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HMV KICKS OFF SUMMER OF SUPERMAN
DIRECTOR JAMES GUNN AT RETAILER’S FLAGSHIP STORE
STUDIOCANAL SCOOPS TOP AWARD…
…AS UK LABELS NOMINATED AT RESTORATION FEST
…FURTHER PRAISE FOR BFI AND CRITERION
IT’S GETTING CLOUDY
THE BEAR STAR SPORTS BOUTIQUE TEE…
EARLY ADOPTER AT ERA
CURZON GOES WITH THE FLOW
SECOND RUN’S DIVINE RELEASE…
THIRD WINDOW BOXES CLEVER
GOUNG FOR A BURTON
HOLLAND KEEPS IT IN THE FAMILY
LATEST FROM PICTUREHOUSE
EUREKA UNVEILS SEPTEMBER SLATE
SPOTTED OUT AND ABOUT
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TRAILERS OF THE WEEK 
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It was a good week for… Apple’s feature film arm, as F1 became its biggest ever opener, prompting a senior Vue executive to say “We hope the success of F1 will encourage Apple to bring more of its films to cinemas in the future so that everyone has the opportunity to experience these amazing stories.”…
It was a bad week for… You do all you can to have an exclusive, only-in-cinemas trailer for a forthcoming biggie alongside the week’s biggest theatrical release – Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey appearing ahead of Jurassic Park Rebirth – and within hours, if not minutes, of it going live, someone’s filmed it in a cinema and it’s all over social media…
We have been watching… A trip to the cinema to see F1, one of the daftest and yet most enjoyable films of the year, and we don’t even know anything about motorsport. Also, Dogwoof’s excellent doc Riefenstahl, due out on July 7 and well worth anyone's time…
As noted here briefly last week, hmv is in the throes of what it has dubbed its “Summer of Superman” ahead of next week’s theatrical release of the latest blockbuster iteration of the Man of Steel due from Warner. The retailer has decked out its flagship store in London’s ever-busy Oxford Street with huge artwork from the film, as well as seeing the superhero’s dog Krypto taking the place of hmv mascot Nipper next to the gramophone player in what the retailer’s head of marketing Kate Longbottom said was the “super-cute guest logo” (the same imagery features on the retailer’s DC store page on its website. On Tuesday night (July 1), just over a week ahead of the theatrical bow, the same central London store also hosted a Q&A with director James Gunn; an event that sold out in literally minutes after tickets were offered in bundles on the hmv website. Other Superman activity includes in-store displays with a wealth of Superman goodies on offer, put together by hmv with partner Warner and, ahead of the theatrical bow, hmv was offering consumers the chance to sign up to be notified when pre-orders were due to open for the home ent release. And on the day of the film’s release, July 11, the retailer will be hosting special Superman celebration days at five stores, offering up prizes, photos ops and goodie bags for fans.
Comment came from Kate Longbottom, who said: “hmv customers have had a longstanding love of all things DC and we were so excited to partner with Warner Bros Discovery UK on the Summer of Superman promotion. We have an amazing range of all the available merch and the physical media and we are the best place for customers to come and immerse themselves into the DC universe on the High Street this summer. Our 363 store has seen an out of this world takeover capturing the huge holiday footfall and passing traffic on the iconic Oxford Street with further takeovers and celebration events across the rest of our nationwide estate over theatrical weekend. In addition, the world famous Nipper has been temporarily replaced by the adorable Krypto - standout star of the new movie. We were especially delighted to host legendary director and CEO of DC studios James Gunn at a (sold out in minutes!) Q&A at our flagship store in a really special evening for DC and Superman fans.” Our old chum Nick Gibbs McNeil was there with his kidzcoolit.com team, he said: “As a rule I tend to steer clear of these public Q&As. But the hmv Superman talk with James Gunn was brilliant. It was only 45 minutes long But Gunn was hilarious throughout and gave the audience bundles of incredible exclusives on the movie and also a worldwide first on a screen in Peacemaker Season 2. This was a really good event and well organised.”
Some industry types were lucky enough to be in Bologna, Italy, for Il Cinema Ritrovato festival, the annual celebration of older films, with a wealth of restored gems on show and, as ever, a raft of awards given out for the best DVD and Blu-ray releases over the year (from February 2024 to March 2025) of films made before 1995. As the event noted: “The 22nd edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato – Blu-ray & DVD Awards is promoted by Cineteca di Bologna in the framework of Il Cinema Ritrovato film festival. It’s a competition that — in line with the festival spirit — celebrates old movies, restorations and rediscovers, in their home video formats.” Among the many international nominees, a clutch of UK-driven releases were up for gongs, with the likes of the Arrow (nominated for Cruisin), the BFI (for Watershed Down, Michael Powell: Early Works and Cooking Price-Wise: Vincent Price’s Legendary Cooking TV Show) Second Run (Faraon) and Studiocanal (The Conversation, Hitchcock The Beginning and The Small Back Room) all in the running for awards.
The chief winner from these shores was Studiocanal’s excellent Hitchcock The Beginning, which pulled together the early works of the British great before he went to America, including many of his silent shorts. In our review of the title for our physical media coverage in Film Stories magazine at the time, we noted that it deserved to win awards and here it did, in the shape of the Best Box Set gong. The judges noted: “For enthusiasts of British cinema, and fans of the master of suspense, this set has been a real cause for celebration. This is not just a collection of 10 early Hitchcock films, including such triumphs as Blackmail in both sound and silent versions, as well as lesser known gems. This 11-disc set offers the films in new, beautiful restorations, with an exceptional suite of extra material including commentaries and interviews. Hitchcock: The Beginning offers an exemplary approach to early curating the work of a key director in the history of cinema.” Commenting on the award, Studiocanal’s Alison Arber said: “We were thrilled to win such a prestigious award for our Hitchcock: The Beginning box set. After many months of hard work from all the teams, ensuring this was the best possible presentation of Hitchcock’s early works, was certainly worth it to receive recognition at this level. We want to say a huge thank you to the judging panel and the whole festival team in Bologna. To win in the company of such notable international competition is an honour.”
Also earning praise from the judges was another title we’d reviewed in Film Stories (and covered here in The Raygun, in the shape of the aforementioned BFI’s Michael Powell: Early Works, while the jury also highlighted the ongoing work of two other award winning DVD and Blu-ray publishers “over the years” for special praise, saying: “They have become obligatory points of reference for every rediscovered cinema enthusiast: defying market fluctuations and the repercussions of the pandemic. The French company Carlotta and the American company Criterion have never failed in their commitment to defending quality cinema, which they have been able to offer in exemplary editions, in terms of philological correctness, precision of restoration work and wealth of documentation. Once again this year, two of their boxes have been awarded by the Jury, but here we would first like to pay tribute to their commitment and perseverance.” Criterion, of course, releases here in the UK through Spirit, with, landing on Monday July 7, its excellent Beatles outing, A Hard Day’s Night.
We reported a while back on new boutique label The Cloud Door and its founders Ranjit Ruprai and Omar Ahmed’s plans to launch this year with the aim of bringing the best in South Asian films to the UK. This week has seen the new imprint launch a Kickstarter to fund its ambitions and pre-order its first release, Om Dar-B-Dar to the market. Omar Ahmed said: “Since our announcement earlier this year, The Cloud Door has garnered significant media attention and overwhelming support from the global film community. The response to the label has been immensely positive. The next step in our journey is the launch of our Kickstarter campaign. This marks the beginning of pre-orders and will offer film enthusiasts a wide range of reward tiers to choose from. We’ve conducted extensive research and held in-depth discussions with some of the most respected creatives in the boutique home video industry. Our top priority is to deliver a high-quality, premium release that stands alongside the best boutique labels today. As previously announced, our debut title will be Kamal Swaroop’s Om Dar-B-Dar – one of Indian cinema’s most iconic cult films. This release will mark its world premiere on Blu-ray, and we’re incredibly excited to bring it to a wider audience in the best possible format.” The release will feature specially commissioned artwork from artist Aleksander Walijewski, new interviews with cast and crew, an audio commentary, booklet and more. You can find out more here.
You can’t have failed to notice that The Bear has returned to streaming service Disney+, with the fourth outing for the series earning the kind of critical and fan acclaim that has maddest one of the channel’s most popular outings. And eagle-eyed viewers will have also spotted, as the first episodes landed, that character Fak was sporting a rather fetching t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of boutique distributor Radiance Films in one episode. The product placement for the thriving indie, from the label’s own range of t-shirts, was not necessarily surprising to label founder Fran Simeoni, as he said he’d been asked for permission by producers, although he didn’t expect it to come to fruition. He told The Raygun: “We were delighted when the production team behind The Bear approached us to feature a Radiance T-shirt in the show. They mentioned a major character would be wearing it but it seemed so surreal I almost didn't believe it would happen. The Radiance team, fans of the show already, have been eagerly zipping through the series to catch a glimpse. It's a huge honour to be approached by the team and we're continually amazed and grateful people in Hollywood seem to be noticing our little label. Indeed, we were also recently approached by a filmmaker asking to help out with remake rights they were so impressed by a film we released!” You can see it here and you can get your own here…
A reader writes, after our story last week about the anniversary of the launch of the first VCR some 50 years ago, with the introduction of the Betamax first in Japan and the US, effectively kickstarting the launch of the video industry in the process. We noted that, according to the reports and sources we used, the UK followed a year later in 1976. Wrong, said one reader, none other than ERA chief executive Kim Bayley. For – and there’s no better historical record than actual lived experience – she remembered her family getting one of the very first Betamax players to land in the UK and it was more like early 1977! “I loved the wander down memory lane with the news that it is nearly 50 years since the launch of the Betamax. But something troubled me about your statement that 'the format landed in the US in 1975, with the UK following the next year’, the reason being that my dad bought one of the first ever machines you could buy in 1977! And I know that was the year as we’d just moved to our new house in Bournemouth!” And who are we to argue, given that Betamax was almost over by the time we got our first VCR, sometime in 1983 (after already being transfixed to assorted video nasties and other goodies at mates’ houses for some four years)? A quick check proved the 1977 launch to be correct, at least according to the National Science and Media Museum. And, ERA members can rest easy knowing that the chief executive of the organisation is a long-standing supporter of the business and was an early adopter of video!
Out this week (in stores from June 30) is one of our favourite films of the past 12 months – certainly in the animated category – Flow, from Curzon. The Oscar-winning title was less Flow, more flew, as it quickly disappeared off the shelves. It follows the title’s theatrical success – to took around the £2 million mark at UK cinemas as part of a hugely impressive global haul – and the Latvian film has also become Curzon’s most successful premium digital release ever, with somewhere around two thirds of its total revenues coming from PEST. Now it has landed in assorted SKUs, and, with only an Italian 4K UHD released ahead of it, it has become Curzon’s biggest 4K release ever, ahead of a fellow Oscar winner, Parasite, released some five years ago. Pre-orders have accounted for more than half of the 4K UHD’s limited edition stock too And early reports suggest that in a busy week for new titles, it was, in its first few days on release, only being outsold by one other title, Warner’s A Minecraft Movie.
Also out on Monday June 30 was the latest from Second Run, a label we’ve already mentioned here after it earned a nomination in the prestigious Il Cinema Ritrovato – Blu-ray & DVD Awards, in the shape of Divine Love. The company’s Chris Barwick said: “Having previously released his exceptional 2015 film Neon Bull, we are thrilled to bring Gabriel Mascaro’s Divine Love to UK audiences. This sexually provocative and challenging sci-fi satire addresses the subject of right-wing Christian Nationalism in a not-so-distant future Brazil, drawing parallels with the Bolsonaro regime who had come to power in Brazil at the time of the film’s domestic release. Divine Love is further evidence that Mascaro is one of the brightest and strongest voices in new Latin American cinema, which we hope that audiences will discover through this world-premiere Blu-ray release.”
Also released this week was the latest from another renowned independent supplier, with Asian specialist bringing The Box Man to digital and Blu-ray. The company’s Adam Torel said: “Third Window Films has always been long-standing supporters of the films from Gakuryu (Sogo) Ishii with his totally original and wild films such as Electric Dragon 80000V, Crazy Thunder Road, Punk Samurai, etc. His latest The Box Man is an adaptation of the so-called ‘unfilmable’ Kobo Abe (Woman in the Dunes) novel from 1973, which director Gakuryu Ishii has been trying to adapt for 40 years now! Bringing back Electric Dragon 80000v team of Tadanobu Asano (Shogun) and Masatoshi Nagase (Mystery Train), it's another super unique film from Ishii that had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. This is the first physical release outside of Japan in a lovely ‘box’ slipcase, so I hope people can enjoy more Ishii with it.”
One of the classiest homegrown films we’ve seen recently is the excellent Mr Burton, the tale of the formative years in great British acting talent Richard Burton, also out this week on the Icon imprint through parent Kaleidoscope.. The film charts his transformation from troubled teen with an alcoholic father to legendary Welsh thespian under the tutelage of the other Mr Burton, his teacher turned guardian, played by Toby Jones. It represents one of indie Kaleidoscope’s biggest box office successes and lands on home entertainment formats this week. Kaleidoscope’s Spencer Pollard said “”We are delighted with the box office result for Mr Burton. Kaleidoscope’s first £1m+ box office result from a shrewd P&A spend and targeted marketing plan, which set the film up brilliantly for Premium VOD and Premium EST release and is now seeing a DVD, Blu Ray and traditional EST/TVOD release.”
 On to some releases for next Monday, June 7, now and first up is a trip down memory lane for Dazzler Media’s Paul Holland, for, when he joined the video industry almost 30 years ago, one of the first releases he ever worked on was a release based on toy brand Sylvanian Families. Both the brand and industry stalwart Holland are still going strong and Dazzler, where he now works, is releasing a new feature film adaptation that has already been released at theatrical, before arriving on home ent formats on Monday. Holland said: “Way back in 1987, in the very early days of physical home entertainment, a very youthful product manager for Ian and Anne Miles’ newly launched MSD Video was given the job to launch the first VHS titles based on a new toy brand The Sylvanian Families. In 2025 on the now not so youthful Paul Holland has told the Raygun he is thrilled to be involved in Dazzler’s launch of this enduring and delightful toy brand in its first theatrical film in the UK. The film opened in just under 400 screens at Easter and is coming to home entertainment on July 7. Not many toy brands get to celebrate their 40th birthday and it’s been a great project and remains a show that’s perfect for younger kids.”
Monday also sees a release for the latest from Picturehouse, with the exhibitor’s distribution arm bringing out Italian multi-hyphenate Paolo Sorrentino’s new film. Comment on the release came from the company’s Emily Evans, who said: “We’re delighted to be releasing PARTHENOPE from acclaimed auteur Paolo Sorrentino on Blu-Ray this week. With breathtaking cinematography from Cannes award-winning director of photography Daria D’Antonio and an incredible performance from newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta, it’s a must-see from one of masters of modern cinema. And for a look behind the scenes of the epic Naples-set drama, don't miss the special featurette on the Blu-Ray with interviews from filmmakers and cast, including Gary Oldman.”
Also out this Monday (July 7) is the latest from the documentary specialists at Dogwoof, in the shape of Riefenstahl, an outstanding film that looks at the life and times of Leni Riefenstahl, the groundbreaking filmmaker who documented the rise of the Nazi party in Germany and was Hitler’s favourite director. This fascinating insight looks at her work and, through painstakingly sifting through her archives, aims to find out whether she was a just on working on commissions for her paymasters or was a committed fascist and Nazi. It’s earned a stack of reviews following its theatrical release ahead of landing this Monday. It’s a phenomenal film, but don’t just take our word for it, it boasts a 100 per cent score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with the New Statesmen’s David Sexton saying: “This is a riveting watch, a masterclass in how to animate such material through inventive treatment. Montage and cross-cutting are always effective in documentaries, but Riefenstahl goes much further.” Dogwoof’s Camilla Tassi said: "With a successful theatrical run and clear appeal among engaged and curious audiences, Riefenstahl is well positioned to carry that momentum into Blu-ray and across all home entertainment channels.
More from the world of boutique labels and Eureka has unveiled its September slate from the company and its roster of labels. As ever, national accounts manager Marcus Garwood talked us trough the titles, saying: “Flames, rubble, swords, and warriors define the dynamic line-up this September at Eureka Entertainment. We draw swords first with the bumper 10-film collection Furious Swords And Fantastic Warriors – a thrilling celebration of the legendary Godfather of Hong Kong Cinema, Chang Cheh, during his prolific years at Shaw Brothers Studio. This set showcases a broad range of genres including traditional wuxia pian, Shaolin martial arts, esoteric fantasy, and supernatural tales, all of which highlight Chang’s remarkable versatility as a filmmaker. Appearing for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK, the collection is housed in a limited edition hardbound slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling, and includes a collector’s booklet with newly commissioned writing on each film by critic and writer James Oliver. Next, we sift through the rubble with the latest addition to our Masters of Cinema series: Wrack & Ruin: The Rubble Film at DEFA. This definitive collection brings together five seminal titles—The Murderers Are Among Us, Somewhere in Berlin, Police Raid, Marriage in the Shadows, and The Blum Affair—each available on Blu-ray in the UK for the first time. These early post-war productions, often filmed amid the literal ruins of Berlin, helped define the Trümmerfilm (rubble film) movement and remain among the most significant works ever produced by East Germany’s DEFA studio. This beautifully curated set comes in a limited edition hardcase with artwork by Carly A-F, reversible sleeve designs by Scott Saslow, and a collector’s booklet. Early pre-orders are highly recommended, as demand for our previous DEFA collections has been exceptionally strong. Finally, we turn to flames with the 1987 Hong Kong crime thriller Flaming Brothers. Directed by Joe Cheung (Way of the Dragon) and starring Alan Tang (Days of Being Wild) and Chow Yun-fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), this stylish and emotionally charged film blends explosive action with poignant reflections on brotherhood and loyalty. Now available on Blu-ray in the UK for the first time, this edition features a 2K restoration, a limited edition O-card slipcase with new artwork by Time Tomorrow, and a collector’s booklet.”
   Netflix headed to the north-east to promote the latest season of arguably its biggest show ever, Squid Game, taking over Newcastle’s Millennium Bridge with giant inflatables of Young-Hee, famed for the Red Light, Green Light game, and new addition made an appearance on Newcastle’s Millennium Bridge alongside its newest companion, Chul-Su, with games, photo opportunities, giveaways and more on offer.
Meanwhile, back in London, Superman took over The Shard, with a giant statue of the character becoming the capital’s tallest ever film promotional activity. Daily Planet helicopters buzzed around for some of the activity, which could be seen miles away…
 The Raygun, is 15 years old and continues to report on the home entertainment industry and its ever-changing face. To ensure we can continue to bring you the latest news, opinion and analysis from a business we love and care passionately about, you can support our independent journalism by donating to us via Ko-fi… Thank you.
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Final one for this A24 goodie… https://youtu.be/q-yUOB-ZFXc?si=42inbpDC7VPlhmEC Marvel heralds Galactus…
https://youtu.be/NkxNJ5xAcYE?si=x6ADSkCZ9Y7_fEHO What if I made different choices?
https://youtu.be/uhSCaMZGH5I?si=MMs6ZNuSGb0VFv3s Back to Downton, for the final, final time…
I’d buy this for a dollar…
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