STOCKING ADS SHOW A LEG ON TV…
UPDATE ON INDUSTRY-WIDE CAMPAIGN
GUARDIANS ROCKETS UP THE CHARTS
APES DON’T MONKEY AROUND EITHER
DISNEY CELEBRATES…
EXTINCTION IS ALIVE…
INBETWEENERS: OUTBACK, UP FRONT AND ON SHELVES
ALI TITLE FLOATS INTO STORES AND CINEMAS
TRINITY TO RELEASE SHOWBOX, CINE-ASIA TITLES
NETWORK RE-SIGNS WITH ITV
BLINKBOX NOW HAS “ALL MAJOR RELEASES”
ARROW; SENDER’S MESSAGE TO TRADE…
…WHILE ITS VIDEO IMPRINT LAUNCHES Q1 TITLES
EUREKA UNVEILS 2015 TITLES TOO
EXPENDABLES PAIR ARRESTED IN UK
AMAZON’S NEW STREET: FROM RIPPER TO NORMAL
CURZON HOME CINEMA GETS EVEN SMARTER
WARNER SUPPORTING CREATIVE
BLACK FRIDAY UPDATE
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
EVENT OF THE WEEK
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It Was A Good Week For... Disney, with Guardians Of The Galaxy flying off the shelves and its Star Wars trailer debuting to acclaim…
It Was A Bad Week For… Two men arrested for uploading the The Expendables 3 earlier this year…
The industry will be bringing Christmas stockings to life from this weekend, as Saturday November 29 sees the debut of TV spots using that exact message to push the seasonal Blu-ray and DVD gifting market, as well as individual titles. As reported here previously, assorted distributors and suppliers are joining forces for the marketing campaign, with all ads carrying the same message at the end. It’s been put together under the watchful eye of the BVA, which has helped pull its members together for the campaign. The first fruits of the campaign have started appearing in the press this week, with TV spots breaking on Saturday, with plenty more to follow, As outlined previously, the campaign is aiming to position DVDs and Blu-rays as the perfect gift, the magic home entertainment gifts can bring to the whole family and to “mobilise consumers into picking our exciting products as gifts for lived ones”. Keep an eye out for them in the coming days and weeks. Here’s one of the spots due to appear…
And here’s BVA chief executive Liz Bales giving a full update on the Christmas stocking initiative: “Each year, we know that Christmas has begun when the buzz about retailer’s television adverts raises to a din. Brand advertising has become a focal point in the build up to Christmas where the latest creative from John Lewis to Argos attract much greater debate than turkeys and tinsel. This year the ‘Bring your Christmas stocking to life with Blu-rays and DVDs’ campaign allows us to wrap promotion of a host of exciting releases as the perfect Christmas gift. We’ve already seen the campaign in Metro, Time Out and Evening Standard as well as point of purchase in Morrisons and as we move into the peak gifting weeks we’ll see further activity across National Rail, London Underground, nationwide newspapers and magazines, and TV. The initiative is the first time a collection of distributors have supported one unique gifting message, flexible enough to sit across all video titles, promoting DVD and Blu-ray. It will deliver a media investment in excess of £2 million driven by a collection of seven distributors and attracting a sizable proportion of the total £8 million being invested in gifting activity by the sector this year. We’re delighted the campaign has been warmly welcomed by retailers, who have whole-heartedly supported this new direction. We hope this landmark Christmas media campaign will mark the beginning of a new era of cross-sector collaboration which will continue throughout 2015. Look out for the first Universal television spots appearing Saturday 29 November, with the illustrious X-Factor spot appearing the following week.”
So, how was your Black Friday? And week in general? Monday November 24 saw a whole host of biggies arriving in stores, with Guardians Of The Galaxy and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes leading the way. As the working week drew to a close, the former was ahead of the latter, with both performing strongly. Strong sales this week, coming on the back of the success of the likes of Transformers: Age Of Extinction last week and, before that, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, means that, as a whole, November should be posting some strong industry-wide figures. Commenting on the sales performance, Official Charts Company’s Martin Talbot said: “It’s a great week for Guardians Of The Galaxy this week, with 320,000 copies sold after just four trading days since release on Monday. That’s easily the best first week since the summer, since the Lego Movie in July that is – which did 480,000 in its first week and is now the fourth biggest title of the year on 960,000 units sold. With Dawn Of the Planet Of The Apes also chalking up 180,000 in four days, it’s a strong week all round – 18 per cent up on last week, growth which can be seen right across the chart, down to the bottom of the Top 200. That makes for an increasingly strong November, with Transformers Age Of Extinction and X-Men Days Of Future Past both debuting with quarter of million sales each in the past two weeks.”
As we noted above, Disney has had a strong week, beginning with release of Guardians and ending with the launch on Friday of its Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer. Guardians was propelled to its strong week one performance by a marketing campaign running through its physical and digital releases, pre and post release, with the creative playing up both action and comedy elements. Social and PR elements were key too, with Disney achieving plenty of exposure in stores. As Disney’s Steve Woodward said: “Following the huge box office success of Guardians of the Galaxy we are delighted it has continued its successful run with the physical and digital release. We are overwhelmed with the public’s response to these new, fresh, original and comedic characters. Our campaign was designed to position the release amongst a broader audience as a ‘must-see’ movie, as well as reigniting the existing Marvel fanbase. Everyone needs a touch of Rocket and Groot in their lives.”
Again, as outlined by Official Charts Company, Transformers Age Of Extinction started strongly too, with a 250,000-plua first week. As Paramount’s Barney Hands said: “Transformers: Age Of Extinction looks to be one of Q4’s best performing titles in terms of box office conversion and was certainly the number one title in a crowded release week - so we’re naturally delighted with that. We’ve delivered a solid, consumer marketing campaign – backed by best in class retail execution and a title that created the hottest toy franchise for Christmas 2014 – so we anticipate solid sales from a highly-engaged fanbase through to Christmas and beyond.” Next up from Paramount, on Monday December 1, is Hercules, with Dwayne Johnson as the eponymous first action hero and with a PR push in place, including interviews with its star, as well as WETA special effects types, it could be a strong title…
Speaking of Monday December 1 releases, the biggest due on Monday, certainly in terms of box office haul, is The Inbetweeners 2. 4DVD is billing it as the comedy event of the year. We already sent out an Inbetweeners special newsletter (you can see it here) but here’s an update from 4DVD’s Claire Bosak: “The Inbetweeners cast are fully supporting the home entertainment release and were on The One Show and Good Morning Britain. They also visited the British Armed Forces troops currently stationed in Cyprus to give them screenings of the film. They’ll be on BBC R1 Matt Edmundson on Friday, TalkSport Drive Show, Kiss, Heat and Zoo radios and many other regional stations. And will also feature in Heat magazine release week. We have extensive TV advertising that started on Monday November 24 and will run through to the end of December. This is supported by outdoor advertising roadside six-sheet panels, mall six-sheet panels and digital bar panels nationally at the beginning of December. Online and social advertising activity has been running since early October across Facebook, Twitter, Google Search, YouTube and Amazon and will continue through to the end of the year. We are very excited about an on-pack promotion to win a holiday for two to Queensland, Australia that will be promoted on the initial print run offering an even greater incentive to purchase. And we’re also running a reader offer with The Sun this weekend. Channel 4 are really getting behind the DVD release and are offering another Australian holiday promotion. This is being supported with a substantial TV campaign across Channel 4 and E4 which also promote the DVD release. The Inbetweeners Movie will air on Channel 4 on Saturday November 29 at 9pm and the cast’s favourite episodes will be shown on E4 on Sunday from 9pm which will be another boost for the brand and the new movie release on Monday. And lastly, there will be substantial presence with pos featured across all retail.” Phew…
While the discussions over global day and date releases – on a different day from Monday – are still raging, predominantly across the music industry (see here for ERA's thoughts), Friday November 28 saw a rare physical release date for a title, even more unusual because boxing doc I Am Ali, which Universal hopes will become this year’s Class Of 92, was released across cinema, digital AND physical formats. Commenting on the release, Universal’s Emma Kay said: “We are very excited for first true day-and-date release across Universal with cinema, physical and digital all on Friday November 28. Maryum and Hana Ali, Muhammad Ali’s daughters, completed a jam-packed interview schedule ensuring coverage across broadcast, mainstream and sports print and online. All our publicity and advertising carries all format and release messages therefore giving the consumer the choice of how they would like to watch this fantastic documentary.” It’ll be interesting to watch the results of this one…
Deal of the week has been announced by independent imprint Trinity, which has signed a contract which will see it releasing titles which were once under the Showbox and Cine-Asia operations in the UK. It takes in an impressive roster of titles which includes the likes of IP Man, IP Man 2, Little Big Soldier, Confucius, Shaolin and Mulan on the Cine-Asia side, while the Showbox titles take in the likes of Ichi The Killer, Henry Of Navarre and Feed. Titles – some 170 SKUs in all, will be available through the likes of Amazon from next week, with physical copies available from January. Sales and distribution is being looked after by Kaleidoscope. Trinity is planning assorted Steelbooks, box sets and special editions and is promising online on-demand initiatives. Trinity’s Cedric Behrel said: “We are absolutely over the moon to be able to bring back a much cherished catalogue to avid fans with such luminaries as Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Chow-Yun Fat. Showbox and Cine-Asia were the number one destination for some of cinema's most iconic action stars, and we will do our utmost to maintain that position and build up this unique library by breathing new life into it. First off, we will work on long-awaited Steelbook editions drawn from the classic Cine-Asia titles, as well as boxsets that offer the chance to (re)discover some lesser known gems and harder to get titles amongst the more known ones. Overall, we recognise fans haven’t been able to get their hands on some of these films in the formats they want at an attractive price, and that is exactly what we are setting out to repair.”
More deal news and Network has re-signed its ongoing output deal with ITV for a further 10 years. It will see Network continuing to mine ITV’s vast TV archives to bring both commercial, well-known programmes and cult series to DVD and Blu-ray. The previous 10-year deal resulted in some 1,500 releases. Network is promising more hidden gems as well as restoring and preserving much-loved shows, as well as exploring digital routes to market too. Commenting on the deal, Network’s Tim Beddows said: “"Network has become ITV’s significant partner in releasing archive TV and film into the home entertainment market over the years, and I am delighted that our relationship will continue for a further ten years with more programming and extended rights. We're also continuing to restore classics from the vast library. Indeed, work on the long-awaited second series of Space: 1999 is currently underway.”
And yet more, as blinkbox has announced a deal which, the service says, means it now covers ALL major new film releases in the UK. Entertainment is the last of the big distributors to sign up with the deal, with its titles, such as American Hustle, The Butler and Transcendence, meaning blink box no boasts of 100 per cent coverage of big releases. It follows hot on the heels of recent deals such as the one signed with Channel 4 and its 4DVD imprint. blinkbox director of content acquisition and sales Douglas Davis said: “The new deal with EFD means we have 100% coverage of major new release movies released in the UK, strengthening our position as the UK’s go to service for those wanting to rent, buy and enjoy the latest movies and TV on multiple devices, without being tied into a subscription or one specific brand of device. And only blinkbox allows you to earn Clubcard points as you buy and rent your digital films.” The company’s cel Adrian Letts added: “The ability to watch offline on tablets is one of the most frequently requested features and will transform the way many customers use blinkbox – whether that’s by allowing more freedom to watch what they want in the home – or taking their entertainment on the move.”
Arrow has also unveiled more acquisitions, picking up Return To Sender from Voltage Pictures, making it a hat-trick of titles acquired from the production powerhouse. The latest features Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike and Nick Nolte and joins the previously announced Politics Of Love and Good Kill, among others, and further beefs up the company’s increasingly hefty looking 2015 slate. Commenting, Arrow acquisitions director Tom Stewart said: “2015’s ambitions is very much a strategic move to release films that have very strong potential from Theatrical through to all the platforms. It’s a very crowded market out there so we need bigger titles to grow our business, counter-balancing with our success in international TV series and Arrow Video. The Voices, Nailed, Good Kill and Return to Sender are significant investments for an independent distributor so we certainly expect these and more to demonstrate strong commercial success for the UK retail market.”
It’s worth a quick reminder that Arrow staffers have been raising cash for for a good cause under the Movember banner. with the company’s md Alex Agran leading the way. In his reminder for sponsorship, his email update raised a smile or too. As Agran noted: “I’ve been called the love child of Bobby Ball and Hitler, scared children for sport including my own and have walked around Soho for an afternoon with a half a bowl of noodles on my face without realising it. Plus my wife, Fiona retches every time she sees me.” It’s your last chance to sponsor him over here http://mobro.co/alexagran
Sticking with Arrow and the company’s Arrow Video and Academy imprints this week went through social media channels to unveil their line-ups for Q1 – to a rapturous response from devotees. The former has Michael Mann’s first film Thief, another early Cronenberg in the shape of Rabid, more Vincent Price in The Comedy Of Terrors, standard Steelbook and traditional releases for Withnail And I and more. The Academy imprint has a few doozies in the shape of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing and Killer’s Kiss, with a further Blu-ray bow for cold war masterpiece The Manchurian Candidate. Commenting on the releases, Arrow Video’s Francesco Simeoni said: “We’re thrilled to be announcing a great slate of titles for our two labels Arrow Video and Academy. There’s blu-ray premieres galore including key cult and arthouse films like Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing and Frank Sinatra in The Manchurian Candidate as well as wider availability releases like Withnail & I and specially packaged fan favourites like Rabid and Thief in limited edition releases. The response on social media has been nothing short of ecstatic and we look forward to bringing these titles to market in the new year.”
Also using the likes of Facebook and Twitter to unveil its Q1 slate this year was Eureka, announcing titles for both its Masters Of Cinema and Eureka Classics imprints. The slate includes Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney in Two For The Road, directed by Stanley Donen; Metropolis [Reconstructed & Restored], in a Steelbook and including Giorgio Moroder’s updated version of the sci-fi classic; epic holocaust documentary Shoah on Blu-ray for the first time, with accompanying Four Films After Shoah available as both a complete version and a standalone DVD set. There’s also blaxploitation stylings in Ganja & Hess, Sidney Lumet’s The Offence, starring Sean Connery; psychological horror The Other and Elia Kazan’s Wild River, starring Montgomery Clift and appearing for the first time in the UK on Blu-ray. Further titles include pacifist film Wooden Crosses; Fellini’s Satyricon and Anthony Mann’s Man Of The West, starring Gary Cooper. Also in March comes Alain Resnais’ final film Life Of Riley, first as a theatrical release. Commenting on the slate, Eureka’s Ron Benson said: “New restorations and home viewing and Blu-ray premières abound - we continue our quest to release the very finest in world cinema, using the very best available materials, all with a meticulous attention to detail."
Big news of the week in the ongoing fight against piracy came from the UK’s very own police unit dedicated to fighting counterfeit goods, the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, aka PIPCU. The controversy over the leaked copy of The Expendables 3 has been simmering since it appeared via Torrent sites ahead of the film’s theatrical release earlier this summer. And this week PIPCU officers, working with local police, swooped on two addresses in the north of England – Dewsbury and The Wirral – arresting two men, aged 36 and 33 years old respectively. The men were questioned about stealing the film from a cloud-based system and uploading it, which cost Lionsgate and production company Millennium Films in the UK and around the world. They were questioned and investigations continue. PIPCU chief DCI Danny Medlycott said: “Today’s operation shows you the significant impact intellectual property crime has on our creative industries, with millions of pounds being lost as a result of criminal actions. The public need to be aware that piracy is not a victimless crime. By downloading illegal music, film, TV and books, not only are you exposing your own computer to the risk of viruses and malware, but you are also putting hardworking people’s livelihoods at risk as piracy threatens the security of thousands of jobs in the UK’s creative industries.”
Amazon’s Ripper Street us currently doing the business on its Prime Instant Video service and it’s this week announced a new arrival, albeit at the opposite end of the scale. Live action kids’ series Gortimer Gibbon’s Life On Normal Street will appear on Friday December 19 and comes through its open door submission policy for programming. All episodes will appear at the same time. It’s been created by teach turned writer David Anaxagoras and executive produced by Luke Matheny. Commenting on the arrival, Amazon Studios’ head of kids’ programming Tara Sorensen said: “We’re thrilled to bring to our customers something exceptional and truly distinctive in today’s kids landscape. Luke and David have fully realised a nostalgic and cinematic adventure series that organically blurs the line between imagination and reality, which will resonate remarkably with kids and families.” You can see the trailer here.
And over at Curzon Home Cinema, the on demand operator has announced it has upgraded and improved its smart app for Samsung’s TV systems through its Smart Hub. The Curzon Home Cinema Smart TV app offers new menus including “Most Watched” and “Featured Films” and showcases Curzon’s recently refreshed service. It’s also far easier to navigate. Curzon Home Cinema director Phil Mordecai said: “We are extremely proud and excited to be working with Samsung to bring the new-look Curzon Home Cinema experience to Smart Hub TV viewers. Our mix of curated seasons and pioneering cinema content together with an enhanced user experience make the Curzon Home Cinema App on Samsung Smart Hub the clear choice for film fans across the country.” Doug d’Souza from Samsung Electronics added: “The Curzon Home Cinema App on the Samsung Smart Hub not only makes independent film more accessible to viewers but its enhanced functionality also ensures choosing a film has never been easier. At Samsung we are committed to offering viewers the best possible content on our Samsung Smart Hub and the Curzon Smart TV App broadens our already wide film choice.”
Agency Premier has announced it is to move offices, taking up residence over five floors at new premises in Bucknall Street, London, WC2. The new building will be able to house its burgeoning production services and digital and creative services teams, as well as offering studio space for photography and junket purposes. Commenting on the move, executive chairman John Reiss said: “2014 has been Premier’s best ever trading year, and as a result we are keen to move to a property that allows us to grow further as we take our unique offering as a fully integrated communications agency into our next, exciting phase. The property at Bucknall Street is full of character and quirky charm and will be a wonderful place to house our hugely talented teams across Creative Production Services, PR, Events & Experiential and Brand Partnerships right at London’s entertainment heart.”
It’s good to see Warner continuing its support of young talent in the UK and Ireland as part of its Creative Talent initiative. Its latest announcement concerns the Irish side of the business, where it has awarded a scholarship to screenwriting student Daniel Kelly. It will provide him with finding support, a paid work placement, screening access and mentoring support. It’s already provided scholarship support elsewhere, apprenticeships, trainee positions, training courses, work experience and more. As Warner’s Josh Berger noted: “Awarding our first scholarship to a student in Ireland demonstrates our desire to support the next generation of talent in the countries in which we operate. Selected for his potential and commitment to joining the industry, Daniel will now have the funding to develop his skills and gain vital experience that we hope will equip him for his future career.”
And we’ll end with more from the world of retail, as, in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the middle of something of a silly season, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and a whole host of other offers have driven sales across not just the entertainment business, but elsewhere too. Acres of coverage has been penned already – next newsletter we’ll be presenting some feedback on the event, but, despite the negative publicity, the likes of hmv and Amazon both made capital from the event. And the digital world took full advantage of the day too. PlayStation Store was offering 40 per cent of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, while others, such as Captain Phillips and Elysium were on sale at 25 per cent off…
“Securing court orders requiring ISPs to block access to illegal websites is an accepted and legitimate measure to tackle online copyright infringement. It carefully targets sites whose sole purpose is to make money off the back of other people’s content while paying nothing back into the legitimate economy.”
The MPAA’s European chief Chris Marcich, quoted after ISPs were ordered to block a further 32 Torrent and other sites linked to illegal downloading…
EVENT OF THE WEEK
We were lucky enough to see Studiocanal’s much-talked about family film Paddington. And guess what? It’s one of the finest family films we’ve seen for ages. The reviews are spot-on and the fun was heightened by the addition of free marmalade sandwiches…Expect this to do big box office and, in 2015, home entertainment business too…
AT THE MOVIES
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire got off to a suitably hefty start – its £10.32 million opening weekend haul was the best yet for the franchise. The only other new entry came in the shape of the event cinema screening of The Barber Of Seville, which took more than £200,000 on its live airing in cinemas. The Imitation Game is now approaching the £7 million mark and Interstellar has no gone past £15 million.
The on off saga of the sequel to Independence Day is back on the agenda again. Fox had already earmarked a release date, but the official green light was finally given to the film this week. This means its release in the summer of 2016 is looking like a goer, although, given its May shooting start, it will be tight. Roland Emmerich is set to direct, although he has yet to sign on the dotted line. Cast will be finalised after this formality…
It’s been a relatively quiet week for the superhero world, although Inside Llewyn Davis’ Oscar Isaac has confirmed he will star as the villain in the next X-Men blockbuster Apocalypse, another title due from Fox in the summer of 2016.
Oh, and there’s more too: Warner has, according to reports, picked a director for its upcoming big screen take on DC comic book character Wonder Woman. Michelle MacLaren, whose CV boasts such high profile TV outings as Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. As previously announced, Gal Gadot will star as the eponymous heroine.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
The one everyone’s been talking about this week. Apart from the other trailers, of course…
Hang on, is this this week’s most talked about trailer? It’s certainly ace…
Alright then, this is DEFINITELY the week’s most talked about…
More Franco and Rogen. Includes obligatory swearing:
Vince Vaughn. Red band. You know the drill.
Another Kingsmen trailer, still looking ace…
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