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INDUSTRY GET-TOGETHER FOR 2025
RECORDS FALL ACROSS THEATRICAL
…AND STREAMING PAYS DIVIDENDS TOO
HMV SIGNS UP TO PROTEST LETTER…
…AS RETAILER SHELVES EXPANSION PLANS…
…BUT OPENS THE PAGE ON A NEW CHAPTER
BBFC: “OPEN TO TIERED VIDEO PRICING…"
SYSTEM COULD MIRROR THEATRICAL PRICING
BBFC VIDEO SUBMISSIONS DOWN IN 2023…
ALMOST A THIRD OF BBFC REVENUE FROM VOD…
COMMENT ON RATINGS BOARD’S “GROUNDBREAKING” AI WORK
CINEMA ADMISSIONS TO BBFC UP…
…AS THE ABYSS STILL NOT UNCUT
…JEDI AND MORE GET HIGHER CERTS…
…BUT FRIDAY THE 13TH NO LONGER X-RATED
KNEECAP LANDS AS CURZON IS ACQUIRED
HITCHCOCK’S EARLY STUFF CELEBRATED IN MAMMOTH SET
BIG DAY FOR ANIME LTD
J SAUL KANE RIP
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It was a good week for… All November's big theatrical releases are landing big and streaming companies celebrate too…
It was a bad week for… Filming in cinemas seems to be an actual thing following in the back of wicked…
We’ve been watching… A wealth of titles for our next Film Stories coverage, including Studiocanal's excellent Hitchcock boxset…
Following recent events such as the tragic passing of industry stalwart Simon Heller, we’ve been chatting to a few people and realised that our business no longer has the kind of get-together that used to be a regular occurrence. Similarly, there’s staffers, stalwarts and veterans, past and present, who we don’t see nearly enough and we really should take the opportunity to do more to bring people together in the industry. With that in mind, as well as on the 30th anniversary of the launch of timecode magazine, and the impending 15th anniversary of the launch of The Raygun itself, we’re planning to potentially organise an event in the first quarter of 2025. We’re looking at different ideas and mulling over what to do, but if you’re interested, please drop us a line so we can get an idea of numbers and so on… it will probably be on a Thursday evening some time in February or March, but will be dependent on interest and numbers. Please let us know…
Records have been tumbling since we were last here and as November rolls into December, the 11th month’s raft of theatrical big-hitters – consecutive Fridays brought first Paddington In Peru, then Gladiator II, then Wicked and most recently Moana 2 into cinemas with resounding success. Wicked became the biggest theatrical opener of the weekend in the UK after its November 22 debut, racking up £13.7 million in receipts, while its US performance was similarly massive, where it scored more than $114 million and was the year’s third biggest opening. Things have gone on from strength to strength since then – first indications are the Thanksgiving weekend in the US will be the biggest since records began, powered by Moana 2, which took $221 million over the five-day period, eclipsing previous record holders such as Frozen II and The Hunger Games Catching Fire. “Moana 2 has far surpassed our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that ‘Moana’ has become,” Disney co-chairman Alan Bergman said. “This is a moment to celebrate, and we’re thankful to all the moviegoers and fans who’ve helped make this a record-breaking debut.” One interesting sidebar to all this has been the number of people filming blockbusters in cinemas for social media, led by Wicked. Is it piracy? Or publicity? See here for more
More record-breaking news as streaming giants have also been making notable successes, with streaming also driving growth for traditional TV operators. Take Sky’s new take on The Day Of The Jackal starring Eddie Redmayne, which drew 3 million viewers in its first seven days, making it the biggest Sky Original debut ever and Sky’s biggest launch in two years – it’s now been commissioned for a second outing. Channel 4 has also noted October was its biggest ever month for streaming, driven by reality programming such as Married At First Sight and The Great British Bake Off, while Disney+ enjoyed impressive global figures of almost 20 million views for Deadpool in the first six days of streaming, making it the biggest live action launch since Black Panther Wakanda Forever. Netflix also enjoyed massive viewing figures for its live streaming celebrity punch-up between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson…
As the fallout from the new government’s budget continues, entertainment retailer hmv has joined the chorus of disapproval over Labour’s plans to raise NI contributions for employers, with retailers raising particular concerns about the proposals. They are claiming that the Chancellor’s plans, which also include a lowering of the threshold for NI contributions and a further rise in the minimum wage, will slow their business, cause job losses and prevent investment and openings. The retailer has joined a raft of others in sending a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves protesting the changes. And chief Doug Putman has said the changes mean he is looking at pausing plans for further expansion in 2025. hmv had earmarked five to 10 openings a year, but has now shelved those plans – meaning the UK will miss out on an estimated £5 million with of investment.
hmv chief Doug Putman spoke out in various newspapers. He said: “We would love to continue to open stores, but I think obviously with the Budget, there are some worries and some concerns. When we look at next year, we’ve got everything on pause so we could end up opening five stores. but I think more than likely we’re not. I think we’re probably getting close to zero. [Labour has not done] a good job of encouraging people to invest more and take more risk. The cost to do it now and the risk that you take for every store has just become that much greater, so that in a lot of cases it’s not worth the risk. I worry we’re missing the big picture here. All these things that make it harder on business, make it easier on someone like Amazon. I would be surprised if we could find a way to get through this without cutting jobs.” He added that retailers often took on extra staff at Christmas, often keeping some on permanently, noting “[we’re] probably not going to see as much of that this year”. He also said that a lack of clarity was making things worse and the government should instead “look at where the money really is and who’s making the money” when it comes to taxing retailers and businesses.
More positive news from hmv comes in the form of the opening of its new book department in its flagship Oxford Street store. One floor of the store, which reopened last year and returned hmv to its rightful home on the busy shopping thoroughfare a century after it first opened there, is now given over to more than 4,000 book titles. Doug Putman said: “Whilst we have sold books online and have a selection of books available in-store, I’ve always wanted to expand the offering. The HMV 363 Bookshop space at our flagship will be unlike any other bookshop on the high street remaining true to our unique hmv Shop concept which centres around fans and community. While music is central to the hmv offer, we believe passionately in giving fans of popular culture a place to come, meet and explore the things they care about so deeply with likeminded people. We’ve done that with fans of music, film, popular culture and now through a carefully curated selection of books. We want to give our communities of readers a new place to connect with each other and celebrate the stories and characters they love.” And hmv supremo Doug Putman’s positive words on not just the book business but wider physical media and more provide further cheer too. He said: “Whilst we have sold books online and have a selection of books available in-store, I’ve always wanted to expand the offering. The hmv 363 Bookshop space at our flagship will be unlike any other bookshop on the high street remaining true to our unique hmv Shop concept which centres around fans and community. While music is central to the hmv offer, we believe passionately in giving fans of popular culture a place to come, meet and explore the things they care about so deeply with likeminded people. We’ve done that with fans of music, film, popular culture and now through a carefully curated selection of books. We want to give our communities of readers a new place to connect with each other and celebrate the stories and characters they love.”
Just before the last instalment of The Raygun came out, we’d been chasing up the BBFC with a few questions, not least, where was its annual report for last year, which, into November 2024, had still not appeared. Its delay was down to the change in government, as a statutory body its report has to first trundle through parliament, but, as we discovered, it was published just as we went to press – and somehow we weren’t on the mailing list. But it has now landed and, with it, some words from the BBFC for home entertainment companies too. For as regular readers will know, The Raygun has been pursuing the organisation for a while, mostly on behalf of smaller distributors and boutique imprints, who have been desperate to see the organisation change its fees. We’d asked why the BBFC has not introduced a tiered pricing system for home entertainment as it does for theatrical, whereby the number of prints and screens airing a film influences how much distributors pay and also why physical media classification costs were rising at a faster and steeper rate than VOD. The lack of a two-tiered pricing for home entertainment has long been a bugbear for Indies. Eureka founder Ron Benson, now sadly passed, was a champion for this, not least after paying the same rate for Shoah, a lengthy and essential classic about the Holocaust, as huge blockbusters such as Pirates Of The Caribbean. He was scratching his head about this in the 2000s, but it appears as if the message is now getting through. In a lengthy statement to The Raygun, the BBFC has said it is “open” to two-tiered pricing for physical media. It has also further defended its pricing as being well below inflation.
The organisation told The Raygun: “The rates for packaged media submissions in 2023 were £8.65 per minute, and VoD was £4.10. Submission fees for packaged media differ from VOD submissions due to varying requirements associated with each format. Our fees reflect the resources and processes required to review each type of media effectively. As you have rightly identified, our theatrical customers are billed on a tier system based on the size of the release. Meanwhile, all home entertainment distributors pay the same per-minute price, regardless of scale. Over the past decade, we have not increased our fees in line with RPI. They have always remained below inflation, and for some time during this period, we didn’t raise our fees at all. The increase in fees over the last decade for VRA is 28 per cent versus a 50 per cent RPI increase over the same period. For example, based on an average run time of 63 minutes for VRA content, in 2014, this would have cost £453, and it would now cost £577.71. By limiting fee increases to just 28 per cent over this period, rather than inflating in line with RPI, this has kept the cost of essential classification services as low as possible. We would be open to a tiered system for home entertainment customers along similar lines to the tiers we use for our theatrical fees. We offer a range of discounts for our home entertainment customers, such as a 25 per cent discount for preschool content, bonus material, and home entertainment features identical to the theatrical feature. This year, we introduced our Dual Rating tariff, which offers a 50 per cent discount in certain cases, making classification more affordable in these scenarios. You can read more about this here." In the annual report, chief executive noted how there are now three tiers for cinema releases and touched upon the subject, saying: “Through our discussions with the Film Distributors’ Association (FDA), we also refined our fee tariff for the second year in a row, changing our two-tier model – based on size of release – to three tiers, to reflect more effectively the economics of different sizes of release. The BBFC welcomes its ongoing partnerships with the FDA, the British Association for Screen Entertainment, the UK Cinema Association and other industry bodies. We do not work in a vacuum, and it is vital to us to get feedback from the sector on our services to enable us to improve them continuously.”
More on this in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, on to the annual report itself. And the report notes that two key trends are continuing in the board’s work – the post-Covid increase in film submissions and income and the recent decline in DVD income. Video submissions stood at 4400 in 2023, down from the previous year’s 5527, but still up on the 2019 nadir of less than 4,000. The high point is still 2006’s total of more than 15,000 titles. As the report noted: “The number of DVDs submitted for classification during 2023 declined and income fell by 14 per cent. 2023 has seen a continuation of the long term downward trend in new releases, as the demand for online products increases.” Meanwhile, Watch and Rate continues to grow as a concept, even if the figures are still down on record highs from pre-lockdown. Some 3,614 films were rated under the scheme, used by Netflix to rate its own programme under the watchful eye of the BBFC; marginally down on 2023’s 3,649, and a lot lower than the 2019 record of a touch over 6,500. But increased moves to operate a similar scheme with Amazon are likely to see it soar again. As the report stated: “In 2023, as part of its increasing collaboration with streaming platforms operating in the UK, the BBFC announced plans to strengthen its partnership with Prime Video. With a view to establishing a self-rating system similar to the BBFC’s existing successful agreement with Netflix, the BBFC worked closely with Prime Video to refine the platform's internal rating processes ahead of the wider adoption of BBFC age ratings and content advice across the service, ultimately making it even easier for Prime Video customers to choose the right content for themselves and their families.”
What was also interesting to note is that the level of income that comes from the VOD sector. The annual report stated: “The BBFC continues to work in partnership with different industry sectors (for example, VOD and streaming platforms, Mobile Network Operators) to develop consistent, transparent, best-practice non-statutory regulatory services that apply trusted BBFC standards
online on a voluntary basis in order to help families choose online content well and protect children. Income from these services has remained constant and accounts for 28 per cent (2022: 28 per cent) of total classification income.” The BBFC also highlighted its increasing interest in utilising Artificial Intelligence. The statement on the report added: “Building on its extensive expertise, the BBFC is developing two new tools that utilise AI technology to help the industry adapt to evolving audience viewing habits while improving the efficiency of the human aspect of compliance, which will always remain imperative to the process. The first of these tools will enable access to locally sensitive age ratings for use in over 100 territories globally, removing the cost and resource barriers currently limiting VoD services’ adoption of BBFC ratings in the UK and other established rating systems worldwide. The second tool, currently in development, will use generative AI to identify and tag online content issues, offering large-scale efficiencies to content providers’ compliance requirements.” Comment on the BBFC report came from chief executive David Austin OBE who said: “Following a precarious few years for the film and entertainment industry, it was encouraging to see cinema submissions increase in 2023. Looking forward, the BBFC will continue to deliver on our mission to support safer viewing experiences for UK audiences by supporting the cinema and home entertainment industries, as well as extending and enhancing our best-practice partnerships with streaming services. As an extension of this, our groundbreaking work with AI will make trusted BBFC age ratings and content advice more accessible than ever before, enabling us to better meet the needs of our industry partners and ensure that families have the guidance they want and expect when choosing what to watch. There are exciting times ahead for the BBFC.” BBFC president Natasha Kaplinsky OBE added: "Last year was transformative for the Board, shaping our vision for the next five years. Participating in my first, and largest ever, Classification Guidelines consultation led to the publication of insightful research. The findings, together with our close work with major UK streaming platforms, signal the start of an exciting period for the BBFC. I am incredibly proud to work with such a talented team and look forward keenly to the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead." 
We’ll be talking more about the BBFC report in the next issue of Film Stories, but here’s a few further facts we gleaned from the report: Cinema submissions were up to 1,114 in 2023, up 14 per cent on the 2013 figure, and above the pre-pandemic 2019 high of 1,103, it’s also a figure higher than at any time in the past 20 years or more. The 15 certificate continues to be the most popular both at cinemas (494 in total, followed by 383 at 12 and just 58 at 18) and on video (1,429 titles compared with 1,370 for 12 and 104 at 18) as well as in watch and rate, where, with 1,802, it was more than double any other classification.
Of course, the BBFC report wouldn’t be the BBFC report without the section that most national newspapers and media head straight to – the most complained film sections. There were 148 complaints made to the BBFC, (a “relatively small amount” as the organisation noted), with Five Nights At Freddy’s leading the way with 26 complaints, all from under 15-year-olds who were miffed at its higher rating and not being able to see it. It was the same case for the next most complained about film – Billie Eilish Live At the O2, with 17 young fans annoyed at not being able to see it in cinemas due to its 15 rating due to bad language. The Abyss row continues to rumble on, it first surfaced on the films original release in 1989, when the scene with a rat was cut due to animal cruelty concerns and it has remained out since then, and this too was reiterated in 2023. The report stated: “In 2023, the film’s distributor came to us for advice on the above mentioned scene, as they wished to re-release the film in UK cinemas. We again sought expert veterinary advice which confirmed that the position originally set out in 1989 had not changed. As such we advised the distributor that should The Abyss be formally submitted, changes would again be required to the scene involving the rat before the film could be legally exhibited in the UK. The complaints received were in relation to internet rumours that the proposed 4K release of the film had been cancelled due to this advice. We are not involved in releasing films and so we do not have any information on release plans: this is a matter for the film’s distributor.” There were 400 complaints about The Kerala Story, not due to the classification itself, but due to the delays in giving it a certificate.
Reclassifying dated films has also been a much talked about item in recent years too. Among those upping in ratings were Return Of The Jedi (“although violence is offset by humour and an emphasis on loyalty in adversity, the detail and overall intensity meant that, under current guidelines, we reclassified the film PG [from U] for violence and threat”), Black Narcissus and Abba The Movie, while Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense kept its PG (“As well as this implied bad language, there are also brief verbal references to drugs within the film. Our guidelines at PG state that ‘references to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message’. During one song, there is a brief reference to cocaine use; however, the film gives no further visual or verbal details. We therefore classified the film PG for drug references and implied bad language”). Interesting to note too that the once controversial Jurassic Park, rated PG originally, moved up to 12A for its anniversary theatrical outing in 2023.
Also changing certificate was once controversial horror Friday The 13th, once a bete noire for tabloids, but now just a 15: “We originally classified the film with the now defunct X certificate for its 1980 cinema release, before classifying it 18 on video in 1987. The key classification issues were strong violence and horror, including a bloody throat slashing, a decapitation, and an axe blow to the head. Since then, UK audiences’ attitudes towards threat and horror have shifted, and we have changed our guidelines to reflect this, meaning that we can now accommodate these scenes at a lower category. For Friday the 13th’s 2023 re-release, we classified it 15 for strong violence, bloody images, threat and sex.” Raging Bull has similarly been downgraded, with changes in guidelines meaning it is now a 15. Also noteworthy, are the comments on Cocaine Bear, with explanation of its 15 rating: “The frequent scenes of violence and injury detail include mutilated corpses, severed body parts and internal organs, as well as a gruesome head wound in the aftermath of an accidental shooting. However, the infliction of injury is not sadistic in nature, and the film balances the gory chaos with broad and frenetic dark humour. As a result, we classified Cocaine Bear 15 for strong gore, violence, drug references and language.”
One film we wouldn’t be surprised to see in the BBFC annual report in 2024 (which will hopefully arrive earlier than November 2025) is Kneecap, the 18-rated shaggy dog biopic of the eponymous Irish-speaking, Republican rappers. The title was released last week on physical media by Curzon and came in the wake of a raft of British Independent Film Award nods for the film – it led the way in this year’s nominations with a whopping 14, including best film, director and more – and further publicity as the band won a court battle with the UK government who withdrew an arts grant to them after their outspoken comments (the current administration chose not to fight the discrimination case brought by the band against the last government and trade minister Kemi Badenoch). Meanwhile, at Curzon itself, the company has been acquired by finds run by Fortress Investment Group, with the company now controlling the distribution operation, as well as its 16 cinemas in the UK, and its streaming service. “Curzon is an iconic film company, with global recognition for its long legacy of releasing and connecting independent and critically acclaimed films to UK audiences,” said Allison Swayze, Managing Director at Fortress. “We’re pleased to acquire Curzon, and bring our support to the company’s dedicated team. Curzon has exciting near-term plans which include expanding its cinema footprint, and delivering awards and release plans for an exciting slate of films. Our acquisition secures the jobs of more than 350 employees, and helps Curzon continue to offer film fans a range of independent and blockbuster movies both in cinema and at home.”
Talking of Curzon cinemas, The Raygun was at the Curzon Mayfair on November 28 for a special screening go Beatles ’64, a new documentary which landed on Disney+ streaming service the day after in a blaze of publicity. It’s a cracking documentary, predominantly made up of footage of the band’s first trip to America in 1964. Producer Jonathan Clyde outlined how the film was made, with a mound of footage from the Apple archives being painstakingly catalogued, assembled and restored after Peter Jackson worked on the Get Back documentary. Clyde said: “It was a daunting task. It took them three years to reassemble it all in date order for all the rushes and do a first class restoration on the sound and picture. He then asked what we were going to do with this footage, it became a discussion internally at Apple and Olivia Harrison said we should send it to Martin Scorsese, director David Tedeschi and producer Margaret Bodde and make a film about the Beatles arriving in America. Everyone else agreed. It’s about how the Beatles see and witness America. It’s an eye-popping experience, but they had all this crazed adulation. You also see how Americans of different ages react to the Beatles arriving.” It’s a cracking watch, lovingly crafted and, thanks to this event and a US premiere, it achieved plenty of publicity for the release. You can see some here…
We mentioned Film Stories earlier on and are currently in the throes of finishing our reviews for the next issue and among the titles we’ve watched is a mighty – and mightily impressive – collection from Studiocanal. Hitchcock: The Beginning is a mammoth 11-disc set from the company that celebrates the 125h anniversary of the master director’s birth by pulling together a raft of his early British films, including what was effectively the first ever British talkie, Blackmail, alongside nine others and a brand new documentary, Becoming Hitchcock – The Legacy Of Blackmail, which looks at how the groundbreaking film set out Hitchcock’s stall and featured many themes and elements he would return to throughout his career. It’s an excellent set and Studiocanal’s Alison Arber said: “The perfect gift for the film lover? It must be our stunning new 11-disc boxset of Alfred Hitchcock's early works. Witness the birth of a cinematic legend! For the first time on Blu-ray, featuring some new restorations and scores, HITCHCOCK: THE BEGINNING is released on December 16 in time for Christmas gifting. From the silent film era to the first talkies, our sparking new 11-disc set also contains a newly commissioned, full-length documentary, Becoming Hitchcock, exploring the director’s first sound picture, Blackmail.”
It’s arguably the biggest Monday thus far for indie distributor Anime Ltd as it releases a clutch of titles into the market on December 2, representing its biggest theatrical outing thus far as well as the fruits of its high profile deal with animation powerhouse Laika. For landing in stores on physical media is Godzilla Minus One in assorted SKUs, ranging from the all-singing, all-dancing, 4K UHD and Blu-ray deluxe edition, complete with the film in two formats, an exclusive disc featuring the Minus Colour edition of the film – only available in this package – and a further disc with a raft of extras and a mammoth book looking at the film, through to standard Blu-ray and DVD versions, by way of a Steelbook containing Blu-ray and 4K discs. It’s Anime Ltd’s most successful theatrical outing thus far, as well as the most successful Japanese Godzilla film ever. Having seen the Minus Colour version, we can also note that this is worth the entrance fee alone as it looks a treat. Also on the same day comes a brace of LAIKA classic animated titles on Blu-ray through the company’s deal with the animation giant, as Coraline and The Boxtrolls land in 4K and Blu-ray Steelbook editions as well as standard Blu-rays. The former comes on the back of its hugely successful theatrical anniversary re-release this summer, which helped cement its reputation as a stop-motion classic. They’re joined two weeks later by Kubo And The Two Strings and ParaNorman.
Looking into next year and Anime Ltd has just announced coming of age anime tale The Colours Within will ;and in cinemas at the end of January. It joins a raft of announcements made by the company at the recent MCM comic convention in east London at the ExCeL centre. As well as selling its wares, the company also used the opportunity to unveil key forthcoming products due well into 2025. It included a raft of additions to its burgeoning vinyl operation (soundtracks for hit anime titles such as Tokyo Revengers, My Happy Marriage and Jujutsu Kaisen), but a wealth of home ent releases too. These take in Seasons 3 and 4 of popular franchise Inuyasha, Blood Of The Last Vampire and the “incredible, unforgettable” Blood+. As if that wasn’t enough, there was a “very special Blu-ray collector’s edition” announced for Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken alongside further TV series releases I'm Standing on a Million Lives; I'm Quitting Heroing; Karakiri Circus; Pet and Eminence In Shadow Season 1. And, to cap off its announcements, the company also announced it had acquired the rights to Akira, essentially the film that kicked off the Japanese anime boom in the UK and the one that changed everything.
News from BASE and the trade organisation has unveiled new appointments and a team restructure taking in BASE and its sister Digital Entertainment Group International organisation. Former journalist and author Sarah Mackie has joined from Channel 4 in the new role of senior communications and events manager, overseeing the BASE Awards, the Annual Wrap and Industry Outlook, the DEGI Roadshow, and the Digital Growth Summit. Connie Stride has joined from Hartswood Films as team and projects executive working across a raft of activity, while former MediaLab staffer Joynul Muhboob has started as business and marketing data analysis. Within the organisation Vicki Geddes has been promoted to the role of head of finance and operations, while James Gallagher has been upped to head of marketing projects, international and UK. Chief executive Liz Bales said: “It’s a brilliant time to welcome new talent to the team ahead of celebrating sector success as part of BASE’s 45th anniversary in 2025. At BASE, we are a community that thrives on shared insights, experience, and celebration, all while fostering industry-wide collaboration. Bringing new skillsets and approaches to the team strengthens our thinking, creativity and agility. A huge welcome to Sarah, and Connie, who have already been outstanding across the BASE Awards, to Joynul who adds an exciting and incremental analytical perspective to the team and congratulations to Vicki and James, who have both proved how fundamental they are to the growth and strength of BASE and DEGI.”
When the history of the video industry is written, the boom in Hong Kong and Asian cinema in the 1990s, first on VHS then DVD, may not be the biggest chapter, but martial arts and action films landing from labels such as Eastern Heroes and Made In Hong Kong sold well and helped spread the popularity of subtitled films, action films from outside Hollywood and the concept of widescreen cinema for home entertainment too. And as Hollywood welcomed the likes of John Woo into the fold and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon sold bucketloads, they also paved the way for Asian cinema to be accepted by a wider audience as well as ushering in the age of DVD too. So it is with great sadness that we report on the tragic death of Jonathan Kane, aka J Saul Kane, who not only worked in an advisory capacity for Eastern Heroes but was also instrumental in the Made In Hong Kong imprint too. Kane was also noted as a recording artist and record label supremo; the former under the guise of Depth Charge (among others), whose music was laden with horror, Western and kung fu film samples, the latter with imprints such as DC Recordings. News of his passing spread far and wide after being revealed by former Eastern Heroes partner Ricky Baker. Baker recalled how Kane was part of a west London axis of kung fu film fanatics and was a photographer at early Eastern Heroes events as well as a regular at late night martial arts screenings and helped with acquisitions and an extensive knowledge of films. Baker told The Raygun: “It was tragic to hear of his death. He used to come to our Scala screenings and he was instrumental in making things happen and Made In Hong Kong’s launch was down to him. And he made Hong Kong cinema cool with Depth Charge. Labels such as Made In Hong Kong, Hong Kong Legends and our own Eastern Heroes was important; after Crouching Tiger the big labels saw money in it and came in, it went from being underground to mainstream.” And as Wrongtom noted in an excellent piece in The Quietus: “Mostly, DC Recordings’ output explored Kane’s obsession with experimental music and fuzzy old films from the back alleys and bargain bins of horror, soft-porn and martial arts. Inevitably he began releasing them himself via the Made In Hong Kong video imprint which released various “heroic bloodshed” movies for the first time in the West from the likes of Benny Chan, Stephen Chow and the infamous Shaw Brothers whose SB logo Kane reappropriated for DC Recordings.”
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Squid’s in…
You’ll never make a monkey out of me…
Beatles band…
True-ish…
Something about keys art or something…
Dystopian future from Altitude…
https://youtu.be/9NFOQTRTJqw?si=Lq2aaMhajLOvDp7T
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
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