|
SUPPORT THE RAYGUN – 15 YEARS OLD!
NEW FILM STORIES OUT NOW
VDC CELEBRATES
US SPENDING RISES AGAIN…
…GROWTH DRIVEN BY SUBS AS PHYSICAL FALLS
BRIDGET BOOSTS BOX OFFICE…
BRUTALIST AND CO HERALD FIRST HOME PREMIERE AWARDS SEASON
BEAVERS SEL OUT ON TOUR…
…AS MERCH STAND DOES ROARING TRADE
THEORY IS EVERYTHING
ROLLIN IN THE DEEP
RADIANCE’S RAILROAD RELEASE
SILENTS ARE GOLDEN FOR EUREKA…
AS COMPANY GOES FOR WALLACE AND KRIMI…
AND EXPLORES STRANGE NEW WORLDS…
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
If you can't read this newsletter or see the ads, please click here.
It was a good week for… …Conclave got a pre-release boost, the night before landing on the shelves…
It was a bad week for… Physical media figures from the US not looking great…
We’ve been watching… Memoir Of A Snail, alongside another from Modern Films, Soundtrack To A Coup d'Etat; wildly different, but both outstanding…
We at The Raygun are not ones for great self-promotion or self-congratulatory business, but it’s 15 years since the newsletter first launched into the unsuspecting world of the UK video industry, aka the home entertainment business (or whatever you choose to call it). It’s changed almost beyond recognition in those 15 years, we’ve published more than 660 newsletters, and we reckon more than 2 million words, and we have been at the forefront of reporting those changes throughout that time – from the launch of streaming services on these shores, the growth of digital, the collapse of certain retailers and more. And we know that The Raygun is still valued by our readers – circulation may have been trimmed, but our open rates are stronger than ever – this year, 2025, has seen record figures in terms of readership. It’s obvious our readers – the industry – want, read and like the newsletter. But the changing nature of the business means that it’s increasingly difficult to get advertising. We get it. Budgets are leaner, there’s less money around. Yet we still care passionately about the industry, the people within it and what happens around our business. We still have regular advertisers (thanks to those supporting us), and as the sole trade publication covering the industry (one we love), we want to continue and we want to keep reporting on our business. We’re also currently working with some distributors and labels on booklets for their deluxe Blu-ray releases and would love to do more. And now, we’re asking for your support and contributions to help keep The Raygun going. We’re launching a Ko-fi account to ask for donations to help support The Raygun. Essentially, you’re buying us a coffee to reward our hard work in putting this together (although we’ll spend it on teabags or something else). Any contribution you can make to support our journalism would be warmly received and help contribute to our continued existence, enabling us to keep reporting on this wonderful industry. Remember, we don’t charge for the newsletter and we don’t want to charge to subscribe. Support The Raygun and we can carry on supporting the industry. The link is here… Thank you…
The Raygun’s Tim Murray is also the physical media correspondent for the excellent consumer publication Film Stories, the print magazine that, thanks to its hefty pagination, is the biggest film publication in the country (if not the world). Every issue, we open a stack of reviews of current Blu-ray releases, with features on the business past, present and future – celebrating the history of our business and iconic releases that shaped it, highlighting current titles, reporting on the state of the business looking at trends and developments and loads more. The new issue has just landed with a resounding thud and our coverage includes loads of new releases reviewed and a look at the Star Wars re-releases in the 1990s that changed the way the business operated, and loads more besides. The latest issue is available here https://filmstories.co.uk/magazine/…
While we’re on birthdays. It’s congratulations too to our friends and industry stalwarts at VDC, marking 10 years n the business in its current incarnation. MD Ashwin Bedi, one of the nicest people in the business (despite his football allegiances), said: “It’s been an exciting 40 year journey in this amazing industry and we are proud to be celebrating 10 years of VDC Group Trading Ltd. Our partnership with Sony DADC has been imperative to our supply chain solutions. My thanks go to all my customers and suppliers for their support and of course to my team who have helped in achieving this milestone. Many congratulations to The Raygun too for 15 years and to the Spirit team for 20 years and many more years to come.”
And still the figures assessing the year-end performance across different entertainment sectors come, even if we are nearly at the end of the second month of the year (some would argue they won’t stop until sometime in the summer, when the BBFC annual report is due out). This time the figures come from the US trade body the DEG (the Digital Entertainment Group), and they make for fascinating reading – subscription streamers will be beaming at them, physical distributors less so. The figures, culled from “DEG members, tracking sources and retail/platform input” show that spending across digital and physical home entertainment in 2024 totalled almost $57.2 billion, up 21 per cent from the more than $47 billion recorded the previous year. Consumer spending in the final quarter of the year grew by 15 per cent to just over $15 billion. Much of the growth was driven by SVOD, with digital still ruling the roost, accounting for the majority of revenue across EST purchases, rentals and subscriptions. Consumer spending on digital was up 22.2 per cent on 2023, totalling $56.2 billion. SVOD spending was up by more than a quarter for the full year, the $52 billion-plus total now accounts for more than 91 per cent of all consumer home entertainment. But subscription spending growth slowed in the final quarter, with the DEG noting that this is “due to some consumers shifting to lower-cost subscription plans with ads”. With more subscribers switching to less pricey, ad-supported models, DEG reported that premium AVOD and FAST content saw revenues grow to almost $23 billion, up 44 per cent on 2023.
While SVOD services grew in the US, digital transitions excluding subscription streaming, taking in VOD and EST, rentals and purchases, dipped seven per cent, Much of the EST decline – more than 10 per cent – was down to “softness” in theatrical new release spending, as the previous year’s strikes hit the amount of big new releases in 2024. Like the UK, premium VOD had a strong year, with VOD spending down 2.8 per cent, with, the DEG noted, “a two percent increase in rentals of theatrical titles, as consumers continued to embrace feature length theatricals released for home viewing in the premium window, particularly during the first three quarters”. For physical it was a less rosey picture. The DEG said: “Spending on physical formats, including DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD continued to decline, dropping 23.4 percent for full year 2024 and the fourth quarter. Being less dependent on the theatrical slate, collectibles ran counter to the trend, however, as 4K UHD catalog releases held stable with 2023 and spending on titles in premium Steelbook packaging grew. Studio insights show that holiday catalog titles performed strongly, including How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Grinch and Home Alone, as did older franchises drafting on new instalments in theatres during 2024, including Beetlejuice, Dune, Inside Out (2015), and Twister.”
Sticking with figures and the strong end to 2024 at the UK box office, which helped lift the whole year’s stats and ensure that receipts at cinemas didn’t plunge compared with 2023 (they ended up almost on parity) has continued into 2025. Figures touted over at Screen Daily suggest that box office in January was up 10 per cent year-on-year, with the Comscore data – cinemas took more than £94 million at the tills – meaning UK cinema takings enjoyed three months’ successive growth. Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown were among the big successes, while Wicked continued its run from the end of last year. And there’s no sign of a let-up yet – Bridget Jones’ latest adventure Mad About The Boy took more than £12 million in its opening frame including previews, the biggest first weekend for a Working Title film ever and, with more than £10 million across the three-day weekend, the biggest romcom first weekend ever too, all of which is more good news for Universal. Its second weekend saw a relatively low drop-off and the film has now amassed more than £27 million at the time of writing this, putting it into the top 200 all-time grossers on these shores, with a likely end haul of well over £50 million. This comes despite reports in national newspapers about easily available illegal downloads (it was released in the US straight to streaming) and competition from the latest Captain America, Brave New World, which took more than £6 million.
Meanwhile, the BAFTA for most serendipitous and keenly timed home entertainment release of the year goes to relative newcomer Black Bear and sales company Elevation for Conclave. For the day after the film picked up two of the chief BAFTA awards at this year’s ceremony – Best Film and Best British Film alongside a further brace, for casting and adapted screenplay – the physical copy of the acclaimed film starring, among others, John Lithgow and Ralph Fiennes, was available in stores. It's been building up a head of steam since its theatrical release at the end of 2024 and has drawn in an older audience (we were among the youngest when we saw it at our local Picturehouse cinema in north London), who quite clearly are still into buying physical media, and the excellent word of mouth from audiences alongside critical acclaim has aided it even further. Elevation’s Richard Athill said: “We’re delighted with the success of Conclave, and the retail sales which are exceeding our expectations. The BAFTA haul the night before release has only helped increase the awareness and intrigue. The Oscars on March 2 should ensure that sales remain strong for the next few weeks and well into March as word of mouth and awareness spreads.” Somewhat ironically, the current pontiff’s health issues may give it a further unexpected boost as scores of online wags suggest his illness is part of the awards season marketing for the release.
This year’s awards are arguably the first to fall under widespread home premiere releases, titles with shortened windows from theatrical to home for a premium price being chief among those nominated for awards. Conclave was available as a home premiere in the run-up to awards season, while this year’s other big winner, The Brutalist, which picked up four gongs on the night, including best director, actor, cinematography and score, being made available as a home premiere title from February 24. The Brutalist is due from Universal, and on the release, Steve White, UPHE marketing manager for the acclaimed film said: “We’re incredibly exited to be bringing The Brutalist to premium digital platforms, with director Brady Corbet’s powerful, unique film in the middle of an incredible run of award wins now is the perfect time for audiences to buy or rent this masterpiece at home and enjoy either for the first time, or revisit again just in time for the Oscars.”
Both Anora and Wicked, with two apiece, are already available on home premiere, with both set to land via Spirit on physical formats in the coming weeks – the former via Criterion, the latter through Universal’s deal with the sales company. A Real Pain – winner of two BAFTAs on the night – is likely to land shortly as a home premiere, and with the other winners already available on both physical and streaming (The Substance is on MUBI, with a physical release to follow later this year, Emilia Perez is on Netflix, Dune; Part Two is already released), this was one of the most home entertainment friendly BAFTA awards ceremonies ever, with the Oscars set for a similar immediacy for home viewing as well.
To the giant IMAX screen at the Aquarium in Bristol, for a special screening of Hundreds Of Beavers, the uber-low budget silent film that has already attained cult classic status in the UK and beyond, as part of the Slapstick Festival in the city, which celebrates that strand of comedy. The sold out screening was attended by one of the film’s creators, writers and stars Ryland Brickson Cole Tews. It was part of a nationwide tour put together in part by enterprising UK distributor Lightbulb, which smartly picked up UK rights to it and seen it work both at cinemas last year, on digital and physical media formats and, latterly, as part of the 50-odd dates during its lengthy trek around the UK with talent behind it. As well as Tews himself, who spoke before and after the screening, there was a beaver, a dog and a horse (all people in costumes, or mascots as the American terminology to go). “This isn’t a screening, it’s a circus,” said Tews. “It's a very silly movie. There’s not a lot of social commentary, not a lot of deeper meaning, it’s just an entertainment picture. But believe it or not, there was a plan. It’s very lo-fi, very low budget, we just paid our buddies in beer and chewing tobacco. There were a few film professionals on this movie, but there were a lot of friends from elementary school ,high school college. We’d call them up and say to you want to come up to northern Wisconsin in the freezing cold and play a beaver mascot for a weekend? And for some reason, they all said yes. I’m dong a tour right now and we’re doing 50 screenings and we keep selling out theatres for some reason for this video we made. It’s a mark of its success we keep selling out crowds like this and people keep going out of their way to see it. It’s on Blu-ray, you can stream it, you can rent it, but it’s really meant to be seen on the big screen, that’s when we thought we had something really special. We always encourage people to drink, have one or two or six beers. A lot of beer consumed while we were making the film too.”
The tour is continuing to snake its way around the country, with Tews on the road with the film with, as he noted, the amount of sold out screenings highlighting the film’s ongoing success and now guaranteed cult status. Moreover, the merch stand was doing a roaring trade in selling Lightbulb’s Hundreds Of Beavers Blu-ray and accompanying tour poster, all signed and personalised by Tews himself. You can see how many of the dates have sold out here https://linktr.ee/hundredsofbeaversUK. Lightbulb’s Matthew Kreuzer said “We are only a fifth of the way through the tour and are delighted that every show has sold out so far. Due to the phenomenal demand, Manchester Cultplex have added two extra dates and both Mockingbird Birmingham and Picturehouse Cameo Edinburgh have added dates too. The fans are loving the fun, live element of the show. And the producers are over the moon that this UK tour will help get them closer to the $1,000,000 worldwide box office they are keen to hit this year.” In a busy time for Lightbulb, as noted her previously February 17 saw the release of Street Trash, the “spiritual sequel” to the 1980s video classic, out on all major digital platforms and also on a special edition Blu-ray.
Talking of new releases, landing in stores on Monday February 24 is the latest from Picturehouse Entertainment, with the distribution arm of the company releases The Universal Theory. Here’s the company’s marketing manager Alice Werdine on the title, saying: “We’re thrilled to be releasing director Timm Kröger's gripping sci-fi mystery THE UNIVERSAL THEORY on Blu-Ray and digital this week. Featuring an array of outstanding performances it's also a visually stunning piece of work. By turns a breathtaking homage to masters of cinema such as Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch, it's not one to be missed.”
On to the ever-busy boutique labels and Powerhouse continues in its quest to bring the entire oeuvre of sleaze auteur Jean Rollin to physical formats with its May announcements, offering up a brace of titles, The Iron Rose and Girls Without Shame. Comment on the May titles came from the company’s Sam Dunn, who said: “It’s been fantastic to see the responses we've been getting to our Jean Rollin editions. Those who already knew the great French auteur's work have been thrilled to see them newly restored in 4K HDR from the original negatives, while those who were not yet familiar have been excited to discover them looking and sounding at their absolute best. Known as a director of visually arresting, almost experimental, erotic vampire cinema, Rollin also made films which don't fall so easily into this category, and these next two titles in our ongoing collection – while bearing all the hallmarks of Rollin's distinctive style – are key examples. Considered by many to be amongst his greatest films, The Iron Rose is a dreamlike mood piece with some stunning set pieces and exquisite photography, charting the events of a single night in an abandoned cemetery. In contrast, Girls Without Shame finds Rollin in a more playful mood as he combines his love for the crime serials of the early 1900s with his unique approach to eroticism. Accompanied, as usual, with extensive extra features and exquisite 80-page books, these latest editions help cement Rollin as one of the most unique and distinctive voices in independent genre filmmaking of the time, and are must-haves for die-hard fans and curious cinephiles alike."
Meanwhile, also unleashing its May slate on an unsuspecting world was indie Radiance, which has a quartet of titles due, three of its own and one in its ongoing partnership with Raro Video. As ever, it boasts a truly international flavour, as outlined by the company’s Bruno Savill de Jong, who said: “We're delighted by the reaction to our May title announcements. Themroc is a bizarre and unforgettable cult-classic starring Michel Piccoli with no intelligible dialogue, never released on disc in the UK before. It includes insightful new features about the legacy of Piccoli and Themroc itself. We're also delighted to showcase our more classic, heartfelt side with a stunning 4K restoration of Pietro Germi affecting neo-realistic The Railroad Man. Plus, there is much excitement over The Rapacious Jailbreaker, a raw real-life account of a Japanese prisoner Ueda (played by Hiroki Matsukata from our recent Hokuriku Proxy War) who escaped from jail seven times. Last but not least, the exquisitely titled Shoot First Die Later is our latest collaboration with Raro Video around Fernando Di Leo, making its UK Blu-ray debut with new commentary and booklet writing.”
A double dose of announcements from Eureka now, with two months’ worth of forthcoming titles from the ever-busy independent. We’ll start with April, as the company’s national accounts manager Marcus Garwood talked us through the releases. He said: “It’s a strong month of releases for April here at Eureka Entertainment. We start off back in 1995 with Ringo Lam directed gem The Adventurers. Boasting an all-star lineup of Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs), Rosmund Kwan (Once Upon a Time in China), David Chiang (Election) and Victor Wong (Big Trouble in Little China) The Adventurers is a hidden gem amongst the many heroic bloodshed films produced in Hong Kong during the 1990s. The limited edition release will feature an o-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Time Tomorrow, along with a collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by Hong Kong cinema scholar Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park. Disc extras include a new interview with Gary Bettinson, editor-in-chief of Asian Cinema journal and a previously unseen archival interview with writer and producer Sandy Shaw. For the Masters Of Cinema Series we follow up with the next instalment of Laurel & Hardy: The Silent Years. This collection brings together the silent Laurel & Hardy shorts produced during 1928, as their partnership began to gather steam: Leave ’em Laughing sees Stan desperately seeking treatment for a toothache; You’re Darn Tootin’ follows the pair as they turn their hand to busking; in From Soup to Nuts, the boys are hired as waiters for an upper-class dinner party; and in Early to Bed, Ollie gets to enjoy the highlife for himself when he inherits a fortune and buys an opulent mansion… but Stan soon finds ways to lower its market value. This collection also features the first Hal Roach film to officially bill Laurel & Hardy as a duo: Should Married Men Go Home?, in which a relaxing trip to the golf course quickly spirals into chaos. Disc extras on this set are once again extensive & include (amongst others) brand new audio commentaries by film historian and writer David Kalat, Patrick Vasey, (editor of The Laurel & Hardy Magazine and host of The Laurel & Hardy podcast), film writer Chris Seguin, Kyp Harness (The Art of Laurel & Hardy), Glenn Mitchell (The Laurel & Hardy Encyclopedia) and silent film accompanist Neil Brand. The collector’s booklet also once again features newly written notes on each film by writer and comedian Paul Merton. The set will be presented in a limited o-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow.” Also out in April are two films from one of the Shaw Brothers Studio’s most prolific directors, Chang Cheh, in a set entitled The Magnificent Chang Cheh. It pairs The Magnificent Trio, from the mid 1960s, and the later The Magnificent Wanderers. Both are on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK and come wrapped in an o-card slipcase featuring new artwork alongside a collector’s booklet and an extras-laden disc.
On to May for Eureka and the company’s national accounts manager Marcus Garwood continued: “May 2025 is all about the Masters Of Cinema limited edition collectors box sets here at Eureka Entertainment; plus the bell tolls on a gruesome slice of wuxia via Eureka Classics. Terror IN The Fog: The Wallace Krimi At CCC starts us of by bringing together five films adapted from works by the British crime writer Bryan Edgar Wallace and his father Edgar Wallace, namely The Curse of the Yellow Snake, The Strangler of Blackmoor Castle, The Mad Executioners, The Monster of London City, The Racetrack Murders. Released in the 1960s these crime films – or krimis – blended crime, thriller and horror elements into a potent mix that had a significant influence on both the Italian giallo and the American slasher film. The set is lavish, enrobed in a hardcase featuring superb new artwork by Poochamin. Also contained inside is a limited edition 60-page collector’s book featuring a new introduction to the Wallace krimi cycle by film writer Howard Hughes, a new essay on Edgar Wallace and Bryan Edgar Wallace by crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw and new notes on each film by Holger Haase, co-editor of Krimi! magazine. Disc extras are extensive, including a bonus film presented in standard definition, The Phantom of Soho.”
There’s another lavish box set due in May from Eureka too, this tome focusing on sci-fi from a cold war East Germany, as outlined by the company’s Marcus Garwood: “Sci-fi next with a 4-film boxed set collection entitled Strange New Worlds: Science Fiction At DEFA. Following the division of Germany in the aftermath of World War II, DEFA was established as the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic. Active from 1946 until its dissolution in 1992, the studio made hundreds of feature films in a diverse range of genres, including a series of colourful and wildly imaginative science fiction films in which courageous cosmonauts attempt to unravel the secrets of the universe: The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure, Eolomea and In the Dust of the Stars. These four science fiction gems are featured in this limited edition set. Pitched somewhere between Forbidden Planet, Star Trek, Solaris and 2001: A Space Odyssey, these films are marvels of production design and practical effects work – as well as poignant commentaries on the central issues of the atomic age. Protected by a limited edition hardcase featuring stunning new artwork by Carly A-F, the release also contains a limited edition 60-page collector’s book featuring an introduction by Mariana Ivanova, Academic Director of the DEFA Film Library, and new writing by DEFA historians, plus reversible inner sleeve artwork featuring new designs for each film-F. Disc extras are extensive, including a new interview with science fiction scholar Mark Bould, Red Skies – new interview with Soviet cinema expert Claire Knight, and DEFA animated shorts. Rounding of the month we present a dark & gruesome wuxia gem from 1968m The Bells Of Death. Directed by the prolific Yueh Feng (Madam White Snake). it is a fantastical tale of revenge produced by Shaw Brothers Studio and features Hong Kong superstars Wu Ma and Sammo Hung in supporting roles. Available on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK."
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
From the Talk To Me guys…
Get your freak on…
Dave’s lost it…
https://youtu.be/h92x-1jW0EQ?si=p8LyA_Uy9UcQH-SnAccountant now counts up to two…
Due on Disney…
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,
31 Corrib Court,
49 Crothall Close,
London N13 4BG
|
 | Powered by YMLP.com | |
| | ||