Royal Film Performance

The Royal Film Performance is a trademarked event owned by The Film and Television Charity,[1] formerly known as the Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund CTBF (from 1964 to 2017) and previously the Cinematograph Trade Benevolent Fund (from its inception in 1924).[2] The events showcases a major film premiere and is attended by members of the British Royal Family. The proceeds from the event help the charity to offer financial support to people from the film, TV and cinema industries.

The event began in 1946, as the Royal Command Film Performance, with a screening of A Matter of Life and Death. The charity first received Royal Patronage in 1936, and so the idea of a Royal screening was born. The original date of the first event was 18 October 1939 and it was to be called the Royal Cine-Variety Performance, but it was postponed due to the outbreak of World War II.

The "Royal Command" name was changed from 1949, to Royal Film Performance, on the basis that the choice of film was that of the CTBF rather than the Royal Family.[3] There was no performance between 2015 and 2019 while the CTBF was reformed as The Film and Television Charity.[4] There was no event in 2020 or 2021 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The most recent Royal Film Performance was the UK premiere of Top Gun: Maverick at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on 19 May 2022. The event was attended by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.[5] There was no event in 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. The next event is the global premiere of Ridley Scott's Gladiator II, which will be taking place on 13th November 2024, during the centenary year of The Film and Television Charity.

History of events

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Year Title
2024 Gladiator II
2022 Top Gun: Maverick
2019 1917
2015 Spectre
2015 The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2013 Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2011 Hugo
2010 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
2009 The Lovely Bones
2008 A Bunch of Amateurs
2008 The Other Boleyn Girl
2006 Casino Royale
2005 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2004 Ladies in Lavender
2003 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2002 Die Another Day
2001 Ali
2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
1999 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
1998 The Parent Trap
1997 Titanic
1996 True Blue
1995 French Kiss
1994 Miracle on 34th Street
1993 The Man Without a Face
1992 Chaplin
1991 Hot Shots!
1990 Always
1989 Madame Sousatzka
1988 Empire of the Sun
1987 84 Charing Cross Road
1986 White Nights
1985 A Passage to India
1984 The Dresser
1983 Table for Five
1982 Evil Under the Sun
1981 Chariots of Fire
1980 Kramer vs. Kramer
1979 California Suite
1978 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977 Silver Streak
1976 The Slipper and the Rose
1975 Funny Lady
1974 The Three Musketeers
1973 Lost Horizon
1972 Mary, Queen of Scots
1971 Love Story
1970 Anne of the Thousand Days
1969 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1968 Romeo and Juliet
1967 The Taming of the Shrew
1966 Born Free
1965 Lord Jim
1964 Move Over, Darling
1963 Sammy Going South
1962 West Side Story
1961 The Facts of Life
1960 The Last Angry Man
1959 The Horse's Mouth
1957 Les Girls
1956 The Battle of the River Plate
1955 To Catch a Thief
1954 Beau Brummell
1953 Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue
1952 Because You're Mine
1951 Where No Vultures Fly
1950 The Mudlark
1949 The Forsyte Saga
1948 Scott of the Antarctic
1947 The Bishop's Wife[6]
1946 A Matter of Life and Death

References

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  1. ^ "Film and TV Charity | Film and TV Charity". Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  2. ^ Film and TV Charity: Our history
  3. ^ Russell-Smith, Penelope (15 November 2002). "The Royal Film Performance 2002". The Royal Family (Press release). Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  4. ^ The Film and Television Charity [@FilmTVCharity] (31 August 2018). "Hi @Gertsroyals" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ^ Ward, Victoria (19 May 2022). "Top Gun: Maverick – Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend premiere with Tom Cruise". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  6. ^ "'Bishop's Wife' Named Royal 'Command' Pic". Variety. 22 October 1947. p. 3. Retrieved 15 January 2024 – via Internet Archive.
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