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THE PLACE TO BE…
BIG NOISE FOR QUIET RELEASE
FATHER FIGURES
HORSEMAN RIDES IN
LOSERS IS A WINNER
FRIGHTFEST RETURNS…
DEMONC LEADS THE WAY…
…AS SHUDDER AIRS QUARTET
SPECIALIST HORROR IMPRINT EARNS STRIPES
OUTSIDERS RETURN
COMPLETE VERSION RESTORED
SILENCE FROM EUREKA…
…AS LABEL GETS VENGEANCE
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
A Quiet Place Part II arriving in stores – as it does on Monday August 30 – represents the next stage in the ongoing return to something representing a pre-pandemic state of normal, with the film being a major blockbuster release at cinemas that has followed something resembling a traditional route to market, unencumbered by lockdown. The film has already made its mark as a digital release, it’s sitting pretty at number one on the Official Film Chart as we write this, a new entry at number one on the strength of its digital sales aline, ahead, even, of Disney’s Cruella, which took the premium online and theatrical release route to market.
S what of he excellent A Quiet Place Part II, one of the first biggies to welcome audiences back to cinemas as lockdowns around the world finally started easing? Comment on the release came from Paramount’s Tanya Traish, who said: "After truly phenomenal drafting sales, we are incredibly pleased to deliver one of the first new theatrical event titles on physical into the market this year. Our consumer facing campaign including TV, radio, digital media and more, is sure to deliver a great result with fans. The retailer support for merchandising this theatrical release has been fantastic; including full grocery set up and standout support from specialists.”
Monday also sees the release of a film we at The Raygun rate as one of the year’s best, and one that we wrote about extensively for the excellent Film Stories magazine, The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins as a dementia suffering patriarch of a family, with Olivia Colman among those trying to navigate their way through the illness. It’s garnered awards, not least for Hopkins’ amazing turn as the dad suffering. Commenting on the release, the company’s Olivia Dean said: “Following phenomenal awards recognition earlier this year, and a fantastic theatrical release, we’re delighted to be bringing The Father to home entertainment. Florian Zeller’s debut feature, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman is a must-see proposition which has heralded glowing 5 star reviews across the board. We’re supporting the release with a substantial media campaign, across OOH, VOD and digital formats. Highlighting the performances and reviews, we’ve also carried this over into our physical artwork with a gold foil finish. In addition, a substantial press office campaign will re-heat the awareness, and encourage consumers to take home The Father on EST, DVD or Blu-ray.”
Also arriving in stores on Monday is the latest from Second Run DVD, welcoming another brilliantly titled film The Fifth Horseman Is Fear. Commenting on the release, here’s the company’s Chris Barwick, who said: “One of the most important - but difficult to see - Czech films of the 60s, we're delighted to finally be bringing Zbyněk Brynych's extraordinary The Fifth Horseman is Fear to the Second Run catalogue. A world-premiere on Blu-ray, this unique and powerful drama set in Nazi-occupied Prague mines a rich vein of paranoia and suspense. Our edition also includes as special features, the infamous and near-legendary 'Brothel sequence' that was added to American and Italian prints at the insistence of foreign producers, plus the Prologue sequence that appeared only on the Italian cut.”
More Monday releases and there’s another one from Third Window, with more from Asia, this time a black as you like comedy from Japan, Funk: Show Some Love You Losers! Third Window’s Adam Torel said: “Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers! is a fantastic black comedy from Japan which upon its initial release in 2007 was selected to play in the Cannes Film Festival before getting released theatrically and on DVD from Third Window Films. It was the debut film of Daihachi Yoshida, a director who went on to big things in Japan, and our release on August 30th will be the world's first Blu-ray release of the film. It really is a unique and very fun film from Japan, so I hope now it's available in HD it'll be able to find a whole new audience!”
If it’s August Bank Holiday weekend then it must be time for Arrow Video FrightFest and the event is taking place for five days from Thursday August 26 right through to the end of the Monday day off. Kicking off the proceedings was Demonic, the high profile Neil Blomkamp film being released by Signature, whose Emilie Barra told The Raygun as it aired to open the event: “We’re thrilled to be opening the return of prestigious film festival FRIGHTFEST with DEMONIC, the new film from the revolutionary director behind DISTRICT 9 and ELYSIUM. We are running a top tier PR and social media campaign looking to emulate the success of recent releases WEREWOLVES WITHIN, WRONG TURN and WILLY’S WONDERLAND. This is one of our biggest creative and cast lead social media efforts to date with interviews and features galore as well as extensive review coverage.”
Also airing at FrightFest were a quartet of titles form Shudder, with the horror specialist svod service picking up two of the titles due to air this weekend – The Advent Calendar and Slapface (a French horror fantasy and a tale of a boy and his monster respectively) – to join its existing brace of titles, Offseason and The Last Thing Mary Saw, already due to premiere there. All four will end up on the service in the coming months. Craig Engler, general manager of Shudder, said: “Shudder members will have exclusive access to some of the most exciting and compelling festival films in the months ahead. We are excited to debut Patrick Ridremont’s chilling French horror fantasy The Advent Calendar just in time for the holidays and Jeremiah Kipp’s mysterious and eerie Slapface next year. They will join American gothic horror Offseason and unique period feature The Last Thing Mary Saw along with many other exclusive series and films to haunt and delight our members.”
Talking of Shudder, it’s good to see, in the physical world, Acorn continuing to release titles from the service, giving non-subscribers (and those who like to own tactile stuff too) the chance to savour some of its horror titles on disc. Most recent to join the imprint was the excellent Tigers Are Not Afraid. Commenting on the label’s successes thus far, Acorn’s Helen Squire said: “The Dark and the Wicked is already performing strongly and we have another 10 releases between now and Halloween including Tigers Are Not Afraid, The Power, Violation, Monstrum and Psycho Goreman.”
Not content with last week’s announcement that The Howling was due out in a painstakingly restored version as one of its latest high profile classic catalogue releases, Studiocanal has made another major announcement. It is collaborating with Francis Ford Coppola and his American Zoetrope outfit to bring a 4k restoration of The Outsiders: The Complete Novel, complete with new music and scenes cut from the original version of the adaptation of the classic SE Hinton teen novel in its original early 1980s release. After a theatrical release for the new, extended version at cinemas on October 15, it will be releasing the Complete Novel version as part of a package alongside the original film on November 8 across Blu-ray, DVD and digital platforms. And, this being Studiocanal there will be a lavish 4K UHD collector’s edition, This will include a raft of extra footage and assorted value added material (some available on the other editions) and physical goodies such as a booklet, CD soundtrack, posters, a badge and art cards.
Comment on the new The Outsiders: The Complete Novel came from Coppola himself, who said: “The Outsiders The Complete Novel came about after meeting students over the years who repeatedly asked me why certain scenes from S.E. Hinton’s wonderful book were missing from the theatrical version. These questions reminded about my inspiration for the film—in 1980, a contingent of 12- to 14-year-old students wrote and asked me to make it. I listened to those young fans back then, and I continue to listen to young people now and believe in their opinions, so this complete film version of the novel is for them.” “For The Outsiders: The Complete Novel as well as the original theatrical version, we wanted to create and maintain the highest level of visual quality possible for these restorations," said James Mockoski, Film Archivist and Restoration Supervisor at American Zoetrope. ‘We took the unusual path of locating all the various elements that went into creating the film's most elaborate visual effects sequences and re-scanned them. Luckily, Mr. Coppola is an archivist at heart and he kept every piece of film he shot, so we were able to unify scenes from the film using the original camera negative as much as possible. It was important to Mr Coppola to give this release its best quality presentation, and no one has ever seen this film looking as beautiful and pristine as it does now.”
Even the Bank Holiday plans can’t stop the ongoing release announcements from assorted boutique labels, with the latest being Eureka and its assorted imprints, such as Masters of Cinema and Montage Pictures, which has unveiled its titles for November. As ever, the company’s Marcus Garwood talked us through the slate for the penultimate month of 2021. He said: ”There’s plenty for film fans to look forward to this November here at Eureka Entertainment as we unveil a superb slate of essential product. Firstly an addition to the October line-up, coming to our Montage Pictures imprint is a brand new film by multi-award-winning Polish film producer Piotr Domalewski (Silent Night [Cicha noc]). I Never Cry is a touching comedy about a rebellious teenage girl with a grudge against her father, who was only ever present in her life through regular money transfers. It is also a piercing, realistic look at the difficulties faced by families separated by emigration, told against the backdrop of the life of Polish workers abroad. The film’s lead performance, played by actress Zofia Stafiej, won her the Michael Dwyer Discovery Award at the 2021 Dublin International Film Festival. On to November and an addition to the Masters Of Cinema Series as we proudly present what is widely considered to be among the best and most influential Westerns ever made, namely Sergio Corbucci’s The Great Silence. Starring multi-award-winning actor Jean-Louis Trintignant (Amour, The Conformist, Z) and featuring an iconic score by Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, the film appears here for the first time in the UK from a 4K restoration. It’s a limited edition release containing a reversible poster featuring the film’s original artwork, a set of four facsimile lobby cards, plus a collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Western expert Howard Hughes. All housed in an O-Card slipcase it’s a highly desirable item and perfect for Q4 gifting."
Continuing with November’s Eureka releases, the company’s Marcus Garwood said: "Keeping the quality gifting options for November flowing we also have the previously announced Cinematic Vengeance. The limited edition set brings together no less than eight kung fu classics from acclaimed Taiwanese director Joseph Kuo. All eight films in this set are making their worldwide debuts on Blu-ray and add up to well over 700 minutes of essential martial arts runtime! This set includes limited edition packaging featuring newly-commissioned artwork by Darren Wheeling, 60-page booklet featuring new writing on the films included in the set by James Oliver, illustrated with archival imagery and materials, plus a set of eight facsimile lobby cards. It’s pre-ordering already and the demand is looking high for this one, so make sure you don’t miss out! Finally, for those who didn’t manage to get their hands on our previously released limited edition of Ishirō Honda’s 1961 monster flick Mothra, we are now releasing a standard edition re-issue which pares back the extras, but still presents the film in all its Japanese kaiju glory.”
AT THE MOVIES
Get ready for The Matrix: Resurrections. For after the R friendly sequels to the first film from way back when (The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutiions), the fourth instalment the film will have a similar title. The new name for The Matrix 4 was unveiled at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, along with a trailer, although that has yet to surface online. Keep ‘em peeled as excitement builds…
We've yet to see Pleasure here in the UK, although Ninja Thyberg’s film, about a woman travelling fro mEurope to the west coast of the US to make her name as an adult movie star, has been a hit at Cannes. And now the young director has been signed up to write and helm the forthcoming The Witches Of Eastwick remake in the pipeline…
The Harvey Weinstein scandal is set to new laid bare on the big screen with the filming of She Said currently taking place in New York. The film, based on the book of the same name by journalists Negan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, (the subtitle of the tome is Breaking The Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite A Movement) sees Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan playing the two writers who broke the story, and now Samantha Morton has joined the cast for the film, which is being put together by Universal and directed by Maria Schrader.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun…
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
High profile transfer from Apple to Disney…
Dogwoof x Universal…
Western business…
Red Band business…
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
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