Empire of Light

Details

Release year: 2022

Storyline

A drama about the power of human connection during turbulent times, set in an English coastal town in the early 1980s.

Top credits

Awards

0 wins & 1 nomination

Did you know

• The actual Dreamland cinema in Margate (which stood in for the Empire cinema in this film) was opened in 1923. It changed hands several times during its lifetime and finally closed for good in 2007. It still stands, although empty, because it is a listed building and so cannot be demolished without parliamentary approval. The block of flats where Steven lives with his mother is not an optical effect: it is really is that close to the building (with Margate railway station being just 100 yards up the road).

• Although this is Sir Sam Mendes' ninth film as a director, "Empire of Light" marks the first time he directed from a screenplay he had written entirely himself. All of his other films, including a co-writing credit for the film 1917 (2019), were directed from scripts by other screenwriters.

• The film makes reference to the terms 'rude boy' and '2 tone', terms from a period in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The terms refer to some young musicians (both black and white) who were born and raised in the UK and who started to adopt the dress sense and musical influence of ska-based Jamaican dance hall music but with a British spin on it. The movement is thought to have originated in the city of Coventry; its most famous proponents included bands like The Selecter, The Beat, The Specials and Bad Manners. The most internationally successful of these bands was 'Madness', whose earlier hits were considered to be heavily influenced by the 2 tone movement.

Box Office

Gross (Domestic): $1,177,577

Opening Weekend (Domestic): $163,405 (2022-12-11)