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MGM ACQUIRED BY AMAZON
REACTION TO BILLION DOLLAR DEAL
PRIME IS TARGET FOR MASSIVE CATALOGUE
WHITHER THE PHYSICAL?
RABBITING ON AT CINEMAS…
…AS POTTER ALSO MEANS GOLD FOR DRAFTING
WHITE RIOT IN OFFICIAL FILM CHART
DUTY CALLS FOR MERCURIO
CASH FROM CHAOS
ARROW UNVEILS AUGUST…
…AND RIDES IN THE DUNES
NETWORK UNVEILS SUMMER SLATE
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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Back in the dim and distant VHS era, certainly as the market matured in the 1990s, MGM led the way in maximising returns from its vast catalogue on video, showing how the UK arm, notably, could really get the most from the library, one of Hollywood’s most impressive, certainly in terms of what one might call heritage films (classics in the good old days). That was a mature market it was dealing in, but it innovated with sumptuous packaging, widescreen and remastered presentations. Into the DVD era from the late 1990s into the 2000s it was a similar story. Here in the UK and the rest of Europe, the major, while helping reinvigorate Bond courtesy of a revitalised franchise as Eon brought in Pierce Brosnan, pioneered double-disc DVD versions of its classic catalogue, from The Great Escape to The Silence Of The Lambs, from The Pink Panther to Thelma & Louise. And as 007 came back to life, it won awards for its work with the entire series and lavish box sets on the digital disc format. Now, after Amazon has announced a multi-billion dollar deal to acquire MGM, that self-same catalogue has shown its value once more, as the storied studio’s product will once more be the focal point for new business going forward. Of course, Amazon’s deal is less about physical product than the value the company can get from that catalogue across its Amazon Prime Video service, and beyond, as well as what Amazon Studios can do with franchises and intellectual properties going forward in terms of making new films.
Comment on the $8.45 billion deal came from Mike Hopkins, Senior Vice President of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, who said: “MGM has a vast catalog with more than 4,000 films—12 Angry Men, Basic Instinct, Creed, James Bond, Legally Blonde, Moonstruck, Poltergeist, Raging Bull, Robocop, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Stargate, Thelma & Louise, Tomb Raider, The Magnificent Seven, The Pink Panther, The Thomas Crown Affair, and many other icons—as well as 17,000 TV shows—including Fargo, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Vikings—that have collectively won more than 180 Academy Awards and 100 Emmys. The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling.” Kevin Ulrich, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MGM added: “It has been an honor to have been a part of the incredible transformation of Metro Goldwyn Mayer. To get here took immensely talented people with a true belief in one vision. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank the MGM team who have helped us arrive at this historic day. I am very proud that MGM’s Lion, which has long evoked the Golden Age of Hollywood, will continue its storied history, and the idea born from the creation of United Artists lives on in a way the founders originally intended, driven by the talent and their vision. The opportunity to align MGM’s storied history with Amazon is an inspiring combination.”
Acres of print columns and online articles have already dissected the deal, with analysts we at The Raygun have spoken too confirming that the library will be key to Prime Video, while also noting the potential international rollout o its advertising-funded imdb TV video on demand service. Futuresource’s David Sidebottom told The Raygun: “Amazon will be looking to distribute its MGM library across its Prime Video platform, driving increased engagement overall. Amazon is also set to place increased emphasis on its IMDbTV AVoD service in the USA and is expected to rollout internationally - this would further potentially enable it to monetise some of those deeper, maybe less well known titles in MGM’s catalogue.”
Beyond the obvious, MGM titles have been popping up on boutique Blu-ray labels here and there over the past few years as the major has, like a few of its contemporaries, licensed some of the lesser known and more cultish items from its vaults to specialist labels here. Whither those titles now, as Amazon aims to monetise that library elsewhere? As one source told us this week: “Labels will need to get creative, we're shored up being a big distributor of non-studio product if we see mergers like this knocking out future licensing as we've seen with Disney/Fox who do little to no licensing. It's going to be the studios that lose out on physical media which obviously still has a lot left in it for all the labels out there to continue to thrive, but of course it's not as big as the value placed on streaming by shareholders so they obviously aren't worried about it.”
Meanwhile, on these shores, things are looking up as cinemas reopened and the unlikely hero of Peter Rabbit led the charge for audiences returning to their local multiplex and indie cinema. The Sony film took more than £4.5 million in its opening week, with the likes of Nomadland and Godzilla Vs Kong showing that punters will still go to see films in a cinema even if they can view it at home as a premium-style release, and Spiral, the latest for a refreshed Saw franchise, also scoring big. The feeling among those in the know is the pent-up demand will help drive a strong rebound for cinemas here and elsewhere in Europe – France saw more than 2 million admissions in the first six days following reopening of its cinemas despite a 35 per cent limit on audiences and a 9pm curfew, highlighting the appetite to get out to watch films.
In the home entertainment sector, Peter Rabbit 2 is continuing to drive interest in the original, with its rafting helping it move up four slots to number six. There are a trip of new entries, with Reya And The Last Dragon, the latest Disney animation, earning the top slot in its debut week, with the title selling more than double that of its closest rival. That rival was Warner's Tom And Jerry The Movie, the newly updated adventures of the warring cat and mouse. It caps another strong week for Warner, the studio has half of this week’s Official Film Chart. The third o the new entries is Altitude’s DTV shark offering Great White (see below). You can see the latest Official Film Chart show over here.
For Altitude the appearance of Great White in the top 10 marks another strong performance for Altitude, which, at the same time as releasing the shark shocker also Brough the award-winning Minari to market. Commenting on its performance, Altitude’s Adam Eldrett said: "We’ve been thrilled to release another DTV creature feature in the form of Great White, fantastic for it to be charting as one of the weeks top releases on physical and another top 10 for us. It’s been riding high in the iTunes chart too and we are pleased with its digital performance so far. With Minari out in cinemas building a decent box office we are still seeing excellent results from the digital release and have a physical release coming now on June 28. We also have a huge and eclectic mix of titles coming for the second half of the year which we will let you know about in due course.”
Monday sees the latest series of Line Of Duty finally arriving on physical formats, with the release of the sixth outing of the most-talked about series lands on both DVD and Blu-ray, with a further DVD box set containing the entire series also out on May 31 (the complete Blu-ray lands in July). As Acorn’s Helen Squire said just ahead of the transmission of the final episode: “Expect lots of noise everywhere next week as Debbie from Aim Publicity escorts AC-12 from broadcast to home entertainment with the cast appearing on TV, radio and in print.” Evidence of that comes in this, exhibit A, an exclusive interview from series creator Jed Mercurio on Den Of Geek to support the release – it’s good to see the writer behind the show once again supporting home entertainment. And he talked extensively about the new series, some of the thinking behind it and the reaction to it, he said: “Look at the trajectory of our country over the last few years. When you’re doing a drama that’s about institutional corruption, you have an important decision to make about whether you acknowledge that the environment has changed, or you plough on doing something that’s set in an entirely fictional, disconnected world?” You can read the interview here.
Also out on Monday May 31 is the latest from Lionsgate in the shape of Chaos Walking. Here’s junior product manager Katy Machin on the release. She said: “On Monday, we are delighted to release Chaos Walking on 4K, Blu-Ray and DVD. Based on the bestselling novel, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness and starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, this gripping and intriguing sci-fi story will have you on the edge of your seat. Joining us in the not-too-distant future is a sensational supporting cast including Mads Mikkelson, David Oyelowo and Nick Jonas. We are supporting the release with a thorough PR campaign, consisting of fun influencer content, competitions and reviews in order to raise awareness. We are also running a targeted media campaign to excite fans of the genre and cast across social and digital. We have also worked closely with our US colleagues to bring a beautiful Steelbook to the UK market. With stunning artwork, it truly is a must have addition for fans’ collections.”
And, as ever, as the end of the month approaches, boutique imprint Arrow Video used its social media channels to unveil its titles going forward, this time revealing its August titles, which include a few belters and a very timely classic release. Here’s the company’s Fran Simeoni on the titles. He said: “We’re delighted to again present a bumper crop of releases on Arrow Video for our fans this month with a something for everyone spread of releases from sci-fi, comedy, horror, thriller, western and the downright unclassifiable, from US studio titles to genre classics from Korea and Japan by way of Italy and Mexico. The month kicks off with re-issues of Alejandro Jodorowsky's celebrated masterpieces El Topo and The Holy Mountain from our near sold out Jodorowsky Collection, general audiences and cautious new fans can sample these works now with all the same on-disc content as before with these single film releases. Our three classic Sergio Martino releases now come collected in a boxset with gorgeous new artwork by Marc Schoenbach. Dinner in America, which premiered at Sundance to great acclaim and played festivals the world over since, winning numerous awards along the way is a hilarious take on middle America that calls to mind the rude American indie spirit of Todd Solondz and John Waters by way of Napoleon Dynamite, this Ben Stiller produced treat, a cult film in the making, features a stunning break out performance from Kyle Gallner and is sure to win hearts of many fans. Our Blu-ray, out August 8, is loaded with extras and fans can see the film on their preferred TVOD platforms and ARROW Player from Tuesday. Classic shocker A Tale of Two Sisters arrives on Blu-ray with the Arrow treatment on August 16th with a veritable boatload of extras and presented a newly buffed up feature presentation. Our Yasuzo Masumura collection continues with his classic Blind Beast making its English-speaking Blu-ray debut and is our fourth Masumura release so far and his fanbase just keeps growing with each one. Dario Argento's sophomore Giallo The Cat O Nine Tails (August 23) arrives in a new UHD restoration. Making its UK home video premiere Brotherhood of Satan (August 30) from 1971 is a classic horror featuring the ever-wonderful character actors Strother Martin and LQ Jones and features a bevy of new extras.”
And on the timely draft able release front, the end of August sees Arrow Video heading to the dunes, or rather Dune, for a UHD world premiere of David Lynch’s Dune ahead of the release of the forthcoming new take on the classic sci-fi tale. Taking up the story, Arrow’s Fran Simeoni said: “Finally, David Lynch's Dune (August 30) makes its UHD world premiere in a loaded two-disc edition Blu-ray, two disc UHD and three disc dual format special editions with an Zavvi exclusive Deluxe SteelBook that includes a 100-page artbook featuring rare production design imagery as well as the traditional Arrow goodies including 60-page booklet with writing on the film, poster, and replica postcard sized lobby cards. The discs themselves are equally loaded featuring a new 4K restoration with Dolby Vision HDR on the UHD, multiple audio commentaries, a new feature length documentary, new interviews and featurettes.”
We’ve also been speaking to Network Distributing about its summer slate, with the company’s Juan Veloza outlining the selection, saying: “We have a vibrant set of releases this Summer, with another amazing selection of rarely seen British cinema starting this June with Nicolas Roeg’s tour de force, Insignificance (1985) followed by Matt Pinder’s Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War (2019), narrated by Richard Madden, and premiering on home entertainment. In July, three diverse dramas, The Weapon (1956), The Rainbow Jacket (1954), and Honeymoon (1959), with new restorations of classic comedy shorts from Bob Kellett, including the ever-popular Ronnie Barker vehicle ‘Futtocks End’ and ‘A Home of Your Own’ (featuring an all-star cast). Kellett’s rarely seen 1967 psychedelic feature oddity Just Like a Woman, with Wendy Craig, also makes a welcome debut. Most titles are available to rent or buy via Amazon.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“After years of showcasing great cinema on MUBI and covering film culture through our digital magazine, Notebook, I’m thrilled for us to expand into the audio space to explore the world of cinema in new ways. Rico’s a terrific host and it’s been great conceptualising such a fun subject and a surprising slate of guests. I know our audiences will be delighted.”
MUBI vp of content Daniel Kasman on the service’s mewl launched podcast presented by travel writer Rico Gagliano, with the first six episode series looking at films under-appreciated outside of their home countries. First up is Paul Verhoeven talking about his early outing Turkish Delight. It launches on June 3.
AT THE MOVIES
Phil Lord and Chris Miller continue to be among Hollywood’s hottest properties, as well as its busiest creatives. Next on the list for the duo, fresh from the success of Mitchells Vs The Machines over on Netflix, is another new production job for them. The pair are working on a live action comedy called Strays. The feature, backed by Universal, follows a stray dog who joins up with other hounds to wreak vengeance on the owner who let them go. Dan Perrault, who penned American Vandal, has written the script, while Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar helmer Josh Greenbaum will direct…
Aaron Taylor-Johnson has earned his comic book spurs already, having played Quicksilver in the Marvel Avengers movies and others before disappearing as quickly as he arrived, as well as starring in Kick Ass, one of non-marvel affiliated Mark Millar’s superhero flicks. Now he’s set to return to Marvel once more, this time for Sony’s Spider-Man related films. He’s set to star as Kraven the Hunter, one of the webbed hero's longest-running and oldest foes in the ongoing Sony series of films.…
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
New Shyamalan…
The one everyone's ben talking about this week
Also, this one…
Junglist massive
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