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How two Minions named Henry and James made their indelible mark in 1920s Hollywood – premieres in the Annecy International Animation Festival 2026 which runs from Sunday, 21st June to Saturday 27th June, then out in UK cinemas on Wednesday, July 1st

It’s clear from its opening frames that this new Minions movie is going to be something a little bit different. It opens with the present day Universal Pictures logo which then turns into a montage of the same Studio’s logos going right back to the 1920s. After that, there’s a montage of Minions appearing in seminal moments of early movie history – leaving the factory with workers or catching a train at the railway station in the Lumière Brothers films, appearing in the queue for the rocket and as the face of the moon in A Trip to the Moon, (Georges Méliès, 1902).

Next, an enthusiastic guide (voice: Alison Janney) is showing a party of bored tourists round a Universal Studios museum dedicated to the history of Hollywood. After even the spectacle of George Lucas (voice: himself) in a glass case (make that imprisoned in a glass case) fails to excite them, she is astonished to discover that, approaching another exhibit, none of them have heard of Minion movie pioneers James and Henry.… Read the rest

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Martin Scorsese talks about the seminal British filmmaking duo, and how they inspired his own movies – out in UK cinemas on Friday, May 10th

As a child, Martin Scorsese suffered from asthma and would constantly find himself at home while other kids were outside playing. He often found himself sitting front of the black and white TV watching a show called Million Dollar Movie. This would show a movie a week, playing it several times, and it was at a time when US producers wouldn’t sell their movie rights to TV but British producers would. Consequently, he grew up watching black and white versions of old British movies.

The ones he particularly liked opened with an arrow hitting a target: “a production of the Archers. Written, produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.” When this logo and these names appeared, Scorsese always knew he was in good hands. He watched these movies over and over again whenever they were shown, and learned much of his filmmaking craft from them. The first of these films to which he thrilled didn’t have this logo: it was the Alexander Korda production of The Thief of Baghdad (Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, 1940) and parts of the film have the unmistakeable Powell visual stamp.… Read the rest