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UNIVERSAL DELIVERS BIG BABY SALES
LIONSGATE HAS A HIT ON THE HORIZON
I WANNA BE YOUR DOGWOOF
LEGO BUILDS ITS FILM CATALOGUE…
WARNER NOT BRICKING IT WITH STRONG CAMPAIGN
BEASTS CAN BE FOUND IN MARCH
BROADCHURCH RETURNS…
…AS RLJ HAS GOOD KARMA
WITCH SEDUCES…
…AS ICON AND FRIGHTFEST CAST A SPELL
TRAIN IS ON THE RIGHT TRACKS
JOB’S A GOOD’UN FOR SIGNATURE
MANGA ADDS ANOTHER DIMENSION…
…AND MARKS THE SPOT FOR X
SODA’S GERMAN COMEDY FIZZES…
…AS COMPANY SHAPES UP FOR BIG 2017
FUTURESOURCE UNVEILS GLOBAL FIGURES
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It Was A Good Week For... Bridget Jones's Baby up and walking in just a few days…
It Was A Bad Week For… Looks like the physical market was suffering around the world, according to Futuresource figures…
Good news! Universal has delivered a bonny, bouncing baby in the shape of the latest Bridget Jones incarnation, which, as previewed here last week, was a welcome arrival in stores after payday had arrived and the January blues were coming to an end. And it’s a healthy delivery too – weighing in at an impressive 217,000 units in its first few days on sale according to the Official Charts Company’s midweek bulletin, outselling the rest of the top 40 combined. Bridget Jones's Baby was boosted, as we noted here, some strong marketing, while this week also saw a raft of stars turn out for an exclusive screening and special dating seminar to mark the launch, with the celebrities present helping garner further coverage for the release. Commenting on the release, Universal’s Vicki Davis said: “We are really happy to see how well Bridget Jones’s Baby has been connecting with consumers so far – we couldn’t have achieved this without the fantastic support of our retail partners and look forward to seeing the incredible retail set-up continue in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.”
Elsewhere in the midweeks, it really is all about Bridget, as a collection of all three films is in at number three. Sandwiched neatly between Helen Fielding’s creation is Deepwater Horizon, another biggie we featured here in recent weeks. It’ll be interesting to note what it ends up at after its first full week on sale – its predecessor Bridget Jones: Edge Of Reason shifted more than 400,000 units over the counter on its debut over the first seven days. A brace of TV titles, the third outing for Marvel and Disney’s Agents of SHIELD and the complete fourth series of Endeavour are both in the top 10, at numbers seven and 10 respectively. War On Everyone is new at number 14 in the midweeks, meanwhile, further down the charts, Dirty Dancing is at number 35 as a re-entry for its 30th anniversary edition.
Performing very well out there for Dogwoof in sales terms is the rather excellent Iggy and the Stooges doc Gimme Danger. We’ve been banging on about this raw and powerful (or Raw Power-ful) warts ’n’ all tale about the proto-punks for some time now and it’s good to see the physical release doing the numbers for Dogwoof in the market. It was the fourth bestselling week one performance in the company’s history, and given its impressive catalogue, that’s no mean feat. it’s continued to sell too, it’s shaping up to be in a similar slot in the bestselling month one titles for the documentary specialist too. It’s been followed this week by Life, Animated, a wildly different release about how Disney films helped a boy with autism. This has started brightly on the back of widespread coverage for the film and its Academy Award nomination, and it too should enjoy a long shelf-life on the back of its Oscar nod ahead – and hopefully after – the ceremony on February 26. Dogwoof’s Daniel Green said: "It's been a real pleasure to see Life, Animated blossom from a Sundance audience favourite to a full-blown Oscar contender. We toured the film with the Suskind family and the director Roger Ross Williams last year and this awareness has really helped its home entertainment prospects. With this and Gimme Danger on shelves nationwide it's been a great start to 2017."
To the giant IMAX screen at the Empire, Leicester Square in the heart of London for a special screening of the LEGO Batman Movie, which previews at cinemas this weekend ahead of a wider theatrical opening around the country on February 10. Lego is once again aiming to prove its smart, sassy style can woo parents, tens, children and even toddlers and millennials. And judging by the reaction of the audience, which had all those different demographics – and more – howling, clapping, laughing and cheering, it’s succeeding with this latest thoroughly entertaining yarn. Given the huge success of The Lego Movie on home entertainment formats and Lego and Warner’s savvy marketing it’s going to appear there or thereabouts in 2017’s year-end box office and DVD and Blu-ray sales charts too.
And while we’re on it, if Warner’s theatrical campaign is anything to go by, the LEGO Batman Movie’s home entertainment release later in the year should be supported by some impressive marketing. We were particularly taken with the smart bus sides, complete with special messages, and the assorted PR initiatives and stunts taking place – pictures of London sights and events from Lego Batman’s lower down perspective, as well as an installation of a giant LEGO Batarang on London’s Southbank due to land next week. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of the Batman character, as voiced by Will Arnett, taking over Channel 4 ad breaks, with 18 separate slots recorded for use in breaks between Thursday February 2 and this Sunday. As Warner’s Martin Gough said: “We are delighted to be able to bring Lego Batman’s hilarity to life in such a contextually perfect and high-profile platform as Channel 4’s peak time schedule. Whilst this partnership might not land him a full-time job as a continuity announcer anytime soon, I’m sure it will make a big impact in the run-up to the launch of the movie.”
There’s plenty of home entertainment activity taking place during the next few months ahead of the Batman outing’s DVD, Blu-ray and digital bow. This means the drafting campaign for the original LEGO Movie, as well as more LEGO-related releases from Warner. Next up is the half-term release on February 13 of the first season of LEGO Nexo Knights…
Meanwhile, Warner has just officially confirmed the release date for one of its big 2016 theatrical hits and another title that is certain to feature among the top sellers for this year. We are, of course, referring to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the latest creation from the fertile pen, and imagination, of J.K. Rowling and the team who helped turn the Harry Potter books into box office and home entertainment gold. It’s got a two week digital download window from March 13, followed by its all-singing, all-dancing 4K Ultra HD, 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and vod release on March 27. There are a raft of extras planned, particularly for the Blu-ray SKUs, with the BD versions also arriving with state of the art Dolby Atmos sound.
David Tennant and Olivia Colman have helped kick off the long lead in to the third and final series of Broadchurch, one of the biggest homegrown television hits of the century thus far. A new trailer has been launched for the series this week, and it has started airing to press and others, earning it even more column inches. There's still plenty of secrecy surrounding it, but its supporting cast, including former Coronation Street Julie Hesmondalgh, Sir Lenny Henry and even Roy Hudd alongside many of the original team too. It's due to air very soon and RLJ's Acorn imprint will be releasing the series, as it has the first two outings. Commenting on the release, RLJ's joint head of marketing Gareth Brown said: "It's so thrilling to see Colman and Tennant together again. Broadchurch continues to be one of the greatest hits in this company's history and that's before this third and final series. Given the secrecy around it, we're as excited as anyone to find out how it all ends this year."
Meanwhile before that, RLJ has plenty more high profile releases too. Starting its run on Sunday night on ITV is The Good Karma Hospital, with all the accompanying brouhaha and publicity you'd expect from a big TV launch. It stars Amanda Redman and Neil Morrissey alongside Amrita Acharia from Game Of Thrones and the series looks at the enthusiastic and slightly offbeat running of a ramshackle hospital in India. RLJ's Acorn will be releasing the title on March 13, commenting on its release, the company's Helen Squire, joint head of marketing said: "This is a lovely cross between The Durrells and Wild at Heart. We're so happy to see our own New Tricks' star Amanda Redman take on an entirely new role and we've every expectation that this will be must-see Sunday night TV as well as a very collectable series on DVD."
The FrightFest brand continues to go from strength to strength, witness the response to its recent announcement of its line-up up for the forthcoming Glasgow event if you don’t believe us, and it’s continuing its alliance with Icon for the FrightFest Presents too. Next up is The Love Witch, which sees the home entertainment imprint moving to the big screen, it's due at cinemas and vod on March 10 then on DVD and Blu-ray on March 13. “Say hello to your new obsession,” said the New York Times and the response to the film at last year’s Film4 FrightFest was testimony to that. As usual, the FrightFest organisation is putting its weight behind the release, hosting an exclusive screening for its devotees ahead of the release to build word of mouth and increase the buzz surrounding the film. Commenting on the release, Icon’s Zak Brilliant said: “The Love Witch seduces everyone in her path. Anne Biller’s film really is the most remarkable and singular piece of entertainment you will see all year.”
We sought out further comment on the film from the ever-enthusiastic and knowledgeable folk at FrightFest about The Love Witch, as ever, their seal of approval is essential for a horror film to work. Alan Jones, one of the organisation’s founding fathers, said: “The moment we saw The Love Witch early in 2016 we knew it was something very special and a game-changing movie. Not just for the fantasy genre but for the future of female directors. And director Anna Biller's all-enveloping craft, sensibility and knowledge of the Hollywood history she was mining with deft assurance won over every single person in the audience when we previewed it last August. Plus Anna's Q&A was a master class in her art and creativity that made it crystal clear her star was in the brilliant ascendant. We are honoured and delighted to have The Love WItch as our first theatrical FrightFest Presents title. We know there is a whole world out there who will embrace it as much as we have.”
Of course, one of the biggest success stories of Film4 FrightFest last year, and one that seemed to earn near-universal praise was Train To Busan. Just when you thought you’d seen every zombie variant going, something like this comes along to breathe new life (or should that be death?) into the genre. The Korean film was rated by no less n expert than Jonathan Ross as his finest of 2016 and it finally gets its eagerly awaited physical release on February 27 (it looks a treat on Blu-ray, as we can testify). With the kind of word of mouth that kicked off with FrightFest last year and has continued well into 2017, it’s the sort of film that can cross over to the mainstream and supermarket shelves. We can’t recommend it highly enough and, as Studiocanal’s Olivia Dean noted: “Train To Busan has deservedly taken box offices by storm around the world. A nail-biting, zombie thriller with unexpected emotional punch, we’re supporting with an exciting PR campaign, press and creative online assets for our release.”
Signature continues to make waves in the theatrical as well as home entertainment world and is now preparing for another biggie in the shape of eagerly awaited The Hatton Garden Job. The trailer premiered last weekand it sets it up nicely for its impending release – so much so that the company thinks it might be its biggest theatrical release ever. As the SIgnature’s Claire Loewenthal said: “The Hatton Garden job is gearing up to be one of Signature's biggest releases. There is an insatiable appetite from the UK public with a dream team of British talent and a story that continues to make headlines even two years later. Our campaign got off to a remarkable start when we launched the trailer exclusively with Good Morning Britain last week – with Larry Lamb introducing it live from the sofa which was met with a frenzy of incredibly positive feedback. We really believe The Hatton Garden Job has the potential to become a British classic and our perfectly placed release dates will see the film arrive on the big screen on April 14 – marking the two year anniversary of the heist - followed by its home entertainment outing just in time for Fathers Day on June 5."
Manga has had another busy week, with another big theatrical outing and plans unveiled for a further one down the line. Wednesday, February 1, saw a theatrical release for Yu Gi Oh – The Dark Side Of Dimensions, ahead of a physical bow this summer and this too has been hailed a success by the company. As Jerome Mazandarani explained: “Manga’s second nationwide theatrical in two weeks following on from Ghost In The Shell and our second top 10 box office opening. The Dark Side Of Dimensions is set to enjoy continued success when it is release on home entertainment on May 29. The film's theatrical success further cements MangaUK's reputation as THE house of millennial pop culture brands.”
And there’s more due from the thriving company too. For it has this week unveiled a theatrical release date in March for the rather excellent music documentary We Are X. The film, which aired at London Film Festival last year, sees the company further broadening its scope beyond anime, the doc follows the life and times of Japanese rockers X Japan and is a fascinating look at the biggest band you may never have heard of. It’s due on DVD and Blu-ray on May 1 after its March theatrical release and Jerome Mazandarani said: “I saw the movie in Tokyo during Tokyo Film Festival last November and knew we had to have this film in our library. I am a massive fan of Japanese pop culture and an even bigger music fan. X Japan's story is tragic, beautiful and inspiring. And they shred like demons. One of the best music documentaries of the last few years and from the producer of Searching For Sugarman. We've got some really exciting events coming up to support the film's release including a London theatrical event, X Japan live at Wembley arena on March 4 and an exclusive Steelbook release later in spring.”
Another independent enjoying a busy period is Soda Pictures – Friday February 3 sees one of its biggest ever theatrical releases in the shape of the much-raved about Toni Erdmann, which arrives in cinemas with a stack of good reviews dating back to last year and impeccable word of mouth. Commenting on the German comedy, which follows hot on the heels of its latest Jim Jarmusch offering, the company’s James Flower commented: “It was either sheer luck or skill that led Soda to acquire the two best-reviewed films of last year's Cannes, and after Paterson smashed our projections and became our highest-grossing film ever (look out for the DVD and Blu-Ray on March 27), expectations are high indeed for Toni Erdmann. Thankfully, we have an amazing array of support from critics and exhibitors and word of mouth is very strong indeed, as befits a film as special as this one. Fingers crossed for its Oscar chances as it competes for Best Foreign Language Film against two other upcoming Soda releases, My Name Is Ove and Land Of Mine.”
And 2017 is, as he noted, shaping up to be the independent’s biggest year yet. As the company’s James Flower continued: “2017 looks set to be Soda's biggest year yet, not least in the home entertainment sector: hot on the heels of our special edition DVD/Blu-Ray of Brady Corbet's stunning The Childhood Of A Leader (including an isolated Scott Walker score track on the Blu-Ray!), we kick off February by releasing Alexandra Aja's visionary thriller The 9th Life Of Louis Drax on DVD, just in time to appeal to Fifty Shades fans who can't get enough of leading man Jamie Dornan. Look out over the next few weeks for a double helping of zombie madness on DVD in the form of instant Danish cult smash What We Become and the jaw-dropping FrightFest hit Ibiza Undead, as well as charming animation Phantom Boy and the aforementioned Paterson, and many more to come, including the brilliant new Terence Davies film A Quiet Passion and Best Animated Film Oscar nominee My Life As A Courgette.”
And we’ll end with some research from Futuresource Consulting, as the experts at the global operation unveiled its home video report form territories around the world for 2016. It showed that the total global spend on video entertainment across home video and pay TV was worth $251.5 billion, up three per cent on the previous year. Futuresource’s Tristan Veale said: “Overall video entertainment spend is set to rise to $280 billion by 2020. In 2016, pay-TV accounted for 86 per cent of global video entertainment spend with the pay-TV share of the market to remain stable as growth is in-line with spending on both physical and digital home video. SVoD was the standout performer of 2016 and momentum is expected to continue well past 2020. Global packaged video spend is in decline, with the deficit not being made up by transactional digital. Annual spend across DVD and Blu-ray fell by 13 per cent to $21.6 billion in 2015 and is expected to fall to $9.1 billion by 2020. For 2016 an exceptionally strong late 2015 theatrical slate converted well to home video unit sell-through, the market also received a minor boost from the introduction of an even more premium tier of Blu-ray, UHD. However, the global rate of decline in dollar terms increased to 17 per cent due to fluctuations in the exchange rate.” In keeping with other analysts, it voiced concerns about the “softness” of the transactional digital video market, with, it noted, “both rental and buy-to-keep currently under performing”.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Streaming is a problem for all the Hollywood studios. There is more value per unit for a studio in the sale of a DVD than in providing a film or TV show” [to a service like Netflix]. Growth in the digital retail and rental market is not compensating for declines in the physical market, which have been falling for a decade."
David Hancock, analyst at IHS Markit, as Sony’s losses were blamed on falling physical sales and The Guardian et al wheeled out more declining DVD headlines…
AT THE MOVIES
The big, big debut for Sing – it took more than £10.65 million in its opening weekend – masked the hugely impressive opening for the 18-rated T2 Trainspotting, which now boasts of the biggest ever opening weekends for an adult film after taking more than £5 million in its first few days on release. Other new entries included Hacksaw Ridge, with £1.5 million, and Raees, with nearly £750,000.
Big, big news of the week for genre fans and nerds everywhere was the news that Denis Villeneuve is set to direct the new take on Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi tale Dune. The Prisoners director is obviously the go-to helmer for this kind of film – his next release is Blade Runner 2049…
Meanwhile, the sequel hasn’t even opened yet – although the second Keanu Reeves outing is on the way to cinemas very shortly – but John Wick is already in line for a TV spin-off. There’s little detail yet, beyond what was teased by director Chad Stahelski while doing press duties for the film, which opens in two weeks time…
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun…
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Here’s that Hatton Garden Job trailer we were on about earlier…
We’ve been banging on about this for a while, directed by industry creative Ben Parker…
Some early Superbowl trailers now, here’s that big Manga remake…
And here’s more Transformers…
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