BACK TO BASE-ICS
NEW BVA NAME UNVEILED AT INSIGHT FORUM
THE Is HAVE IT FOR BASE
REACTION TO NEW NAME
INSIGHT FORUM REPORT
OSORIO: VALUE FOR CUSTOMER IS KEY
ARTHUR: OWNERSHIP IS AT THE HEART
THRONES SITS ON TOP… AGAIN
BLADE GETS CUT THROUGH
MIDWEEK CHART UPDATE
ARROW VIDEO TITLES FLY AT HMV AND FOPP
SCREENING ROOM REACTION
EDDIE JUMPS INTO ACTION…
…AS LIONSGATE REWARDS GAMES FANS
UNIVERSAL’S BIG JOBS MARKETING
STUDIOCANAL TO MAKE A KILLING
METRODOME NOT ASLEEP FOR DEALS…
…AS TIDE COMES IN, DUE OUT
IN THE SYNCH…
SET TOP RAIDS
UK FILMS GO GLOBAL
SAINSBURY’S CITES ENTERTAINMENT SUCCESS
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It Was A Good Week For... Game Of Thrones, shifting 118,000 in its first few days on sale…
It Was A Bad Week For… The two arrested in a Sunderland cinema accused of being involved in a cam scam…
Since the old VHS days and the birth of the video business, anytime more than half a dozen industry people have gathered together in the same room the same old hoary lines have been thrown out: if a bomb went off/if a fire broke out, the business would be decimated Well, as the pr scores of executives flocked to the Empire, Leicester Square for the BVA – now BASE (see below for more on this) – Insight Forum, presented in association with ERA, the event was cut slightly short as a burning smell entered the auditorium and the event was slightly truncated. It turned out to be a false alarm (the smell came from work next door getting in through the air conditioning), and although it cut short the presentation by BBC Worldwide supremo Marcus Arthur (and led to a whole host of “the industry could be wiped out” gags), it couldn’t put a dampener on an otherwise excellent event. The forum offered up a morning’s worth of statistics, facts and figures from assorted industry experts, as well as various state-of-the-nation overviews of our business, where it’s at and, most importantly, where it’s going. And it also gave the trade body formerly known as the British Video Association, aka the BVA, the first chance to show off its new image and logo.
So, first things first and the opening of the event gave ceo Liz Bales and chairman Robert Price the chance to unveil the new-look British Association For Screen Entertainment – aka BASE – logo and the thinking behind the name change. In an official statement, Bales said: “Thanks to the explosion in digital services, the market is now a fully multichannel model, spanning physical, digital, ownership, rental and subscription. It’s a complex new economy, bringing with it new risks and rewards – and one that requires an all-embracing Association to represent and champion it. Our new name reflects the breadth of our membership and allows us to open doors to new members from other parts of the ecosystem. Vitally, it provides a more solid foundation from which to continue to support the needs of all our members and to champion the growth of the category on their behalf.” The newly-renamed organisation has identified five key areas it is going to operate in, helpfully categorised under five different groups al beginning with an I – insight, giving its members plenty of information about the business; innovation, looking at both skills and research and development into ways to lead the market; influence, working with regulators and lobbying; infringement, fighting against piracy; and inspiration, both in terms of consumers and fellow members within BASE.
More comment on the new name for the trade body came from chair Robert Price, also md at Fox, who said: “Our new name, the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE), is a clear and modern interpretation of what we do. It meets the evolving needs of our membership. It opens doors to wider audiences who may not have previously considered membership. And it focuses our work around the means by which our customers experience our industry rather than on one aspect of our category. It is a bold move and it forms a fundamental underpinning of our approach to championing the screen entertainment category across disc and digital today and for the years ahead.” Elevation Sales md and BASE vice chairman Kevin Dersley added: “As BASE, I am confident that the organisation will progress each of its areas of work with ever more rigour and energy, continuing to drive the agenda in support of its members and champion the growth of physical and digital formats across the industry.”
The BASE Insight Forum saw a raft of different presentations from across the board, with experts from Oxera, Kantar’s Worldpanel and Media arms, GfK, Oxera and Futuresource Consulting, unveiling a wealth of statistical information and insight into recent trends, the current state of play and, crucially, a look at where the industry is heading. There was a veritable mountain of fascinating information, which we’re still poring over for a full feature to go on our website in the next few days. But here’s a few titbits, this time from Futuresource, whose David Sidebottom concluded: “Continued growth is expected, key titles will drive the market in Q1 and Q2, … On EST the momentum will continue to grow but the challenge is to bring in new consumers; there’ll be a widening adoption of connected devices, increased availability of UHD and another good year for box office.” More on our website
One of the highlights of the event was an excellent presentation from HMV’s head of film and TV, who scrutinised current strategies in the industry and urged everyone to look at the wider picture, spending less time shuffling tables and chairs around, getting consumers to trade up or switch formats, and more time trying to win back customers who have been tempted away to piracy or just stopped buying all together. He ran through ways to encourage and entice consumers, through adding value, offering unique moments and engagement as well as looking at the best ways to get new formats to work. Osorio concluded: “The less time we can all spend moving the furniture around, kidding ourselves that meddling with availability is making a real difference, creating obstacles for customers to have to negotiate like digital windows; will mean the more time we can all spend on making the best of what we do, maximising every channel and respecting their differences, allowing them to be complementary.So imagine for a moment if we all kept “value for the customer” at the heart of every decision, where stores (physically or online) delighted customers with every product. If we can all focus on the ways to reach as many people as possible with the best product in the best packaging, to watch in the definition the consumer wants and help them immerse themselves in it via every channel and touch point… I do believe there will be a very bright future for all of us.” We’ve got a full transcript of his spot-on assessment and presentation going up on our website shortly and we urge everyone to read it…
Other presentations and speakers included James Gay Rees, who has worked on a raft of huge documentary films, including this years Academy Award winner Amy - he wowed the audience by bringing the Oscar along, at the behest of Johnny Fewings, who interviewed him on stage (for more, see below, in our At The Movies section). There was an excellent presentation from BBC Worldwide supremo Marcus Arthur, who offered a passionate defence of the world of physical media. He said: “"As retailers, distributors, publishers and suppliers we are all trying to create the best experience possible for consumers across all formats and platforms. The BASE Insight Forum is an excellent opportunity to pool our market knowledge and insights to help us achieve this. Ownership remains at the heart of our business model. As long as studios and distributors can get brilliant content to fans where, when and how they want it the home entertainment will continue to thrive and surprise.” More on all this on our site shortly…
The BASE Insight Forum event took place in a week when it was down to Game Of Thrones once more to show just how resilient the home entertainment business is. For the fifth outing of the show – seemingly never out of the headlines, thanks to HBO’s release and accompanying noise this week, as well as forthcoming star Ian McShane’s loose-lipped revelations about the next season and the never-ending hype for the sixth series – has got off to a flying start. The fifth season was head and shoulders above the rest of the competition in its first few weeks on sale, buoyed by plenty of activity from HBO, not least a huge screening at the Empire in Leicester Square with celebrities and stars from the series turning out. It shifted some 118,000 copies in its first few days on sale according to the midweek bulletin from the Official Charts Company, more than the rest of the top 10 combined. Commenting on its success in its first few days on sale, HBO’s Grace Alexander said: ““We’re really excited with how the sales have gone so far this week, and with activity still to run across PR and media- we’re looking forward a strong weekend and hopefully a sustained campaign.” We’ll have loads of the Thrones activity on our website shortly, including a report from the Leicester Square screening too…
The other significant new entry in the top five is Signature’s Dragon Blade, a martial arts historical epic starring Jackie Chan alongside Hollywood heavyweights Adrien Brody and John Cusack. It’s another strong performer for the independent label, whose Claire Loewenthal said: “"We are delighted with the mid week sales of Dragon Blade. We are on track for a week 1 number of over 15,000 units which really is outstanding. The mash-up of two super commercial genres, a stellar cast and a perfectly placed marketing and distribution campaign - targeting the masses - has clearly made an impression with the movie going public."
There’s plenty of other new entries appearing in the listings this week according to the Official Charts Company’s midweek bulletin, with a quarter of the top 40 being made up of new titles. These include (deep breath) Monsters High: Great Scarrier Reef at six, Kate Winslet’s The Dressmaker at seven, Bruce Willis in Extraction at eight, Call The Midwife series 5 at 11, A Place To Call Home Series 1-3 (18), Thomas & Friends Start Your Engines at 23, Prey at number 28, Paw Patrol And The Pirate Treasure at number 34, Time Out Of Mind and Backtrack at numbers 38 and 39 respectively.
Sticking with something that’s performing well, and returning to HMV, as well as sister retailer Fopp, it’s worth noting that, currently looking rather swish in stores across the chain is the first retailer-wide promotion for one of our favourite labels, Arrow Video. The promotion has some great offers on the imprint’s fine selection of classic genre fare, with five for £30 and individual titles at £6 a pop, among other deals, proving irresistible to consumers, especially the scores of devotees of classic horror and other flicks from the pre-digital era. Commenting on the promotion, HMV’s Zachary Kilburn said: “HMV is very happy to be joining up with Arrow Video to provide the first, large scale campaign for the label in HMV. Our customers and staff alike are all fans of the label so we're excited to be able to offer such a great range of titles at such great prices, and further extend HMVs specialist credentials.” Arrow’s Pete Thompson added: “We’re delighted with the first week sales, which have far exceeded our expectations. This is the largest-ever label promotion by Arrow Video and we’re thrilled to offer these fantastic cult classics to a wider audience through a bricks and mortar retailer. Both HMV and Fopp have been tremendously supportive and their enthusiasm for our product is unrivalled. The promotion runs for another five weeks and we’ll continue to use social media channels to engage with customers and drive them into stores.”
Much of the big discussion in and around the film business this week has concerned former Napster boss Sean Parker’s latest wheeze, Screening Room, a premium vod idea that would charge around $50 in the US to let households watch new release films at home day and date with their theatrical release. Needless to say, exhibitors were up in arms, although it did seem to have fans in the creative community, not least the likes of Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams. In its own statement, the UK Cinema Association said: “The Screening Room’ represents a massive risk to the future prosperity not only of this Association’s members and their counterparts in other territories, but also of colleagues across the wider film industry. There is no evidence to suggest that significant numbers of people are willing to pay £35 ($50) to watch even the biggest films at home on day of release. Even if that were not the case, it is difficult to envisage how this proposal – if adopted – could do anything other than present an unprecedented opportunity for film piracy while at the same time damaging the foundations of a cinema business which remains the key driver of revenue for the entire business. The cinema experience represents not only over 40 per cent of total film revenues, but also generates ‘word of mouth’ marketing which benefits every other subsequent platform. This proposal would therefore inevitably lead to a loss in overall income for the film industry. We share a common goal with our partners in film distribution and all other elements of our industry – to encourage more people to watch more films. Our members continue to invest in innovation and development of their offers to present films in the most impactful environment, and thus continue creating true financial and marketing value for the entire industry, as they have for the last century. There is of course a place for development of new business models in the industry, but that requires a collaborative approach. The appropriate forum for this is through discussion between cinema operators, our partners in film distribution and those with realistic long term value-enhancing ideas, not those offering unsustainable alternatives.”
To London’s Leicester Square where Lionsgate was unveiling its latest biggie, the homegrown antics of Eddie The Eagle catalogued in the film of the same name. The premiere of the film further heightened its profile, and retailers and industry types were out in force for the event and the film looks to not just have the feel good factor, but great word of mouth too. As HMV’s Andy Anderson said: “Eddie The Eagle was great, very enjoyable British fare and a film that takes you on a journey you want to be on. It will be very good for home entertainment too.” Lionsgate’s Marie Claire Benson added: “The premiere last night was a huge success, and the film was warmly received by everyone we spoke with. It’s an underdog story, it’s based on real-life events, it’s British and it’s going to be a big hit when it comes to home entertainment later in the year.”
Sticking with Lionsgate and the company has plenty of big releases before Eddie The Eagle makes its home entertainment bow a few months down the line – not least in the shape of the final instalment of The Hunger Games, Mockingjay Part 2, due out on Monday March 21. Commenting on the release, Lionsgate’s Ben Grunbaum said: “Lionsgate is proud to be releasing the final instalment in the epic franchise. On top of the usual extensive marketing campaign on TV, vod, online, press and social. Our aim has been to give something back to the fans, and today we have announced The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 Prize Draw – Tribute To The Fans.This is Lionsgate’s biggest ever UK prize draw and fans can be in with a chance of winning one of over 500 prizes. Prizes include a trip for 2 to San Francisco, a replica white Katniss throne and much more [you can see it at]. The fans have been at the heart of The Hunger Games movies success and their support has made it the phenomenon it is in the UK. This is our thank you to them all.”
Also due on Monday is Steve Jobs, the awards-friendly biopic that looks at the life and times of the Apple founder, with Michael Fassbender starring as the maverick computer whizz. Commenting on its release, senior product manager Lisa Penna said: “We will be running half page print ads in core broadsheet outlets, including the Metro, The Evening Standard, The Guardian Guide, The Sunday Times Culture, as well as in Time Out & Shortlist. We’re also running a very engaging rich media digital ad in The Guardian Online as well as You Tube pre-roll. The film is being supported by a robust and targeted PR campaign focused on securing widespread positive endorsements.”
Elsewhere, Disney was due to takeover Victoria Station in London over the weekend of March 19 and 20 to promote the forthcoming release of The Good Dinosaur. The studio has teamed with Tomy and its toy range to flag up Monday March 21’s release by putting a giant silo in the station, offering up prizes as part of a competition…
A few weeks off, on April 4 (and coincidentally, due on a certain trade newsletter editor’s big birthday), comes Kill Your Friends, the adaptation of the bestselling novel which took a huge chunk out of the record industry. Penned by John Niven, who adapted his own novel for the film charting the nefarious adventures of Steven Stelfox, A&R executive. Commenting on the release, Studiocanal’s Kelly Morris said: “For the home entertainment campaign we have given the artwork a revamp and it’s certainly going to shout at consumers from the shelf! We are supporting with digital, press and PR campaigns, and if you love a bit of 90s nostalgia, I suggest you watch it.”
Metrodome has been as busy as ever picking up titles to bring to market in the coming weeks and months. It has unveiled a slew of signings from the Berlin film festival and market, picking up Andre Techine’s Being 17 and Girl Asleep, a look into the mind of a teenager. As well as those two titles from Elle Driver, with a further three titles, horrors Satanic and Scare Campaign, and action title Camino all signed n Germany too. Commenting on the first two signings, Metrodome’s Giles Edwards said: “Old master Techiné, in concert with emerging virtuoso Celine Sciamma, returns to the height of his extraordinary powers with an exultant ode to the messy business of yearning, losing, loving and growing and one of the most delicately moving films of the decade. Girl Asleep confirms a wonderful and prodigious new voice in cinema as Rosemary Myers gleefully fuses Wes Anderson visual dexterity, Kath & Kim verbal eccentricity and Hal Ashby ideological anarchy to produce a genuine one-off wonder.”
Also from Metrodome, the company has forged a relationship with production outfit Redeeming Features, the first fruits of which, urban crime thriller Hard Tide, arrives in cinemas in April ahead of its home entertainment bow. Hard Tide has already earned plaudits after airing at last year’s Raindance Film Festival. Metrodome md Jezz Vernon said: “We're very excited to kick start our working relationship with Redeeming Features and bring this great indie crime thriller to the market. Directors Nathanael Wiseman and Robert Osman show incredible promise as filmmakers and have created an emotional, gripping crime story with genuine cinematic vision.” Wiseman added: “We are extremely excited to be working with Metrodome, such a beloved bedrock of British film. After putting our heart and soul into Hard Tide, it’s great to meet people who are just as passionate about independent cinema as we are.”
Anti-piracy experts have privately been stating that while incidences of camming - illegal camcording films in cinemas for piracy purposes – might be less prevalent than a few years ago, there’s no excuse for not being vigilant. And that vigilance is paying off, as two men were arrested at the Empire Cinema in Sunderland under suspicion of possessing an illegal audio recording of the latest in the Divergent series, Allegiant, within days of it opening. English language audio tracks are often synched with illegal foreign language versions of films obtained from elsewhere. The arrest of the men, one aged 44 and the other 19, followed an investigation by Northumbria Police, FACT, the film’s producers and the Motion Picture Association…
In other anti-piracy news, and also in the North East, another joint operation, involving FACT, trending standards and police officers, raided seven address in a bid to crack down on sales of set top boxes used to stream pirate channels showing films and sports events. Some 40-plus internet protocol TV boxes were seized and a man was arrested. PIPCU chief DCI Peter Ratcliffe said: “This operation is an excellent example of multi-agency working across force boundaries to tackle piracy and those intent on making money at the expense of honest subscription payers who deserve a fair deal. Set top box piracy is costing the entertainment industry millions every year and it invites possible risks from malware and viruses into homes where these devices are in use. We routinely seek to identify and disrupt those intent on making quick cash from piracy and will use every enforcement opportunity to bring them to justice.” FACT director general Kieron Sharp said: “Today’s joint operation in the North East sends a clear message to anyone involved in the sale of illegal TV streaming boxes that FACT, along with the police and Trading Standards, are taking this crime very seriously. Consumers need to be aware that these cheap pre-configured TV boxes are illegal. They are stealing copyrighted content and starving UK businesses from revenue, as well as putting consumers’ devices at risk of malware and ransomware.”
We’ll end with some more stats, as the BFI has unveiled a raft of figures that make for some impressive reading. They sate that films made in the UK generated $9.4 billion in box office around the world in 2015, the equivalent of one in four tickets. That represents a 13 per cent increase on 2014, while independent films, headed by the likes of Paddington and Shaun The Sheep. Culture secretary Ed Vaizey said: “The UK is home to world-leading creative talent, and so it's no surprise that 2014 was another record-breaking year for British film. From blockbusters like Star Wars to independent award winning productions like Paddington, British made films continue to excite audiences far and wide.” The BFI’s Amanda Nevill said: “The worldwide box office numbers once again underline the vital role played by our fantastic talent, crews and production facilities in making films here in the UK that are seen by audiences worldwide.”
We don’t always cover grocer and supermarket financial news, but it’s worth noting that Sainsbury’s mentioned its sterling entertainment performance in the first part of the year in its quarterly trading update this week. As the report noted: “Entertainment also performed well, with nearly 11 per cent growth driven by some big releases in the quarter.” Sales were driven by this year’s big releases in film and TV, such as Spectre and Legend, as well as the likes of Adele in music.
“When NBC decided not to renew Hannibal for a fourth season — a show on which I served as executive producer — it wasn’t much of a leap to connect its fate with the fact that the show was ranked as the fifth-most illegally downloaded show in 2013. When nearly one-third of the audience for Hannibal is coming from pirated sites — despite the fact that a legitimate download for each episode was available the following day — you don’t have to know calculus to do the math. If a show is stolen, it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to fairly compensate a crew and keep a series in production. Did pirates kill Hannibal? Unfortunately, that is a cliffhanger that might last for a while. With more than 2 million viewers watching our show illegally, it’s hard not to think online pirates were, at the very least, partly responsible for hundreds of crew members losing their jobs and millions of fans — who watched the show legitimately — mourning the loss of a beloved program. As I said, this isn’t just about me. This is about the livelihoods of thousands upon thousands of hardworking people who help enrich the lives of millions of fans of films and TV shows. When the plundering is done, even the pirates will have nothing left to watch, let alone steal. That is a dark future I will do my best — as a producer and a fan — to make sure never arrives at a laptop near you.”
Hannibal producer Martha de Laurentiis on why the show was cancelled…
AT THE MOVIES
Kung Fu Panda ushered in the Easter era with an impressive bow, taking just short of £4.8 million in its first weekend, with Allegiant, the latest in the Divergent series, taking more than £1.8 million. Other new entries included The Witch (£447,768) and Anomalisa (£223,387).
Big news of the week surrounds the fact that another Indiana Jones film is on the way, with both Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford among those involved in the latest addition to the franchise…
Our favourite news of the week concerns another face set to appear on the big screen – as news arrives of the casting of Jack Lowden, star of War & Peace, as Morrissey in the forthcoming Steven, a biopic looking at the fabled singer’s life in the run up to the launch of The Smiths…
And sticking with music and producer James Gay Rees revealed more about his next project, a documentary about Oasis, at the BASE Insight Forum. He not only said that Oasis, or rather the Gallagher brothers, were “crazy”, he further added that the film would be a “call to arms”…
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Everything they’ve built… will fall
Only on Netflix, Luke Cage, with a snippet of Nas…
This week’s shocking Red Band business; beware bad language
Blake gets lively with a shark…
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