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BEST BUY SAYS BYE BYE TO PHYSICAL…
…MOVE TO DITCH DISCS MEANS BAD PRESS…
ALTHOUGH DAILY MAIL IS AN UNLIKELY DVD ALLY
RENTAL STORE STARS IN FEATURE…
…AND UPDATES ON TRADE
FILM STORIES ADDS BIG PHYSICAL MEDIA SECTION…
…THE RAYGUN PENS COVERAGE FOR CONSUMER MAG
WICKER MAN BURNS AGAIN…
AS DELICATESSEN OFFERS A TASTY TREAT
BARBIE SETS DIGITAL RECORD
JOY AS LIONSGATE RELEASE RIDES IN…
BLOWING AWAY THE COBWEB
MOTHER AND SON BORN
MEMORIES LANDS IN STORES
KRAKEN AWAKES
RADIANCE UNVEILS DECEMBER TITLES…
…AND MOVES INTO JANUARY
ALTITUDE, SECOND SIGHT TAKE TO THE STREETS
DAZZLER TALKS TV…
…WITH BIG SLATE FOR REST OF ’23
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It was a good week for… Barbie, doing the business on digital after its record-breaking theatrical release, and Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour film has broken all kinds of event cinema box office records worldwide, as well as taking £5.7 million at UK cinemas…
It was a bad week for… physical media, as Best Buy announced plans to pull the plug in the US, and the resultant “npo more DVDs” headlines…
We’ve been watching… A screening of Modern Films' forthcoming doc Tish blew us away, while check below to see what we've been watching for Film Stories magazine…
US big box giant Best Buy is to phase out DVDa and Blu-rays early in 2024 according to reports from the US, with the initial decision having been taken a whopping nine months ago. The consumer electronics retailer has confirmed its decision, noting, in a statement:: “To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago. Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.” Physical media will have a final hurrah in the retailer, with sales continuing up until the New Year, meaning one last Christmas for discs at its near 1,000 stores in the US. This leaves a trio of big retailers left still stocking DVDs and Blu-rays in 2024, Amazon, Target and Walmart. The latter is said to be in discussion with Universal and Warner’s joint distribution venture Studio Distribution Services (SDS) to take over management of part of its physical media offering; SDS is headed up by UK home entertainment stalwart Eddie Cunningham.
Home entertainment has fallen sharply in the US in physical forms, but it still represents a healthy chunk of income for studios in a unpredictable and volatile overall market, with uncertainty in everything from theatrical through to streaming, also taking into account industrial action and other woes. In the first half of 2023, physical media revenue fell 28 per cent, from more than $1 billion in the first six months of the previous year, to $754 million. That figure, while down, still represents almost a fifth of theatrical income in the US during that same period. What it does mean, however, is bad press for physical media, fuelling a kind of end-times belief that physical media is on the way out.
Interesting to note, that amid the negative publicity about physical media, the Daily Mail, never a friend of the video industry as anyone with even a passing interest in our business will know, there was was positive publicity for physical media this week. For the Mail covered the paucity of older, classic films on streaming services and also went to one of the country’s surviving rental stores for comment. The paper’s unscientific – yet revealing – method involved drawing up a list of 50 classic pre-1980 films using Empire magazine and IMDB listings, and checking their availability across Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+ and Netflix. Only a handful were available as part of streaming deals – and if you paid for all three of the subscription services, you could see a grand total of six of the 50. The Mail piece contained extensive comments from Dave Wain, proprietor of the excellent Snips Movies on the Wirral, a regular Raygun reader who also writes extensively about straight to video horror and genre fare, and one of the last remaining rental outlets. He told the paper: “Unless you have the persistence – and finances – to subscribe to a double-figure number of streaming services, the chances are you will have little or no access to some of the greatest films ever made. Granted, the majority of people will have minimal interest in watching a Billy Wilder movie or something by Douglas Sirk, but that shouldn’t mean that they’re not available. We need to preserve our film history. I have just over 15,000 titles, and the number of people who rent specific titles from me for the sole reason that they’re unavailable on streaming platforms is growing with every passing month In the video store era, we weren’t governed by an algorithm that pointed us in a specific direction over what to watch,' the owner said. We had the freedom to browse and choose, and potentially go down a rabbit hole.The days of kids stumbling across an old Brian De Palma film or some classic Alfred Hitchcock are in danger of vanishing.”
Snips Movies’ Dave Wain later spoke to The Raygun after his starring role in the Mail, telling us: “That age old occupation of 'movie rental store owner' is on the cusp of being filed away alongside professions like lamp lighter, clock keeper, and telegram messenger. In fact the expectation of the general public that the former still exists, is about on par with getting a glimpse of any of the latter three examples working away in deepest suburbia. Therefore, when a message drops in your inbox inviting you to contribute a handful of soundbites to a Daily Mail article, the opportunity to take a lung full of exposure far outweighs the bad taste sensation of it being in Lord Rothermere's old rag. I'm in no position to be picky when it comes to any kind of publicity. Things are good right now, up in the region of 25% year on year, but it's a drum that needs banging with the ferocity of Keith Moon in his pomp. That article in particular encapsulated the tone of so many of my endless social media posts, where I'm badgering anyone who'll listen with the stone-cold facts that while streaming subs increase with every passing year, your choice is becoming increasingly limited. To find a newspaper seizing that fact, albeit in tandem with the closure of Netflix-By-Post, is akin to giving credibility to that slightly loony guy who marches around your town centre with a sandwich board proclaiming the end of the world. The knock on effect is a ripple of activity in-store. There are days when my customer demographic doesn't stretch beyond 35 years old. School kids, students, and young professionals seem to know where it's at. It's just us over 40s who have become submissive in respect to what we watch. Having said that, I've had customers who have been absent for over a decade come in, swelling with pride over their purchase of a new Blu-ray player; parents ransacking their kids’ bedrooms and commandeering their physical media-friendly console; and grown men ascending into their lofts to dust down DVD players that they packed away years ago with no intention of them ever being seen again. It's a remarkable period, and it feels like something is changing.”
Snips Movies’ Wain added: “I've had to rip up the rule book though. As you may know, my Dad who founded Snips a little over 46 years ago died last December. A grim moment, but he liked a gamble, and to a great extent that's what I've done. The movie rental store nostalgia trip has had its long overdue burial. It's about today, and fitting into the busy lives of today's society. So with no late fees and a flexible rental period, gone are the archaic rules that were so often the barrier to people renting physical media. Hey, even Jeff Bezos only lets you rent for 48 hours. This change has been huge, and it's created a laid-back environment that's focused more on movies, which in the long-run is all everybody really wants.”
We at The Raygun have long been fans of the excellent film magazine Film Stories, a homegrown, fully independent print magazine (and associated website, podcast and more), run by the lovely Simon Brew and have been lucky enough to pen a few articles for the publication. Brew is a man on a mission and the magazine has an ethos and a moral compass few others possess – no clickbait on the site, no superheroes or mega-budget franchises on the cover and a championing of independent cinema, British filmmaking and a desire to write about some of the unexplored areas of moviegoing. So we’re pleased as punch that the magazine is getting a new lease of life, with an increased pagination – making it the country’s biggest film mag – new, flashy paper and more. What’s more, such is Film Stories’ devotion to physical media, that the new look mag has a section devoted to home entertainment on disc. It’s being penned by The Raygun’s very own Tim Murray and like Brew and his magazine, we’ll be championing lesser seen works, looking at a bit of home entertainment history and reviewing not just the obvious titles. Our first section includes a closer look at High Fliers’ cracking The World We Knew, a buried treasure of a DTV title that will form part of the regular coverage as we search for the kind of titles that show direct to video doesn’t have to be a dirty phrase, and as part of an ongoing series celebrating great moments in home entertainment history, we talk about the storied title The Exorcist and its history on home video, from the early days through to its not-quite-banning and the BBFC’s decision to grant it a certificate in the late 1990s. Oh, and we also review a bunch of titles out now or due on the shelves shortly, seven in all. The next issue will see us dissecting the current state of the physical media market in an exclusive and in-depth feature, with comments from retailers, distributors and more… To order the mag or subscribe go here https://store.filmstories.co.uk, to talk about editorial email tim@theraygun.co.uk and to discuss advertising opportunities, including a special discount for Raygun-directed home entertainment companies, get in touch with Simon at simon@filmstories.co.uk.
Film Stories’ Simon Brew told The Raygun: "I grew up loving big, chunky film magazines, where you got to the end of them with a fresh list of movies to watch, and a whole load more film knowledge to irritate people with! I'm thrilled this is the next evolution in the world of Film Stories, as it celebrates its fifth birthday. We already pride ourselves on showcasing the new movies that have been squeezed out a little in the modern superhero marketplace, and now we're telling a whole lot more stories, causing a whole lot more mischief, and even throwing in a huge quiz at the end of it all! It's been exhausting, not least because we've been making Film Junior magazine at the same time. But I'm really proud of the magazines, and what our small team has managed to achieve.”
One of the titles reviewed by The Raygun’s Tim Murray is the current Blu-ray release of The Wicker Man from Studiocanal, which is currently flying high after scoring big in its week of release, entering the top 10 and showing remarkable longevity for a 50 year old title that has seen a number of releases over the years – although Studiocanal’s newly-restored version complete with a raft of extras really does deserve the epithet definitive. Commenting on its success, Studiocanal’s Alison Arber said: ‘We are thrilled at the success of our 4K UHD release of The Wicker Man. Even after 50 years, The Wicker Man is still considered one of the best British films ever made, and the brand-new restoration has given fans the chance to own the ultimate version of all three cuts.’
Sticking with Studiocanal and the company has this week unleashed another classic title in the shape of the excellent Delicatessen, a classic slice of French cinema that introduced the world to the strange delights of director duo Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro. It has always been a home entertainment favourite, riding the early 90s world cinema home entertainment boom, released by Electric Pictures through Fox World Cinema, the imprint that saw a major studio backing foreign language films into rental stores. This latest release gets the kind of treatment that Studiocanal regularly delivers, with a raft of extras and a full 4K version. Commenting on the release, the company’s Mona Schlotter said: “We are excited to release a stunning new restoration of the cult classic Delicatessen which marked the breakthrough collaboration between celebrated directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, now available to enjoy in delicious 4K.”
Still on physical, digital and assorted home entertainment elements, next week sees Barbie parading on the shelves in stores as its physical release lands, which comes on the back of a hugely successful digital release. The title, out across digital in September, earning it the kudos of being the biggest value week one digital release of the year, besting Barbie. In fact, its first seven days on release saw a total digital consumer spend of more than £2.5 million in its different iterations. VP and head of digital distribution at Warner Bros. Discovery Ruth Sharp said: “We are delighted to see Barbie’s UK success in cinemas continue with a chart topping digital release. The premium format is exiting customers and driving growth in digital home entertainment.”
It’s a busy few weeks for Lionsgate on the home entertainment front, with a biggie out Monday October 23 followed by another heavy hitter the following Monday just ahead of Halloween. Next week's title is Joy Ride, part-raunchy comedy and part deeper emotionally resonating voyage of discovery tale, which, given its multi-racial cast and grown up sensibilities, feels very of the moment. It arrives with strong reviews behind it US website Indie Wire summed things up, saying: the film is "a prime example of how important representation is on screen and proves that Asian American comedians can be just as funny, raunchy, and successful as their white male counterparts". And The Guardian noted pithily it was " fun ride".Commenting on the release, Lionsgate’s Sophie Fawcett said: "On Monday 23rd October we release Adele Lim’s directorial debut Joy Ride on DVD and Blu-ray. We have had a great reaction to the film from both audiences and press, with it being certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Described as ‘Like Crazy Rich Asians meets Pitch Perfect with a dash of Bridesmaids’ by critics, we’re excited to bring this to DVD and Blu-ray for UK audiences.”
And the following Monday sees a shift in tone from Monday as, just one day before Halloween, comes Cobweb, one of the best horrors we've seen this year. It's a dark psychological tale about a more than dysfunctional family, Starring Anthony Starr, from Amazon's The Boys in a suitably snide role, alongside Cloverfield's Lizzy Caplan, it's earned some strong notices, not least from Empire, which said: "Spooky, silly, and sub-90 minutes, Cobweb uses familiar elements to create an inviting, entertaining atmosphere — and when the horrors finally emerge in the final reel, it gives good splatter to boot."
Staying in stores and more goodness from the ever-eclectic and ever-wonderful Picturehouse home entertainment imprint which, as we’ve noted here this year, has offered an excellent and hugely diverse slate in 2023. Out last week, Monday October 9, was Mother And Son, on which marketing manager Emily Evans said: “We’re thrilled to be releasing Mother And Son from acclaimed writer-director Léonor Serraille. The previous Camera d’Or winner has delivered an immensely moving follow up to Jeune Femme, led by an incredible performance from Annabelle Lengronne.”
And out Monday October 16 is a film that hasn’t left a dry eye in the house in the shape of post-Paris terror attack drama Paris Memories, about trauma, grief and massive impacts of such a shocking event. A tough watch, maybe, but an important one nonetheless and, as marketing manager at Picturehouse’s Emily Evans noted: “We’re excited to once again be working with Alice Winocour who continues to surprise with her filmmaking. Paris Memories is a powerful film about hope, collective recovery and human connection and Virginie Efira’s central performance is nothing short of masterful."
Just released from Universal is the latest release from its DreamWorks Animation arm, Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken. Commenting on the release, junior product manager Johanna Beaven, who said: “Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken is swimming home on DVD. We’re diving right in with a great Meta campaign including fantastic influencer activity showcasing the fun families can have together while watching the film. We also have an extensive YouTube campaign and presence across Amazon to drive further awareness. In addition to our media campaign, our DVD is releasing as the Make A Splash Edition filled with over an hour of exclusive bonus features and activities which are sure to keep the kids entertained.”
On to January 2024 and Radiance Films’ Fran Simeoni said: “We are delighted with the reaction to our January announcements, fans have really shown their enthusiasm and loyalty to Radiance with the comments and pre-orders for the titles already. THE STING OF DEATH is a superb hyperreal drama with overtones of horror that is not dissimilar to Zulawski's Possession in its style. A major award winner at Cannes and Japanese ceremonies it has remained unjustly obscure until recent retrospective screenings. We are delighted to be presenting it in its world Blu-ray premiere. We follow up our successful Damiano Damiani collection with one of his most thrilling films, GOODBYE & AMEN which has been newly restored by Radiance and features a suite of new extras. This action thriller features a wonderful cast including Tony Musante of Bird with the Crystal Plumage fame, the iconic Claudia Cardinale and other character actors from Italian Eurocrime films, we are sure this will connect well with fans. Lastly from Radiance I, THE EXECUTIONER is the first in a series of releases by genre master Tai Kato, a former assistant to Akira Kurosawa, Kato was himself a very successful director, Japan's equivalent to Sam Fuller or Budd Boetticher, he made genre films in a variety of genres with a distinct voice. This film is a great introduction to his work, one of the great serial killer films, influenced by Psycho and Nagisa Oshima it is an inky neo-noir that echoes the tropes of the Italian giallo. Lastly from our partner label Raro Video we release Duccio Tessari's DEATH OCCURRED LAST NIGHT a procedural thriller about a girl gone missing, the film methodically goes through the investigation before getting to the titular death. Raf Vallone gives a touching performance as the suffering father and Frank Wolf stars opposite him as the dedicated cop. The release comes with a new audio essay and booklet.”
Martin Scorsese has been in town these past few days, pushing his latest epic tale, Killers Of The Flower Moon, which, at three and a half hours is made for home entertainment and physical media (we’ll be seeing it in the cinema soon too) and should, if the entertainment industry had any sense, get an all-singing, all-dancing Blu-ray release further down the line, although in case you hadn’t guessed by the megabucks marketing, it’s being backed by those streamers at Apple TV+. While here, he took part in an excellent BFI-backed Q&A with Edgar Wright that is highly recommended (see it here https://youtu.be/l-4ULfDDySU?si=1C3uWFYQl8V_Xkzt), and Altitude keenly timed its 50th anniversary re-release of a brand spanking new upgrade of the director’s first true classic film, Mean Streets. Wright and Scorsese did Altitude’s campaign a PR favour by talking at length about the film, while the interview also features a lengthy clip from the Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel classic. Meanwhile, the 4K restored version via Altitude is in cinemas on October 13, followed, on November 20, but a digital release on the distributor’s own altitude.film platform and other retailers too. What’s more, there will be an all-singing, all-dancing 4K edition of this on physical media, courtesy of our old friends at Second Sight. Altitude’s Adam Eldrett said: “We have put MEAN STREETS back in cinemas this last weekend and have been delighted with the reaction from audiences. It's been a long process for our tech team working on the release for over a year, we are also bringing the title to digital in November. We have also partnered with SECOND SIGHT which is releasing a wonderful physical product in tandem with the digital release and Second Sight has been part of the journey with this re-release of a classic.” Second Sight’s Chris Holden said: “We're thrilled to be giving Mean Streets the love it deserves with this 50th anniversary release. With the latest masterpiece from the great man arriving, what better time to revisit his first in this stunning 4K restoration.”
We’ve been chatting with our pals at Dazzler Media about their forthcoming product, as it continues to spread into feature film as well as offering up a weighty slate of TV titles for release. The company’s Paul Holland said: “Dazzler Media, ahead of a full diary at Mipcom this week, is busy working on a wide roster of TV releases in Q4. Forthcoming titles include The Long Shadow (the story of the Yorkshire Ripper) a gripping drama now showing on ITV; and Payback, (Morven Christie, Peter Mullan) which started on ITV1 recently, a new crime drama set in Scotland. Channel 5’s biggest drama of the year Inheritance will be released in November as well as Alibi massive hit series Hudson and Rex Series 5 a proven success on DVD and EST. Then coming soon to TV and on DVD/Blu Ray and EST is the third series of Sky’s political drama of Cobra and coming to BBC1 after its premiere screening in Cannes this week is Boat Story from the Williams Borthers (Liar, The Missing, The Tourist).”
Dazzler Media’s Paul Holland continued: “On Dazzler’s factual TV slate the list of forthcoming release includes the latest series of Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing; David Olusago’s latest series ‘Unio’n, now on BBC2; The Crown – Inside The Royal Family currently showing on ITV1 and the BBC series Rise of the Nazis -The Manhunt, the third factual series the traces the story of Nazi Germany. Along with new releases from factual stars Alice Roberts, James Martin and Gordon Gino and Fred, there are lots of Dazzling factual set to be released in the coming weeks.”
And we’ll end almost where we began, in retail stores, with news that Netflix is eyeing the possibility of opening retail outlets. These will, early stories say, see the streaming giant flogging licensed products relating to its hit series such as Stranger Things and Squid Game (rather than physical media and discs of its releases, although we would recommend that). There is also the possibility of Netflix-related food and drink offerings. However, there is unlikely to be any real presence until 2025, with the first two stores set to open that year in the US. Netflix’s VP of consumer products Josh Simon told Bloomberg that its customers “love to immerse themselves in the world of our movies and TV shows, and we’ve been thinking a lot about how we take that to the next level”.
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Film of the year (possibly, we’ll tell you soon)…
Streaming’s golden age of television continues…
That’s more like it…
Eric Roberts is the Caller…
Flippin’ Eckhart
More Disney birthday fare…
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