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The boss of British film studio Working Title has warned that UK government plans to weaken copyright laws to appease AI developers are an “existential threat” to the country’s creative industries.
“We’ve been making films there for 40 years [and] it’s gone from a cottage industry to a very serious contributor to GDP,” said Eric Fellner, who has co-chaired the group behind the Bridget Jones franchise since the early 1990s.
“The creative industries are now one of the most important parts of the UK economy,” he told the Financial Times. “If they’re going to give away the IP to the tech companies, that is going to make a huge dent in our future ability to operate and our future ability to generate revenue here in the UK.”
Ministers are consulting on plans to require artists, authors and companies to “opt out” of allowing their work to be used to train AI programs. The proposals have been criticised by thousands of British musicians and artists, including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, The Clash and Hans Zimmer.
Film-making has become a major source of economic growth for the UK, with a system of generous tax credits attracting Hollywood studios to make their blockbuster movies at sites such as Leavesden, Pinewood and Shepperton.
Film and high-end television production spending in the UK was £5.6bn in 2024, according to the BFI, an increase of almost a third on 2023 and ahead of 2019 pre-Covid production spending.
Working Title is best known for some of its romcoms with Richard Curtis such as Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Love Actually, but also has a vast portfolio of more serious dramas such as Senna, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and most recently Substance.
The fourth Bridget Jones film, which opened this month, was set to be the largest in the company’s history, Fellner said, predicting that it would surpass the last record for the group of £48mn.
“Every single territory has opened bigger than any of the other three Bridget films,” he added. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy achieved the highest-ever opening for a romantic comedy in the UK, as well as the highest-ever opening for a Working Title film.
Fans have flocked to its warmth and comfort at a time when the news is often bleak, while critics say that the movie has played into a trend for authenticity popular with the younger generations. He added: “How does a crowd of teenagers enjoy a story about people in their 50s struggling with grief and trying to date?”
Meanwhile, older generations remember the first movie — and the popularity of the original, taboo-busting book — meaning a nostalgic night out with an old friend.
Fellner said that audiences had been “pleasantly surprised by the fact that the script is really good . . . the story is a lot more meaningful and emotional than I think anybody anticipated”.
The franchise had been unusual in seeing the actress who played the part age with the character in the films, he said.
“Normally people tend to recast,” he added, but “we love the character and are really proud of the fact that it’s very rare that a character gets stories told over 20 years, and the actress ages with the character”.
He said that too often with sequels “the creativity becomes tired. It is very, very hard to keep being original in a world where you’ve already told three stories”.