That was the point of it though - at a time when it was quite difficult to see a lot of independent, 'arthouse' or foreign language films, here was a channel specialising in them and showing them uncut, advert free and in their original aspect ratio for £6 per month. In the late 90s / early 2000s that was something quite unique and very appealing to film buffs. it wasn't quite as niche as you remember- whilst it was very different from the Film4 of today it had a really interesting mix of films, including some well known classics. I had the channel for a while on On Digital and it was an interesting alternative to Sky Movies which was more blockbuster focused then than the slightly broader range of films it now shows.
Yes, it was quite the talking point when it began, lots of people were very excited about it. I remember there was a big piece about it on Right to Reply at the time, because a viewer only wanted to subscribe to Film Four and didn't want any other channel at all, and moaned at great length about how you had to subscribe to other channels as well.
The opening night in 1998 was simulcast on Channel 4- and presented by Johnny Vaughan.
Yes, and the week before Channel Four had a special week of programming with particularly acclaimed Films on Four every night. The opening night was indeed simulcast on C4, but with one difference - the films had adverts in them on Channel Four but not on Film Four. The films all started at the same time but ended earlier on Fim Four so they had a couple of short films while C4 caught up. There were a couple of other occasions when they simulcast (with adverts) - they did so for their first anniversary, and I remember watching Reservoir Dogs in April 1999 which was being shown on both, I think they billed it as the first in a series of simulcasts.
Johnny Vaghan did have a film review show in 1999 - called, er, The Johnny Vaughan Film Show - but it was on Channel Four, not Film Four.
Granada made the 2001 American film, Ghost World. They also made a couple of made for TV films for ITV back in the late 1990’s.
They did indeed, including this one -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls'_Night
I'm not sure it got a theatrical release in Britain, it did elsewhere, but I remember ITV billing it as a film premiere when they showed it in 1999, and William Phillips in Broadcast referred to as the first "Film on Three". I'm not sure much else came out of that, though.
And when Sky Movies became Sky Premier, when they were supposed to be turning it into the British HBO (when they were going to show comedy and drama on it, before they changed their mind and put all that on Sky One instead), one of the big new selling points was that they were going to be commissioning their own films. I think they only made one, though -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Tales