■ More money was taken at UK and Irish cinema box offices last year than ever before. That’s quite an achievement, though to some extent this is because the price of tickets is pretty high, particularly at chains such as Picturehouse and Everyman. At least they have comfy seats, unlike many Vue and Odeon cinemas.
Takings of £1.32bn even beat those for 2015, which saw some real biggies released, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Spectre. Last year’s top two were Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — yes, a British film taking shedloads of money. Both movies are still in our cinemas.
Yet there’s not much correlation between box-office success and awards. Not a single winner at the Golden Globes last Sunday was in last year’s UK movie top 10. As for next month’s Baftas, only Fantastic Beasts, which is one nominee among six for outstanding British film, and Finding Dory, up for best animated film, were on that list.
■ I am not surprised by the success of La La Land at the Globes (see awards feature), or by its many Bafta nominations, but I suspect that the incredibly powerful and moving Moonlight will not get its due reward. Yet here is a film about a young gay black man (a double outsider), in which all the other key parts are taken by black actors, being released after rows last year over their lack of representation in movies and awards. Its director, Barry Jenkins, is also black.
■ Talking of audience figures, the second episode of the latest series of Sherlock drew an audience of just 6m last Sunday: the lowest since it began in 2010, and way down on the New Year’s Day opener. Sherlock, frankly, has lost the plot. Clearly the viewers agree.
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■ Cheers from the art world, and from me, that Maria Balshaw is to be the next director of the Tate empire — the two London galleries, Modern and Britain, and the ones in Liverpool and St Ives. She was always the frontrunner to succeed Nick Serota.
Not only has Balshaw been running the Whitworth Art Gallery, in Manchester, and overseen its refurb, she is the head of Manchester City Galleries, and more recently served as the city’s director of culture. So she has impressively broad experience. She will arrive at Tate with two newish and good directors at Modern (Frances Morris) and Britain (Alex Farquharson). She must give them autonomy.
Tate’s gain is, however, Manchester’s loss. At least she leaves the city with its galleries in fine shape — and on Thursday it got the go-ahead for a £100m arts complex, Factory, on the site of the old Granada TV studios, a project Balshaw oversaw as head of culture. It is due to open in 2020, so maybe it’s a good time for pastures new.