|
£250M MARKETING SPEND ON THE WAY
RETAILERS BACK FILM, VIDEO PUSH
WITCH CASTS SPELL
GET THE BEERS IN
CHAMPAGNE FOR SUPERNOVA
OUTSIDER STATUS FOR Q4…
…AND ALL OR NOTHING FOR LEIGH
FOOTSOLDIER STOMPS BACK…
…AS SIGNATURE UNVEILS Q4…
…AND BRUCE IS BACK FOR INDIE
KRAYS BACK BEHIND BARS…
…AS HIGH FLIERS ADDS MORE PRODUCTIONS
ZAK’S BACK
SCHOOLED ON ILLEGAL STREAMING
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
If you can't read this newsletter or see the ads, please click here.
Apologies again for the late-running newsletter, this is due to the HGV driver shortage, Brexit woes, no petrol, ongoing health issues and more.
As Bond nears its arrivals in UK cinemas – the title lands shortly, in case you hadn’t noticed the welter of publicity that has been revived in the run-up to the oft-delayed title’s final arrival at multiplexes and more – industry bodies ERA and BASE have revealed the industry is planning to spend some £250 million across film and home entertainment sectors in the final quarter of 2021 and into next year. The 18-month estimate of the quarter of a billion pounds sum was revealed by BASE at ERA’s recent AGM, taking in not just No Time To Die, but the likes of Jurassic World: Dominion, Minions: The Rise of Gru, The Matrix 4: Resurrections, Downton Abbey: A New Era and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent beyond it. Digital video revenues soared by more than a third to £2.9 billion during lockdown, as physical sales declined, but BASE and ERA are looking to recovery across the entire sector. ERA chief executive Kim Bayley said: “A quarter of a billion pounds worth of media will ensure that no one is unaware that video is back in the game. This level of marketing support is off-the-scale. After 18 months when the video business has been starved of releases because of the cinema blackout, this is a dramatic comeback. We are immensely grateful to BASE and the studios it represents for this sneak preview of the goodies to come.” More comment on the total being spent over the next year and a half came from ERA members. Paul Newton, Head of Commercial at Sky Store, said, “Our business has been very resilient during the pandemic. We have all done a great job in promoting and re-promoting catalogue, but new release remains the biggest driver.” John Delany, Head of Film and TV at HMV, said, “During lockdown, more people have gone back to titles they know and love and that will only serve to create demand for some of the great sequels to come like the new Matrix movie.” Meanwhile Andrew Stewart, Head of Commercial Partnerships at Amazon Video, added: “The cinema run is the ultimate marketing tool. We are about to gorge ourselves on a huge feast of new content and it’s a huge privilege to get a sneak preview today.”
In stores on Monday September 27 is the debut release from the Elysian Film Group’s distribution arm and in Earwig And The Witch it’s got a mighty impressive title to kick off its home entertainment operation with. Directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of animation legend Hayao, it is the first CGI film released under the Studio Ghibli banner. And things are shaping up nicely for the company, as explained by Nick MxKay, who said: “The response to the EARWIG AND THE WITCH SKUs has been really encouraging, especially with regards to the limited Steelbook and limited collectors’ edition. It is genuinely exciting to be on the cusp of these going out into the world now and we hope these releases reflect our passion for the film and all things Ghibli which hopefully in turn see will see film fans of all ages and ardent Studio Ghibli followers enjoy them as much as we did in putting them together.”
There’s a brace from Studiocanal in stores on Monday September 27 too, in the shape of, as revealed here previously, Another Round and Supernova, the former a foreign language Oscar winner, the latter an acting masterclass and tour de force from the likes of Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. Comment on Another Round came from Studiocanal’s Carys Gaskin, who said: “Join us for Another Round, out now on Digital with DVD and Blu-Ray following on Monday September 27. Don’t miss one of the best dance scenes of the year with the mighty Mads Mikkelsen finally getting proper use of his earlier career as a professional dancer in the fantastic award-winning film from director Thomas Vinterberg. With strong support across the Digital platforms as well as our key specialist retailers with posters across the HMV and Fopp sites and distribution in Tesco and Sainsburys, we hope to see an heady result on the home ent release.”
As for Supernova, senior product manager Nicola Browning said: “With an early digital release, Supernova is released today and is out on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday. The stunning moving drama features outstanding performances by Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. Set in the beautiful Lake District, this British film depicts a tender and long-term relationship beautifully. With a media campaign running for three weeks, we've received good set-up from the Digital platforms, grocers, HMV and Zavvi. We're looking forward to seeing the results.”
It comes as Studiocanal moves into a strong Q4 for the company, with newly-announced new release The Last Letter From Your Lover, joining an impressive catalogue line-up of restorations, new to Blu-ray titles and more. The company’s Kristin Ryan said: “We're definitely going for it this Q4 with recently announced prestige projects including Francis Ford Coppola's American classic The Outsiders restoration which was announced as part of this years' LFF ahead of its Home Ent release, Joe Dante's 80s beast The Howling (which will be the central focus of our Horror Vault promotion this Halloween), and three special edition releases to celebrate the 30th anniversary of T2. And we're not done yet... we've got more exciting releases to announce in the coming weeks, watch this space!”
Chief among those Studiocanal restorations are its Mike Leigh titles All Or Nothing and Vera Drake, which will be joining a vast array of activity around the famed British director, with BFI releases and a major retrospective at cinemas looking at his glittering career. Senior catalogue project manager Tara Hutton said; “These two Mike Leigh films are both first to Blu-ray titles so we focussed on creating an extra special home entertainment package. We were lucky enough to be able to film interviews with most of the Leigh regulars including Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, Eddie Marsan and Mike Leigh himself as well as cinematographer Dick Pope to create some fascinating featurettes. Both films will be getting a Q&A screening as part of the BFI’s Mike Leigh celebration in November, followed by a limited theatrical release in December.” 
We’ve been talking Q4 with Signature, as the independent hones its craft of theatrical through to home entertainment releases, taking in all manner of release strategies, bringing back some strong animated family titles, all of which boast theatrical releases behind them, alongside one of the strongest home ent franchises around and a brace of Liam Neeson films too. We’ll kick off with that the biggest Brit gangster series, the aforementioned franchise Rise Of The Footsoldier in its fifth, and best, outing, Origins. Barra said: “It’s the origins story, so it will help bring new fans to the franchise. Previous instalments have been bestselling, home-ent, chart-topping hits and this is on track to be no different, We opened in 250 screens at the start of this month and it was the second biggest new entry after Disney’s Shang Chi, which we are thrilled about. It’s a bigger and better film. The film stars Vinnie Jones which really helps with mainstream potential too. It’s a bold film with a bold release strategy audiences with be treated to early access with its Home Premiere on October 4, followed by DVD, Blu-ray and box-set in December.
Signature’s animated slate features Moonbound (November 29) and Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon, both of which received nationwide cinema outings in the summer. Back to live action releases from October and post-apocalyptic thriller The Survivalist (from October 11), pitched as Dune meets World War Z, and starring stars John Malkovich alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers, From October 22, first on EST, comes Demonic, coming on the back of its big premiere at FrightFest and beyond, with director Neil Blomkamp having already done scores of interviews to help push the film’s PVOD release in August . Barra said: “It has all the favourite themes horror fans love – possession, the Vatican, technology, We know the District 9 and Elysium director has a cult following, so to have his name on this is great. Neil did lots of interviews for us and it opened FrightFest, which is a great way to kickstart the release.” There’s more end of the world style issues dealt with in The Warning (October 25), with Alice Eve and Thomas Jane heading the cast and the film will open this year’s SciFi London festival. Into November there’s more thrills in 13 Minutes (November 1). Barra said: “It’s a good, old-fashioned disaster movie, Twister meets Greenland, a very tense movie with great production values. It’s an evergreen genre.” Arriving at last on home entertainment formats is the film that some exhibitors said “saved cinema” when few other distributors wanted to release titles into theatres as lockdown eased earlier this year, Honest Thief (from November 5). The number one box office hit, “featuring Liam Neeson doing what he does best”, is the first of two films released this quarter by Signature featuring the action hero, with the second, Ice Road, due on digital at the end of December before its physical release in Jan. Signature has enjoyed enormous success with Westerns, and Old Henry (November 8) falls into this category Starring Tim Blake Nelson and Stephen Dorff, it has gained huge buzz following it’s Venice Film Festival triumphant debut.”
Continuing Signature’s Q4 slate and of course, it wouldn’t be a Signature presentation without a contribution from Bruce Willis, the Die Hard action hero having been a staple of their presentations and catalogue. High concept thriller Apex Predator (from November 12) sees him being chased for sport by billionaires. Fresh from Sundance and FrightFest is Knocking, a tense psychological thriller. “It’s going to play at lots of genre festivals and the buzz about this has really started and it’s only going to keep growing,: said Barra. Into December and sci-fi thriller Night Raiders arrives on December 6. Produced by Taika Waititi and on the back of well-received airings at film festivals such as Berlin and TIFF, this is bound to become a future sci-fi classic.
Continuing with High Fliers and previewing its own productions and titles into next year, the company’s May Monteiro said: “Our next own production is a new telling of Jekyll & Hyde and a feature film with an original twist on the classic horror story. Given the success that we have enjoyed with Ripper Untold, we have high hopes that a new updated version of Jekyll & Hyde will be just as successful. Moving further into 2022 and for Q1, we will be releasing three more of our own productions, starting with a new creature feature film called Werewolf Castle. Set in medieval times, it tells the story of a local werewolf legend and how a gothic castle is overrun by a horde of otherworldly creatures and it is down to a small army of Knights to defeat them, with lots of action and battle scenes. With werewolf films being a proven genre within the horror category, we are confident of it being a hit. Next up we have an epic fantasy adventure with a film called Dragon Knights, an exciting new action packed feature, with Knights fighting alongside Dragons. These types of films always prove popular and we have enjoyed success with at least three similar types of films previously. Finally, the last film off the production line for now is something a bit different and a historical horror/mystery called The Bloody Tower. Based on the infamous story of the Two Princes, imprisoned in the Bloody Tower within the Tower Of London by Richard III and how they allegedly came back to haunt the Tower and with guards and inmates starting to die in horrible circumstances, it becomes clear the Two Princes are out for revenge. A chilling ghost story based on the famous mystery and one of the best know tales in the history of the Tower Of London. In addition to our own productions, we have many other releases coming up across a number of genres and a great variation from us as always, Key titles include an action thriller called Vengeance Is Mine and family fantasy film called A Fairy Tale After All.”
Final news from High Fliers sees a new appointment at the company, with Adrian Zak, formerly of, among others, Virgin Media, joining the company. He will start as acquisitions manager at the company. High Fliers’ May Monteiro said: “High Fliers is pleased to announce a new signing to the team, with Adrian Zak will be joining us next month. He has an excellent track record with Virgin, Sky and Samsung and will be an excellent addition to the company with the knowledge he will be bringing to the table. We look forward to welcoming him to the team.”
The Federation Against Copyright Theft has enlisted the help of everyman footballer Jimmy Bullard to get the message over to consumers that illegal streaming can lead to identity theft and more issues for those who seek out unofficial and illegitimate sports and film content online. The campaign sees Bullard being schooled about the threat of viruses, malware and wholesale identity theft used by those setting up illegal streaming sites. It comes as research shows at almost half people questioned in a survey said they’d happily give up their email address and details to be able to access films and football without paying. This comes despite almost a third saying they’ve experienced hacking and other issues after illegally streaming. Bullard said: “You hear that there are lots of problems with dodgy streaming sites, but I had no idea just how serious it was. I was pretty shocked at how these sites work, and by how much trouble someone could land themselves in using them. As someone who’s been targeted by online hackers before, it’s frightening what can happen if your details get into the wrong hands. My main takeaway for anyone watching these streams is that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.”
Cyber security expert Jamie Woodruff added: “European football content accounts for over a quarter of all illicit streaming sites online. This means that football fans in particular are putting themselves at risk of everything from viruses and malware to stolen personal information. The truth is that while these sites may look harmless, the criminals behind them and the danger they pose are not. Even the simplest of illicit sites will regularly record your IP address, track your location, and even use your device to farm for crypto currency. There have even been occasions where connected devices such as webcams have been unknowingly hacked, due to users downloading fake web players that install malware on their machine.” CEO of FACT, Kieron Sharp added: “It’s really important that people know the serious nature of the risks they’re exposing themselves to if they choose to view content illegally. Identity theft, fraud and exposure to malware and viruses as a result of piracy are all too real, as Jimmy discovered. Anyone considering turning to illegal content should think twice about whether it’s really worth it – what appears to be free could come with a very high cost.”
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun…
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Not about the Office fella…
Mentioned in Dispatch…
The final Halloween Kills trailer before it lands next month…
Here’s the Krays…
Due from Arrow…
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
You're on The Raygun newsletter mailing list, which has been running for eight years, because you requested it, have been recommended to us or sent us emails. You can unsubscribe at any time, if you're daft, using the link elsewhere or by emailing as below. But of course, you don't want to do that, do you? We don't share your information with anyone else, we don't like cookies and we're the good guys. We care because you do…
To subscribe to The Raygun newsletter, please email info@theraygun.co.uk
with subscribe in the subject matter
To unsubscribe, email info@theraygun.co.uk with unsubscribe in the subject
line
For editorial or advertising queries, contact tim@theraygun.co.uk
The Raygun
7 Lightcliffe Road
London N13 5HD
|
 | Powered by YMLP.com | |
| | ||