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SAINSBURY’S EXITS HOME ENT
GROCER GIVES ROOM TO CLOTHING, HOMEWARES
BASE: UK CONSUMERS CAN STILL GET PHYSICAL
FUTURESOURCE: UK STILL A MASSIVE MARKET
US VIEW: CUSTOMERS STILL WANT DISCS
SPOTLIGHT FALLS ON THE US D2C MARKET
US AHEAD OF THE CURVE
THEATRICAL DOWN, VIDEO UP FOR BBFC
BBFC: “LAST YEAR WAS TOUGH”
INCOME HIT AT RATINGS BOARD
ROCKY, OTHERS CHANGE CERTS
AND I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE STILL CAUSING ISSUES
FRIGHTFEST BACK ON THE SQUARE FOR AUGUST
SIGNATURE MAKES ITS MARK AGAIN
101 HAS THE SWEET STUFF FOR FRIGHTFEST
MAID UP FOR SPARKY
DEGI APPOINTS TO BOARD…
AS PEARCEY SIGNS UP FOR INDIES
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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“The supermarkets will walk away from video as soon as it stops making money for them.” So the refrain from independent video rental dealers used to be during the 1980s and particularly the 1990s when the grocers were embarking on heavy cut-price discounting on blockbuster film releases, using them as a loss leader to entice customers in-stores and increase basket spend. That prediction may have been a long time coming true – and there are few rental dealers left to say "I told you so" – but supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has confirmed that it is exiting the physical home entertainment market and will no longer stock DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs in its stores. But – as trade organisation BASE and other industry insiders have noted following the confirmation – the other big supermarket chains are still committed to home entertainment and physical media, meaning that it’s not a wholesale exit for the entire sector. Somewhat ironically, Sainsbury’s will still be be stocking one physical format – vinyl records, as the revival in the format’s fortunes continues.
Explaining its decision, Sainsbury’s said that consumers preferred to uy entertainment digitally online – it had previously launched its own digital service before shuttering the service. A statement from the retailer said: “Our customers increasingly go online for entertainment, so earlier this year we took the decision to gradually phase out the sale of DVDs and CDs, so that we can dedicate extra space to food and popular products like clothing and homewares.”
BASE has made its own statement after the news, telling the industry – and consumers – that there was still plenty to be optimistic about. Liz Bales, CEO of BASE, said: “The physical home entertainment market has shown amazing resilience over the last 12 months with consumers seeking out TV, catalogue content and premium formats, but there is no doubt that the opportunity to own new film releases excites consumers and drives significant DVD and Blu-ray sales. We were so happy to see the amazing and impactful in-store for Godzilla vs. Kong in June and the second half of 2021 is bursting with new content, and with it, the opportunity for distributors to creatively collaborate with our retail partners on family films such as Peter Rabbit 2, superhero instalments like Marvels Studios’ Black Widow and thrillers like A Quiet Place Part II. In 2020, 7 million disc-buyers continued their love affair with the category, with high value and premium formats performing particularly well, a trend we are sure to see continue with the inclusion of 4K disc players in the newest games consoles providing the potential for millions more to discover the ultimate viewing experience. While our colleagues will miss working with the Sainsbury’s team in the imminent future, UK consumers still have plentiful opportunities with UK grocers, entertainment specialist retailers, online retailers and non-traditional retail locations to continue to enjoy an experience we all know and love – excitedly grabbing a copy of a film you’ve been desperate to see and heading home for a spontaneous movie night in.”
Further words of comfort came from David Sidebottom at Futuresource, who acknowledged that the growth of EST had done for physical media in Sainsbury’s, but noted that the UK is still one of the world’s strongest markets for DVD and Blu-ray. He told The Raygun: “It’s obviously been a challenging period for physical video retail, compounded by the growth of digital services and limited new release slate, with total UK consumer spend on EST set to exceed physical sell-through in 2021. However, the UK is set to remain one of the largest physical media markets in the world despite structural changes, behind the USA, Japan and Germany.”
The Raygun also asked US expert John Buffone, executive director and industry analyst at the NPD Group – who’d been presenting at the latest BASE Spotlight Session a few days earlier – about his views on the future of physical media. He said: “We still have customers out there who value the physical property. And as long as that’s the case, we need to deliver that to the consumer. We’ve seen a resurgence in consumers interest in vinyl records, and there are collectors still into CDs. There will always be a place for physical media, we have to manage what the distribution of that is going to look like.” Buffone also said that there are still plenty of areas where broadband was not good enough to download or stream films. As the capacity was not there. “There are markets where it has more value than others– the last time we researched it 71 per cent of households in the US had capability of 25mb per second or greater, enough to stream video. But that also means 29 per cent of households don’t have the bandwidth. Those customers still want to engage with and like to watch movies. And they can see them with packaged media. Rural and underserved markets don’t have the same opportunity to stream, you need to give them the opportunity to watch films.”
The NPD Group’s John Buffone was one of the key presenters at the BASE Spotlight Session on Wednesday afternoon, with the session offering up a view on D2C from the US. Buffone looked at “retaining viewer engagement” from the scores of consumers who had flocked to a booming home video market during the pandemic. He noted that even as consumers began getting out and returning to experiential activities, “that doesn’t mean the sky is falling, we're still at heightened levels of viewership”. He told The Raygun later that the market would transition into a more traditional marketplace with services using for a great share of views. “All the streaming services are going to have to work hard to make sure they make more content available, with exclusive programming and they’re going to have to keep them engaged.” He said consumers were more likely to sign up for a service when they were specifically looking for something to watch on it. “If the viewer knows the exact programme they want to watch is on a specific service it’s generating significantly more sign up; that’s opposed to where we have friction in the equation and they have to work out where to get the TV programme or the movie they want to see.” Marketing messaging should tie into that, as well as the device access. He also said services should also message the movies as well as television content. “There’s a myth out there that it’s all about TV programming. It’s not just about that,” he concluded. “There remains room for growth, but it’s becoming a battle for share of time. There is still an appetite to see more.”
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion, with Buffone joined by Andrea Downing, president at PBS Distribution. Max Einhorn, svp of acquisitions and original production at FilmRise as well as our very own Liz Bales, chief executive at BASE and DEGI. She said: “The US is far further ahead on the path than other territories. We still seem to view D2C as the new kid on the block but if we look at the proportion revenue its controlling across many of the European territories it’s pushing 75 per cent or more of home entertainment revenue and and it’s fascinating to see what it does to everyone else in the film and TV eco-system.” She added that the average consumer is talking to three services, two that they’re paying for and one they’re sharing passwords for, as well as using VPNs.
Ratings and classification organisation the BBFC has published its annual report for 2020, outlining its work during the pandemic where, for the first time ever, its examiners rated films remotely from home. Its report shows that while cinema ratings submissions fell drastically – the total of 619 films classified in 2020 was almost half that of 2019’s just over 1,100 titles – but video submissions for DVD and Blu-ray actually rose, albeit slightly, to 4,033, again a sign of the times during the pandemic. There were 2,310 submissions for online, digital ratings, while the BBFC’s partnership with Netflix continued, and, as the report noted, “the streaming service [achieved] 100 per cent coverage of BBFC age ratings and ratings info on [its] UK platform”. The 15 certificate remains the most common – for online and physical media, there were 2,548 works given that age rating. Interestingly, many of the films classified for theatrical were re-releases, with one on 23 films classified for theatrical being older titles.
Comment on the report came from chief executive David Austin, who said: “Last year was one of the toughest years that the film and TV industry has ever seen. But, even with the challenges we have all faced, we are proud to have continued our work providing straightforward advice that helps families decide what to watch with confidence, both in the cinema and at home. Despite lockdown, people’s appetite for film and episodic content has only continued to grow. We are delighted that cinemas are now opening again, production studios are back filming, and more families can once again share a special big screen experience together. The pandemic has also underlined the importance of our work in the online space - with more people watching content on streaming services than ever before, it is vital that families are provided with trusted advice, age ratings and tools that we know they need to choose content well.”
The pandemic has also hit the BBFC’s income hard, although it still has investments and other holdings to vote the losses. As the report explained: “COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the BBFC’s income streams in the short term. The directors are monitoring the situation carefully and taking appropriate action to reduce costs, while planning for the future. Any cash deficit will be funded through the sale of investments. The directors are also taking advantage of some of the measures that the UK Government has made available to support businesses through the period of disruption caused by COVID-19. The impact of COVID-19 on classification income has been considerable. Income from film classification, which accounted for 27 per cent of classification income in 2019, has suffered a 54 per cent reduction year on year. We expect film submissions to gradually increase in the run up to the reopening of cinemas but do not anticipate income levels to recover significantly until the end of the year. With fewer cinema films being released and productions being postponed, there has been an inevitable decline in DVDs released and therefore submitted for classification. Other revenue, including income from our Watch and Rate service, has been unaffected.”
It’s interesting to note too that reclassification was one of the most talked about issues of 2020, with many classic titles earning new ratings, some moving up for issues such as for outmoded now offensive language, while others went down to reflect changing attitudes. The report said: “As a result of changing standards in society, it’s not infrequent that a distributor will submit something to us that we have classified in then past but which we need to take a fresh look at under our current guidelines. In 2020 we reclassified some high-profile titles. We had given Rocky, the classic 1976 boxing drama, an A certificate when we first classified it, and it has always been a PG on video. For its 2020 theatrical re-release, we reclassified it 12A for moderate violence, mouthed strong language and domestic abuse. Other films that we reclassified upwards to 12A in 2020 included the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (for moderate fantasy violence and threat), which brings it into line with the other two films in the trilogy, and two popular 1980 films re-released to celebrate their 40th anniversaries: the sci-fi fantasy Flash Gordon (for moderate violence, language, sex references and discriminatory stereotypes) and the biographical drama The Elephant Man (for moderate threat, upsetting scenes and injury detail). Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was also rereleased, and we classified it PG for moderate violence and mild threat. By contrast, the 1984 sports drama The Karate Kid, a PG with cuts for its original theatrical release and a 15 uncut on video since then, is now suitable at 12A uncut for moderate violence and drug references. And The Fast and the Furious, the first film in the popular series, and a 15 upon its original release in 2001, is now a 12A for infrequent strong language, moderate violence and sex references.”
Some familiar names cropped up in the BBFC report too – titles such as the original I Spit On Your Grave and Dawn Of The Dead are still causing much conversation and analysis at the BBFC years after they originally fell foul of the Board. The report stated: “The 1978 ‘rape revenge’ thriller I Spit on Your Grave, in which a woman seeks vengeance on the men who brutally assaulted her, has a long classification history. We have previously classified it 18, but always with cuts to the protracted scenes of rape. The film came in to the BBFC once again in 2020 in its uncut form. However, we considered the film’s scenes of sexual violence to remain in breach of BBFC Guidelines, policy and the Video Recordings Act 1984, and so we once again required the existing cuts before we could classify the film 18 for sexual violence, sadistic violence and nudity. The sequel, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu, in which the relatives of the gang who raped the woman in the past target her, also came to us for classification in 2020. Although the film contains some of the contentious sexual violence material cut from the original work, the film presents it in a different context and lacks the same impact or aggravating factors, as does the wider content in the sequel. Consequently, we classified I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu 18 without cuts, for sexual violence, sadistic violence, gore, nudity.” On Dawn Of The Dead it said: “Our guidelines state that we are likely to classify the strongest gory images 18 rather than 15. This requirement resulted in us classifying Zombi, a reformatted version of George A. Romero’s influential 1978 zombie horror Dawn of the Dead, 18 for gory detail. In scenes retained from the original film, zombies use their teeth to tear flesh from humans, and survivors retaliate by dismembering the undead with gunshots, machetes and other weapons. Dawn of the Dead carries a historical 18 rating, with previous cuts restored, and we determined the adult classification for Zombi was reasonable and defensible.”
As promised here last week, Arrow Video FrightFest has unveiled its slate for the eagerly awaited event due to take place over the August bank holiday weekend, running from the Thursday through until the Sunday (August 26 through to 30), or at least part of it, with the event heading back into an actual cinema, taking over Cineworld in London’s Leicester Square. You can see the titles revealed here, www.frightfest.co.uk, but the event will open with Neill Blomkamp’s new outing Demonic, which Signature has in the UK. The District 9 and Chappie helmer made it as a secret offering during lockdown. Other titles include Broadcast Signal Intrusion, the first tile completed through FrightFest’s own New Blood initiative. FrightFest’s Alan Jones said: “Like every other film festival this past year, the Arrow Video FrightFest has had to adapt to the difficult circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Our last three events may have taken place entirely online but you can’t keep a commended vanguard of international genre cinema down for too long and Team FrightFest has been working tirelessly to make sure our banner 22nd event will tick every box you’ve been desperately missing. Let’s face it, for the past year it has felt like we’ve been extras in the longest, flattest and most boring sci-fi movie ever, but now we are free at last to meet up with our Arrow Video FrightFest friends and acquaintances again for a much needed and well deserved in person horror fantasy binge.”
Signature is, as ever, well represented, with Demonic and others. The company’s Emilie Barra said: “We are thrilled to once again have our film selected for the prestigious opening night film slot at the upcoming Frightfest festival this August, following 2019's COME TO DADDY triumph. And what a way to start festivities but with District 9 cult director Neill Blomkamp and his secret project, DEMONIC. We are so excited to mingle with fellow genre fans again and give our key genre releases the best platform this summer. Watch this space! FrightFest is always an important event for Signature and the audience and curators achieve such a tremendous launch for the eclectic and diverse programme. We are looking forward to seeing everyone once again to celebrate after a tough year.”
101 Films has a brace of titles we’re dying to see and the company’s Tim Scaping said: “As long-time attendees of the festival, it's fantastic to see FrightFest return to Leicester Square after last year's enforced absence, and we're especially excited to have a pair of standout films screening over the weekend. The intense and chilling NO MAN OF GOD stars Elijah Wood as FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier, assigned to interview serial killer Ted Bundy (an uncanny Luke Kirby) during his final years on death row. The home entertainment release will follow in the weeks following its premiere, so if you can't make it to Leicester Square you won't have too long to wait to see what is sure to be among the highlights of the festival. In stark contrast, the outrageous Kazakh comedy-horror SWEETIE, YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT really has to be seen to be believed (or not...), as a group of hapless friends find themselves caught up in a series of violent events that escalate to jaw dropping effect. Release isn't likely to be until early next year, so I'd certainly recommend grabbing a ticket for this one if you can –it's sure to be a word-of-mouth hit and one the most talked-about films of the weekend.”
Former hmv and Icon staffer Ian Dawson’s Sparky Pictures is also among those screening, with the company showing its forthcoming title The Maid there. Dawson said: “‘We are thrilled to be able to show this sensational film on the big screen at Leicester Square. The opportunity to debut the film in front of a crowd of horror aficionados provides the perfect platform from which to bring the film into homes in October.”
News from the Digital Entertainment Group International, with new appointments to the board of the pan-European organisation. The new appointees are Joe Braman, vp, international account management at NBCUniversal and Ruth Sharp, vp and head of digital distribution, Warner Media UK and Ireland, who have joined as co-chairs. They will work alongside ceo Liz Bales and director Amy Jo Smith in helping work internationally to drive consumer engagement with home entertainment. Braman said: “I am thrilled to be joining Ruth as co-chair of DEGI at one of the most exciting times in our industry. With so much change in windowing and access to amazing content, DEGI plays a vital role in bringing key stakeholders together to drive industry collaboration and category growth. I look forward to working closely with Ruth, Liz and Amy Jo to continue the great work DEGI have delivered to date.” Sharp said: “As the digital entertainment world changes faster than ever before, I am delighted to be joining Joe as co-chair of the DEGI. Providing a forum for creating growth strategies and sharing insights, it’s exciting to be working with the DEGI group to extend our activations and grow consumer engagement in the category.”
Nicola Pearcey, who stood down as co-chair after 10 years, has joined the board as senior independent director. As noted here recently, she left her post as president of Lionsgate’s UK arm to launch her own production outfit Picnik Entertainment. She said: “I am delighted to continue to work with the DEGI alongside my new media venture, Picnik Entertainment, and bring fresh insights from the independent production, distribution and financing sector. As Co-Chair I was incredibly proud to contribute to the organisation’s international growth over the years, and I look forward to working with the new board to drive more powerful and international activations in the future.”
AT THE MOVIES
Big news from Disney as the major hailed the success of Black Widow in its opening weekend, with its global haul, across theatrical and premium cod via its Disney+ service, going past the $215m point. Of that, $80m came from US cinemas, $78m from international theatres and $60m from Disney+ Its US has was more than $100m, making it the biggest grossing film since the pandemic began, with $100m in revenues across the different playforms. It was the biggest box office since the lockdown started and the biggest in the US since The Rise Of Skywalker.
Comment on its success came from Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, saying: “Once again, Marvel has delivered an exceptional film to the delight of fans worldwide with Black Widow achieving numerous milestones in the current marketplace. Black Widow’s strong performance this weekend affirms our flexible distribution strategy of making franchise films available in theaters for a true cinematic experience and, as COVID concerns continue globally, providing choice to consumers who prefer to watch at home on Disney+.” “It’s incredible to see audiences enjoying Black Widow after two years without a new Marvel Studios film, and this spectacular opening weekend shows just how eager fans have been to see this beloved Avenger in her own story. There’s no question it’s been worth the wait - Cate Shortland, Scarlett Johansson, and the Marvel Studios team have delivered an exceptional film that continues a legacy of creative excellence as the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands and enters a new era,” said Alan Bergman, Chairman, and Disney Studios Content. TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
The one we're waiting for…
More Marvel…
Here’s the Maid, ready to clean up at FrightFest
New Disney…
Josh, not Roger…
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
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