Osea Island has been home to a recording studio used by artists such as Rihanna, Stormzy and Charli XCX, at a reported cost in 2019 of £20,000 per day. Stormzy described his time spent on the island while recording his 2022 album This Is What I Mean as 'a very surreal, spiritual experience'. It has also served as a wedding venue reportedly used by Olly Murs for his 2023 marriage to bodybuilder Amelia Tank, with a new listing by estate agents describing the island as containing 38 residential properties. Despite viewings being described as 'strictly by appointment', Simon Pelling, of the estate agency Fine and Country, said: 'We already have several bids on it and some of them are in excess of the guide price.' 'We see it going to operators who will use it in a similar way to how it is used now – as a venue, an event space or high-end letting facility,' he told the BBC. Prior to its stint as a recording studio, Osea Island briefly hosted a rehabilitation clinic named the Causeway Retreat, which was reportedly used by Amy Winehouse prior to being shut down by a health regulator in 2010. That period echoed its history in the early 1900s as a rehabilitation centre for alcohol and opiate addiction. The island has also been used to film both the 1989 television adaptation and the 2012 film of The Woman in Black, as well as HBO's The Third Day starring Jude Law, and served as the setting for New York Times bestseller The Club.
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Island which inspired Stormzy, Rihanna, The Woman in Black film and Olly Murs' wedding could be yours (if you have a spare £25million!)
A secluded Essex island where Stormzy wrote an album, Olly Murs got married and The Woman in Black was filmed has gone on the market for £25million. Osea Island in the Blackwater Estuary, which is owned by music producer Nigel Frieda, has 90 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms across a total of 38 residential properties. The 380-acre private estate, which features an ancient Roman causeway and is cut off at high tide, was a secret naval base during the First World War. The island, which also has evidence from the Viking and Norman eras, has its own private landing strip and was previously rented by the singer Rihanna. Rapper Stormzy retreated to Osea with a series of fellow musicians and producers to write his third album This Is What I Mean, which came out in November 2022. He later told the BBC: 'Once you're on the island, you were basically stuck there and we made a big chunk of the album there. It was a very surreal, spiritual experience. 'When people are talking about their spiritual experiences, it's like away with the fairies, but for everyone who was there, we prayed together, we would play football together, we would laugh, we would talk. 'And these were some of the best musicians in the world, and they're some of the best producers in the world and some of the best artists in the world.' Other artists to have recorded there include Jessie J and Tinnie Tempah, while Amy Winehouse attended a rehab clinic on Osea in 2008. Singer Olly Murs, who is from Witham in Essex, married his fiancée Amelia Tank in a three-day festival-style event on the island in July 2023. Osea has also been used a filming location for both the 1989 TV adaptation and the 2012 movie version of The Woman in Black. The 2000 crime film Essex Boys was shot there, as was the 2020 mini-series The Third Day, starring Jude Law, Naomie Harris and Emily Watson. Estate agent Simon Fielding from Fine and Country told BBC News: 'We already have several bids on it and some of them are in excess of the guide price. 'We see it going to operators who will use it in a similar way to how it is used now - as a venue, an event space or high-end letting facility. 'Its proximity to London is a major selling point and it's beautiful.' The firm said Osea also offered 'further development potential and an established hospitality and entertainment business'. Osea has evidence relating back to the Viking, Norman and Roman eras – and was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1066 as 'Uvesia'. The island was bought in 1903 by social reformer Frederick Charrington, part of the Charrington brewing dynasty. He created one of the world's first temperance societies on Osea where alcoholics and people with other addictions could retreat for free help in return for working on the island. Palm trees and fuchsias were planted, a large ornamental seal pond was built and wallabies were even imported from Australia. In 1917 the admiralty requisitioned the island as a top-secret naval base called SS Osea, with 1,000 sailors billeted on what became a base for motor torpedo boats. During the Second World War, the British Army used the island and it was hit by a V2 rocket which had been intended to strike London. Cambridge University took over ownership of Osea following the war, using it as a site of special scientific interest because of its ecology, rare plants, birds and marine life. In more recent decades the island has become a celebrity enclave and been dubbed the 'English Necker Island', after Sir Richard Branson's Caribbean retreat. Osea was bought in 2004 by Nigel Frieda who has produced music for the Rolling Stones and launched the Sugababes. Its initial purpose was as a £10,000-a-week rehabilitation clinic called The Causeway Retreat which opened in 2006. This was attended by singer Amy Winehouse, Take That star Mark Owen and actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers. But in 2010 it was closed down after an investigation by health watchdogs, who then launched a criminal prosecution against the company running the clinic. The firm was taken to court and admitted running an unregistered service and the judge said its standards 'would really shame a Third World country'. Former staff and patients later came forward to describe a shambolic 'Fawlty Towers regime' in which vulnerable patients were at risk. Since then the island has become notable for hosting a range of high-profile music artists who have made the most of its discreet setting. It has been refurbished to provide a luxury retreat, with state-of-the-art recording studio facilities, an event and holiday letting business and private properties. The island now has 38 residential properties, from the Edwardian Manor House to Charrington House which provides a range of luxury apartments converted from a former orphanage. There is also a village pub and static caravans as well as fields for camping, glamping and festivals. Osea has a causeway allowing vehicles to access from the mainland at low tide, while there is also a jetty and dry dock, a light aircraft landing strip and helicopter landing area. In addition, the island features is a water treatment plant and sewage system, electrical substation, walled gardens, orchards, carp lake and swimming pools.
BBC News
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Osea Island, where Stormzy wrote an album, is on sale for £25m
A secluded island where Stormzy wrote an album is on sale - and expected to go for more than £25m ($33m).Osea Island in the Blackwater Estuary near Maldon in Essex is owned by music producer Nigel 380-acre (1.5-sq-km) private estate - where the grime artist worked on his most recent album - has also been rented by the singer Rihanna and used as a film location. One of the estate agents listing the island, which is cut off at high tide, said there had already been considerable interest. "We already have several bids on it and some of them are in excess of the guide price," said Simon Fielding, of Fine and Country."We see it going to operators who will use it in a similar way to how it is used now - as a venue, an event space or high-end letting facility," he singer Olly Murs got married there in 2023. The 1989 television adaptation and the 2012 film of The Woman in Black were both filmed Pelling added: "Its proximity to London is a major selling point and it's beautiful." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Bridget Jones or gorefests for Valentine's? The secret science of film release dates
The milkshake hit the glass office door, erupting on impact. At least, that's how the story goes – a tale whispered around Hollywood about a well-known director, who, years ago, is said to have lost his temper in a meeting with the studio bankrolling his next blockbuster. He'd just been told that the studio's plans had shifted – the film would now be hitting cinemas a few months later than originally agreed. Outraged by this change, the filmmaker flew into a rage, and the contents of his strawberry shake flew across the wall. Rumour has it he stormed out through a door streaked sugary pink, muttering something about sabotage. Whether true or an industry myth, this story speaks to the sensitivity of feeling in the industry around one of the most crucial parts of the Hollywood machine. The release date calendar – what films are released in cinemas when – is, in the words of movie distribution expert Hamish Moseley, 'frantic and fascinatingly complex… kind of like air traffic control,' he laughs. A film's release date can dictate whether it sinks or soars. It can influence what sort of awards season recognition it receives. And with multiplex attendances continuing to decline and the future of the entire theatrical distribution model under threat as distractions like streaming and social media grow in popularity, more rests on this calendar than ever before. 'You need to get the date right. If you get the date wrong then you are really hobbled from the start,' says Moseley, who previously worked as Director of Distribution for Netflix in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (prior to that, he oversaw the UK releases of films like Moonlight, Minari, The Woman in Black and Lady Macbeth). There's 'definitely an art' to how films are scheduled, he says, but it's an art that passes most movie fans by unnoticed. Look at the movie listings for the year ahead. It's easy to guess why Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, hitting cinemas this week, has been given a February 13 launch – the Renée Zellweger franchise has long grappled with the foibles of singledom and quest for true love, making it the perfect comfort watch for filmgoers going through their own romantic trials and tribulations this Valentine's Day. Similarly, you don't need a PHD to work out why Jurassic World: Rebirth is roaring into cinemas on July 2, primed to take a meaty bite out of the box office during Independence Day weekend. The biggest studio blockbusters are historically always released in the summer because 'the summer represents the longest period of holidays and most simultaneous holidays globally, and therefore the largest possible audience for a movie during both opening and playout,' says Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of Distribution for Universal. Less immediately apparent, though, is why January and February sees such an explosion in horror movie releases so far away from Halloween (Drew Hancock's Companion and Oz Perkins's upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Monkey are among this spring's batch of blood-splattered gorefests). Or why, after winning Best Picture at the Oscars with his last film, Parasite, Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17 has been shifted around so many times, with a March 7 release now seemingly locked in. A lot of it is to do with timing, reflecting back moviegoers' emotional states attached to particular times of the year and when the demographic of your film is primed and ready for a trip to the multiplex. Get the timing of a movie right and a smash hit potentially awaits. 'Dating a film in the right corridor to optimise theatrical success is the most important consideration,' Kwan Vandenberg explains, adding that it 'dictates how successful the film will be across its whole lifecycle'. Time a release incorrectly, however, and you're in danger of losing millions. Solo: A Star Wars Story, for example, was given a May 10 2018 release date after a run of Star Wars movies released during the busy Christmas period, which generated billions. 'Solo failed for a lot of reasons, one of them absolutely being complacency when it came to the release window,' says one person familiar with the production, speaking anonymously to protect their relationship with Disney. 'Putting it out in May meant competing with Deadpool 2, released a week earlier. All while Avengers: Infinity War was still breaking box office records. That's a lot of competition for a film going after the same young comic book, fanboy audience, coming so soon after the last dose of Star Wars, which historically has always been event cinema – not something released every six months.' This source suggests that moving the release date a few months further into the summer 'might have made all the difference' when it came to the movie's box office. (With directors often paid a percentage of their movie's total profits, an agreement known as 'back end,' no wonder the occasional milkshake goes flying.) Situations like Solo are why studios operate with a 'certain pragmatism,' as Moseley calls it, when it comes to scheduling their movies around other films that might attract similar demographics. 'There's an understanding that [film] is actually a relatively small industry and we need to help each other out for the greater good of the industry. Because if we have a lot of very large films failing, that's not good for the industry at large,' he explains. 'If a major contender targeted at a similar audience is already dated on a weekend, it [would be] a calculated risk for us to claim the same date,' adds Vandenberg – especially given the boom in popularity around seeing huge cinematic productions like Dune Part II in Imax format. 'There are only so many [Imax] screens,' says Moseley, leading to situations like the stand-off between 2023's Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, released 10 days apart, minimising the amount of 'premium format' showings the Tom Cruise action spectacle could offer audiences and harming its overall box office. This process of 'slot jockeying' blockbuster releases begins to take shape years in advance. 'The larger the film, the earlier on the release date is confirmed,' says Moseley, explaining how this is in part down to the large financial overlay attached to blockbusters. 'If there's a big film like Oppenheimer that Universal have paid hundreds of millions for, and know that they're going to invest another few hundred million into for marketing and PR, that's an incredibly important part of their budget for the whole company for the next few years. And so they need to time that carefully.' Among their considerations as these blockbusters are placed into the movie calendar are all sorts of cultural distractions that might see the film struggle to find an audience. 'The new Grand Theft Auto game coming out this year is a once-in-a-decade enormous event that will wipe out the young male demographic,' says Moseley. 'We know they're going to invest heavily in that game and play it for a period of time in which they'll probably stop going to see films.' 'We do take cultural events into consideration,' says Vandenberg, pointing to sport events like the World Cup as examples. 'We date around certain [football tournaments] depending on each market and how soccer-crazy it is, but we don't avoid those corridors [entirely] since they are still lucrative holiday periods.' Some cultural events, though, have less obvious blueprints for how to navigate. In November 2024, America was due to vote in an election dubbed one of the most consequential of all-time by political commentators. 'Will people not go to the movies because they'll be distracted by the election?' asks Moseley, as an example of the sort of questions facing studio decision-makers. 'Or would it be a great time, because people want the escape? Is it not worth doing because you can't get the word of mouth out there? The media spend in the run-up to the election by Trump and Harris would have been in the billions – meaning there was probably little traditional media [TV ad slots] left to buy to promote your film.' Ultimately, Hollywood steered clear entirely; no major releases hit cinemas the week that America went to the polls, a decision reflective of how 'everyone is scared to make a mistake,' Moseley says. Once the huge tent pole films have their release dates slotted into the calendar, the rest of the movie industry begins a process of 'okay, you're there, so we'll go here,' as Moseley puts it. 'Counter programming is a big thing. January is a big time for awards season contenders like Anora and The Brutalist. But to a lot of people who just want to be entertained, those films feel like taking medicine. They don't want to see Bradley Cooper in black and white, they want to see Jason Statham kicking bad guys' heads in. So there's actually a tradition during the awards window of dumb action films doing very well.' He points to movies like current hits Den of Thieves 2 and Mel Gibson's Flight Risk as examples of this. Problems are mounting for Hollywood, whose 2024 domestic gross totalled just $8.56 billion – a four per cent decline from 2023. With $1.3 billion of that amount courtesy of just one film (Deadpool & Wolverine), it's clearly harder than ever to convince audiences to fork out for cinema tickets, petrol and parking when they're already paying for streaming services at home. This leaves little room for margin when it comes to the movie release calendar, admits Moseley. Luckily, studios have a weapon to help them fight back: a more sophisticated understanding of audience demographics than ever before, and a willingness to try new things. For example, the reason why so many horror movies are in cinemas right now, such as Universal's Wolfman, is because 2022's surprise smash M3GAN revealed that 'horror films are great date movies,' he chuckles. 'And so horror films can often do very well around Valentine's Day. That took a long time to figure out.'
