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RAYGUN PARTY POSTPONED
NORMAN ABBOTT RIP
IT’S NEARLY TIME TO DIUE
BFI TOPS S&S POLL…
…INDICATOR’S SUCCESS A GOOD SIGN…
…AS SECOND RUN’S MASTERS SCORE BIG
ACORN’S MYSTERIES
RESPECT WHEN YOU COME HOME
DAZZLER GETS CLOSE
ICON GETS ‘APPY…
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
It was a good week for… Bond's nearly here…
It was a bad week for… Raygun Christmas Social has breen postponed for obvious reasons…
Firstly, we’ve spent the last few weeks flagging up our Raygun Christmas Social, but the news in the past few days concerning the ongoing Covid-19 battle, the new Omicron strain and the switch to the government’s Plan B, have thrown a spanner in the works, not least because everyone will be working away from the office, back at home and away from the centre of London. And the increases in transmissibility and more mean that more people will be nervous about going out, even if they are jabbed and boostered. Hence, after discussions with some planned attendees and our host Mark Oakley, the former UK video staffer who now owns the venue we were due to throw the social at, The Eagle in Vauxhall, we have decided to postpone the event until the new year and things are clearer and safer for attendees. We want the event to be welcoming for all and decided to host it when people feel safer. We’re eyeing a date later in February 2022, or even into the spring, when the Eagle’s lovely garden will be open. We can only apologise for this, but we really want it be be the west we can and for everyone to attend safely. And what’s more, we would rather err on the side of caution… More news in 2022…
This just in, ahead of a full story on the next issue of the newsletter, but Norman Abbott, the former director general of trade organisation the British Video Association (now BASE), who helped launch the organisation in the face of media and government hostility in the early days of the business. It was under his stewardship that the industry faced some of the toughest days, not least from the video nasties moral panic and the first wave of cassette video piracy, while he also helped with the transition of the business from its initial shady origins through to respectability. Former BVA staffer Fran Howells, who worked with him during the Association’s early years, said: “He was a true gentleman and he will be sadly missed.” Our thoughts are with his family and frienda. More next week.
There’s little more than a week to go until the December 20 release of not only the year’s biggest film, but the highest grossing film of the pandemic years and also one of the biggest titles ever. We are, of course, referring to the latest James Bond outing, No Time To Die. As the film is set to arrive Monday week, Universal is just putting the finishing touches to its campaign, with it currently breaking everywhere in the run up to the release. Universal’s Stephanie Don told The Raygun: “With just one week to go until release our campaign has kicked into full gear as we continue to drive pre-orders and pre-awareness with media and publicity activity ramping up across TV and VOD, radio, social, digital and much more, including two standout pieces of activity going live this last week with TV's I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and in the Radio Times Christmas issue which will together reached a combined audience of over 10 million - making sure everyone knows to expect Bond in their Christmas stocking this year!”
We mentioned the annual Sight & Sound poll of critics of the film of the year, with The Souvenir Part II winning out, in the last newsletter and promised more when we’d seen the magazine, which hit the shelves this week. As ever, alongside the best films of the year at cinemas, it also features a top 10 Discs Of The Year. The individual votes of the industry insiders, experts and critics it called on to give their individual charts will be online shortly, but the counting is done for the year’s best, and the voting came out in favour of the BFI’s home entertainment arm with the news that Madchen In Uniform, the 1931 German Weimar Republic drama that is "a milestone of queer cinema”. What’s more, the magazine noted, the release was “contextualised superbly by the ever-brilliant BFI label by way of audio commentary, a video essay, episodes from a podcast on the film and shorts from the BFI National Archive. It capped a strong performance for the organisation’s home ent arm, with a further three titles (Marlene Dietrich at Universal, Maeve and I Start Counting all featuring in the top 10. The BFI’s Phil Roberts said: "We are all delighted with our strong showing in the best of 2021 poll. It is a real testament to the expertise and knowledge of our producers, contributors and designers who work so hard to put together our releases.”
Also featuring heavily in the Discs Of The Year chart is independent Powerhouse and its excellent Indicator Series. It featured with its ongoing Columbia Noir series – which, if we’d voted wold easily have been among our best releases of this or any other year, it really is a superlative collection of marvellous films you might not have heard about, B movies and dark thrillers wonderfully remastered with fascinating extras and in-depth booklets – as well as its Howard Hawks screwball comedy 20th Century. Sam Dunn from the label said: “It's always humbling to have our work recognised in this way. Our Columbia Noir box sets, which were voted at number four in the poll, have been incredibly well received, and I'm delighted to say that 2022 will see us releasing more in the series. Our exciting news is that 2022 will see us publishing many of our editions in both the UK and the US. We have already announced world Blu-ray premieres of a collection of controversial, rarely seen 1970s British films, all in new Powerhouse restorations (including Peter Sellers starrer, Hoffman, unsettling domestic-abuse drama The Brute, and trailblazing gender identity comedy, Girl Stroke Boy), but this week we revealed details of our March titles. Including two exquisite 1930s Mexican horror films, La llorona and The Phantom of the Monastery, and a pair of uncompromising, offbeat westerns: Budd Boetticher's rarely seen A Time for Dying, and Philippe Mora’s Mad Dog Morgan, featuring a typically edgy performance from the great Dennis Hopper, these world Blu-ray premieres, all newly restored and featuring extensive extras, have been pre-ordering extremely well, and have inspired a great deal of excited discussion across forums and social media. As we enter the new year, we'll be making some announcements about a number of exciting, surprising box sets.”
Another company scoring big, with two titles in the 10, was Second Run, which saw its Adoption placed at number two and its Hungarian Masters: Three Films By Zoltan Fabric Istvan Gaal and Miklos Jancso at number 10. And Monday December 13 sees the release of the latter title, as the Hungarian Masters arrives in store. Comment on the release came from the company’s Chris Barwick who said; “Our biggest project of the year - and out in time for Christmas – HUNGARIAN MASTERS is a collection of essential works by three of Hungarian cinema's most renowned filmmakers. Three celebrated films are presented from stunning new 4K restorations and released for the first time anywhere on Blu-ray. The set includes Zoltán Fábri’s 1955 classic Merry-Go-Round (beloved by Francois Truffaut and Jean Cocteau, as well as inspiring generations of Hungarian filmmakers, including the great Istvan Szabo who’s interviewed about the film on our disc); István Gaál’s Current from 1963, (much admired by, among others, Pier Paolo Pasolini); and Miklós Jancsó’s Agnus Dei (1970). We’ve long championed Jancsó’s work and Agnus Dei is another dazzling example of his cinematic mastery. We hope people will find this set will be a fond introduction to the marvels of Hungarian cinema.“
Acorn is keeping itself busy in the TV arena, with Monday December 13 seeing The Madame Blanc Mysteries joining Dalgliesh, released December 6. Here’s Acorn’s Helen Squire on the two titles, with Dalgliesh first, She said: “Dalgliesh is based on the novels of PD James and stars Bertie Carvel (Doctor Foster) who has been widely praised for his performance in the title role. The show broke Channel 5’s records for viewing figures when more than 4 million people tuned in and it’s easy to see why people wanted to spend time with this cerebral detective. This quality crime drama now comes to DVD. The Madame Blanc Mysteries has also premiered with great success on Channel 5 and has brightened up our dark Saturday evenings recently. It’s a warm, touching drama and stars Sally Lindsay as Jean White who loses her husband and discovers a gift for solving crime in the sunny south of France while looking for answers pertaining to his death.”
Also on Monday December 13 is the latest from Universal, the musical biopic Respect which charts the life and times of the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin. It stars Jennifer Hudson in a rightly acclaimed performance as the preacher’s daughter, in a role the Daily Mail said “hits all the right notes and gives an astonishing, Oscar-worthy performance”. Alongside Hudson, there are further great turns from the likes of Forest Whitaker, Tituss Burgess, and even Mary J. Blige. Universal’s Emily Evans said: “If you’re looking for a high quality, moving film about one of the music world’s biggest icons, this is for you”.
Meanwhile, with releases due this Monday and the following start of the week, December 20, it’s a busy year-end for Dazzler Media. This too come of the back of what the company says has been “a very big year”, withy hits such as It's A Sin (c4), and A Discovery of Witches (Sky) both of which reached number one the itunes chart and the TV genre chart. It’s also included homegrown drama such as Bloodlands (BBC), Tin Star Series 3 (Sky), The Drowning (c5), Stephen (ITV), Lie With Me (c5), Hollington Drive (ITV), Manhunt 2 (ITV) and Pursuit of Love (BBC). And now to end the year Dazzler will be releasing Close To Me (Channel 4) a psychological drama based on the best-selling novel by Amanda Reynolds, Larkins (ITV), a delightful Sunday night drama based on the H.E Bates’ novel The Darling Buds of May and Cobra (Sky) a gripping political drama with a prime minster out of his depth. As the company’s Paul Holland said: “UK drama has never been in a better place and we are delighted to be able work with some of the very best talent and distributors and we are ending the year with the three of the best dramas which we are delighted to be releasing over the next two Mondays.”
News from the streaming side of the business, with the Icon Film Channel streaming service announcing that it is launching its own standalone app and platform following its successful debut through Amazon earlier this year. The service, available as a subscription starting at £4.99 a month with a further option to rent selected titles from £2.99, contains a wealth of films from the Icon catalogue, taking in everything from Drive to Gosford Park and Apocalypto and Passion Of the Christ to Kevin And Perry Go Large, with further additions promised every month. The app is available through multiple different platforms and some of the titles added every month will be exclusive. IFC comes under the KFilm banner, with sister companies including Kaleidoscope Film Distribution and Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment. KFilm’s chief operator office Adam Sergeant who said: “We are thrilled to be launching IFC as a standalone app. It is the next evolution of a film brand renowned for its quality and independent spirit, combining Icon’s extensive catalogue of classic and award favourites, home-grown titles, acclaimed directors and leading ladies and gentlemen, with both new to service and often fully exclusive to IFC only, content. It’s the next step in our ongoing mission to provide a truly 24/7 viewing experience for our customers.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It all begs the question: Why do DVDs and Blu-rays still exist? And why does Technicolor expect to print and ship 750 million discs this year? The answer is simple: Some people still buy them—though not necessarily who you’d think. While pop psychology would suggest that older generations are clinging to their love of the physical disc, those over the age of 60 make up a smaller proportion of the disc-watching population than their share of the total US population. Instead, those aged 25 to 39 are more likely than most to watch DVDs, according to the MPAA. And they’re often collectors, locked into building out their collections. ‘I think the term ‘legacy format’ plays into this,’ says Tony Gunnarsson, principal analyst of TV, video, and advertising at Omdia. ‘We have people who have been buying and renting DVDs for so long that they continue to do so.’” From an excellent article in Wired about physical media… Read the rest here https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dvd-sales-streaming
AT THE MOVIES
Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming epic tale Oppenheimer, about the scientist who helped develop America’s nuclear capability, has already been pored over endlessly, not least because of the director’s high profile transfer to Universal for the big budget outing. And now its ever-growing cast list has swelled even further with the addition of even more big names to join the likes of Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon. Latest superstars joining the film, which is not scheduled to open until the summer of 2023, include Bond baddie Rami Malek, Florence Pugh and Benny Safdie…
Also, ahem, swelling, and turning into an even bigger package is the forthcoming Magic Mike sequel. We’ll drop the innuendo now, but the Channing Tatum starrer, now due for a third instalment, has added to its cast. As reported last week, Steven Soderbergh is back in the director’s chair for what is set to be the final film in a trilogy, entitled, Magic Mike’s Last Dance. And now Thandiwe Newton has been confirmed as joining the line-up for the film… Expect big things, etc…
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun…
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Idris steps up for the Sonic sequel…
It’s getting closer…
And here’s another Warner biggie…
Malick doc, Pitt narrates…
Also due from MUBI…
A new take on a classic tale…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnu396uPox4
Lor’ luvaduck me old chinas, Guy’s back…
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