Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Alexander Dreymon, Harry Gilby, Mark Rowley, Arnas Fedaravičius, Cavan Clerkin, James Northcote DIRECTOR: Edward Bazalgette CINEMATOGRAPHY: Luke Bryant MUSIC: Danny Saul, Eivør Pálsdóttir PRODUCTION: Carnival Films

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (2023). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

The producer Nigel Marchant revealed that talks about a film had been proceeding following the launch of The Last Kingdom's fourth series in April 2020. In October 2021, prior to the fifth series of The Last Kingdom being released on Netflix in early 2022, the feature-length sequel to the series was announced at the MCM London Comic Con by Dreymon, who acted as executive producer as well as starring as Uhtred. It was given the working title Seven Kings Must Die and would follow events of the series which took place over a circa-45-year period of history from 866 onwards focusing on the Kingdom of Wessex and ongoing Viking incursions into England.

The screenplay for Seven Kings Must Die was written by Martha Hillier with direction by Ed Bazalgette and production by Marchant, Gareth Neame and Mat Chaplin. Alongside Dreymon, Hillier also served as executive producer. It was produced by Carnival Films and distributed worldwide by NBCUniversal International Distribution. Principal photography began in Budapest in January 2022, and wrapped by the end of March 2022.

Several characters portrayed by series regulars on The Last Kingdom were cut from the film during production which included Lady Aelswith (Eliza Butterworth), King Edward (Timothy Innes), Lady Aelfwynn (Phia Saban), Cynlaef (Ryan Quarmby) and Uhtred's elder children Stiorra (Ruby Hartley) and Young Uhtred (Finn Elliot) due to the condensed running time from the change in format. The screenwriter Martha Hillier stated that "It was heartbreaking..." she began. "But we only really had a certain amount of real estate and we couldn't service all the characters. It's a much more single protagonist story".

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 1 win total

CRITICAL RECEPTION

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82%, based on 17 critic reviews with an average rating of 7.1/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 48 out of 100, based on 6 reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Leslie Felperin in The Guardian said that the film has "a ton of plot crammed tightly into the running time", but that the director "Edward Bazalgette manages the storytelling efficiently". Jo Berry in Digital Spy described a "beautifully filmed action adventure with a watchable lead in Alexander Dreymon". Catharine Bray for Variety praised Pekka Strang in his role of the Danish warrior King Anlaf whilst saying it is "probably not a film that will engage too many people outside the show's existing fanbase" but that it "is most interesting, however, is in its approach to religion, sexuality and culture" and the blending of peoples, beliefs and values similar to the modern day.