Momentum Pictures (also known as Momentum) was one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and released approximately 20 theatrical films a year, with several dtv releases.
Momentum's most successful theatrical releases include the Oscar, BAFTA and BIFA-winning The King's Speech, Amélie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation, Control, Downfall, The Young Victoria, Defiance, Milk, Let the Right One In, The Illusionist, Just Friends, District B13 Ultimatum, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Law Abiding Citizen, Glorious 39, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Red Tails and P.S. I Love You.
The studio has also released several family films, such as Hoodwinked, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (co-distributed with United International Pictures as part of a two-year agreement), Arthur and the Invisibles and Igor, as well as the home video rights for popular TV series Creature Comforts.
Dead Man Down, Snitch, 21 & Over, In the House, The Bay, Antiviral, Safe Haven, Uwantme2killhim? and Dark Skies were among the last films before released under the Entertainment One banner.
On 9 January 2013, Entertainment One acquired the parent company of Momentum, Alliance Films.
British art curator Harry Deane (Colin Firth) decides to seek revenge on his abusive boss Lord Shabandar (Alan Rickman) by conning him into buying a fake Monet ("Haystacks at Dusk"), a painting that has been missing since 1945, after being plundered by the Nazis. He teams up with a master art forger, the Major, and travels to Alpine, Texas to find rodeo queen, PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz) whom he plans to recruit in his scheme. Harry envisions the plan in his head, and goes to a bar to talk to PJ. PJ's friend Merle, angered by his advances, punches Harry in the face and a bar fight is started. PJ walks outside to find Harry and the Major cleaning their wounds, and they talk to her about the deal. She agrees and the next day the three drive out to PJ's grandmother's mobile home out in the desert. They hang the fake Monet on the wall and take a picture with the painting in the background. The picture is to appear with an article on the rodeo queen that will be published in a magazine that is part of Shabandar's media empire.
Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a political refugee from Chechnya who has been tortured by Russian security forces, enters Hamburg, Germany, illegally.
In a confessional, a parishioner talks to Father James about his horrific childhood sexual abuse by a priest. He says he will kill James at the beach the next Sunday, because James is a good man and it would be worse and more disconcerting for the Catholic Church than killing a bad priest; in any case, the offender has already died.
In the future, humanity is preparing to launch an attack on the homeworld of an alien race called the Formics who had attacked Earth and killed millions. Over the course of fifty years, gifted children are trained by the International Fleet to become commanders of a new fleet for this counter-attack.
Welcome To The Punch relates the story of a former English criminal Jacob Sternwood (Strong), who comes out of hiding in Iceland, in an effort to save his son when a heist goes wrong. Sternwood is the one man that London detective Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) has always been after. During their cat-and-mouse game, the two become unlikely allies, working together to expose a deeper conspiracy. Solve it, they live; fail, they die.
T.S. Spivet (Kyle Catlett) is a 10-year-old prodigy with a passion for cartography and scientific inventions. He lives on a ranch in Montana with his mother (Helena Bonham Carter) who is obsessed with the morphology of beetles; his father (Callum Keith Rennie), a cowboy born a hundred years too late; and his 14-year-old sister (Niamh Wilson) who dreams of becoming Miss America. His twin brother Layton (Jakob Davies) died in an accident involving a firearm in the family's barn, which no one ever speaks of. T.S. was with him, measuring the scale of the gunshots for an experiment, and he doesn't understand what happened. One day, T.S. receives an unexpected call from the Smithsonian Institution, telling him that he is the winner of the very prestigious Baird prize for his invention of a perpetual motion machine and that he is invited to a reception in his honor where he is expected to give a speech. Without telling anyone, he sets out on a freight train across the United States to reach Washington, D.
Daisy, a neurotic and anorexic American teenager, is sent to the English countryside for the summer to stay with her Aunt Penn and her cousins, Eddie, Isaac, and Piper. She arrives at Heathrow Airport to tightened security and reports of a bombing in Paris, and Isaac drives to her cousins' farm, which she discovers to be dilapidated and very messy. Although initially abrasive, Daisy warms to them upon learning that her deceased mother used to stay there frequently. She also falls in love with Eddie, her eldest cousin, finding him to be as introverted and strong-willed as she, and noticing his unusual, almost mystical connection to animals. A few days after her arrival, her aunt flies to Geneva to attend an emergency conference because she is an expert in terrorist extremist groups, and the group take advantage of her absence to explore their local woodlands.
The plot takes place in Beecham House, a retirement home for former professional musicians, patterned after the real-life Casa di Riposo per Musicisti founded by Giuseppe Verdi.
The film opens with Super 8 footage depicting a family of four standing beneath a tree with sacks over their heads and nooses around their necks. An unseen figure saws through a branch acting as a counterweight, causing their deaths by hanging.
The movie is about an unemployed football fanatic named Mike Jacobs (played by Nick Nevern) who becomes a major credit card fraudster and gangster. The movie depicts the lifestyles of luxury, frivolous spending and violent reprisals of its criminal underworld. Alongside the main character is Mike's old friend named Eddie (played by Simon Phillips) who introduces Mike into the business of the fraud. There is also the portrayal of Mike's girlfriend Katie (played by Rita Ramnani) who is faithful to Mike but not supportive of Mike's choice of lifestyle.
In an Edwardian-era English village, Crythin Gifford, three little girls are having a tea party with their dolls in an attic. They are smiling and having fun when they suddenly look at something in the corner. Then they stand up and walk trance-like to a window and jump to their deaths with blank faces.
Marty Faranan (Farrell) is a struggling writer in Los Angeles, California who dreams of finishing his screenplay, Seven Psychopaths. Marty's best friend, Billy Bickle (Rockwell), is an unemployed actor who makes a living by kidnapping dogs and collecting the owners' cash rewards for their safe return. His partner-in-crime is Hans Kieslowski (Walken), a religious man with a cancer-stricken wife, Myra. Billy helps Marty with Seven Psychopaths, suggesting he use the "Jack of Diamonds" killer, perpetrator of a recent double murder, as one of the seven "psychopaths" in his script. Marty writes a story for another psychopath, the "Quaker", who stalks his daughter's killer for decades, driving the killer to suicide and ultimately cutting his own throat to follow him to hell.
The film follows Londoner Kerry (Anna Skellern) and her American boyfriend Brody (Scoot McNairy) as they travel to Dartmoor for a camping trip. Brody has decided to document their trip with his video camera. He grows irritated and jealous when Kerry invites her cousin Leo (Andrew Hawley), although Brody tries to hide this by acting friendly towards Leo. The trio stops by a pub, where they hear the story of a local legend called The Huntsman, who carves crosses into the foreheads of sinners before killing them.
Brandon (Michael Fassbender), a New York City executive, flirts with a woman wearing an engagement ring on his morning commute. She reciprocates, but when they exit, she disappears into the crowd. He masturbates in the bathroom at work. Brandon and his married boss David (James Badge Dale) hit on women at a club; later, Brandon has sex in a tunnel with the woman David was pursuing.
A married couple Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne), their sons Dalton (Ty Simpkins) and Foster (Andrew Astor), and infant daughter Cali have recently moved into a new home. One night, Dalton is drawn to the attic when he hears creaking noises and sees the door open by itself. He falls from a ladder while investigating and sees a figure in the shadows. Hearing his terrified screams, Renai and Josh rush to his aid and declare the attic "off limits" to the children. The next day, Dalton falls into an inexplicable coma.