The Kings Speech

The Kings Speech is a film about King George IV (Colin Firth) overcoming his stammer using the help from a very different speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). King George IV works past his problems to become the great war time speaker he father intended and give the country hope during the second time England has faced war.   

Bitishness

This film is thought to be a very British film. This is because it is a very British theme of the film; you can’t get much more British than British royalty. The Kings Speech is also classed as a very British film as it is set in the capital of England and in a time which is a key part in British history. This film also has predominately British actors, director (Tom Hooper) and writer (Davis Seidler).

Exhibition

The Kings Speech did very well on its opening weekend, it grossed £3,523,102 (UK) (7 January 2011)(IMDB). This film was also well received, Will Chadwick from We Got This Covered said ‘The King's Speech features a fantastic, awards courting performance by Firth and is also brilliantly written, resulting in a surprisingly tense and very entertaining watch.’ November 9, 2013. The film was not received well by everyone and had criticism, Jeremy Heilman from MovieMartyr.com ‘The tone shifts, lamentably, from one buoyed by awkward comedy and very British charm to one that is more concerned with decorum and duty. What was a remarkably entertaining costume drama soon becomes a remarkable slog.’ February 25, 2011.

Production Issues

This film was produced by The Weinstein Company, UK Film Council, Momentum Pictures, Aegis Film Fund, Molinare Investment, FilmNation Entertainment, See-Saw Films and Bedlam Productions. All these production company’s put together and produced a budget of $15 000 000(IMDB) for the film to be produced
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Distribution and Marketing Issues

The Kings Speech didn’t have a big budget so the marketing was simple and relied a lot on word of mouth, posters were produced. One of these posters (poster shown) is relatively simple, it has the two main actors name above the title to try and draw more appeal. This poster shows a familiar scene from Buckingham Palace and draws together the whole film.