|
LATEST CHAPTER SEES WICK ON FIRE…
…AS WRESTLEMANIA IS A KNOCKOUT AGAIN
LOCAL BOYS DONE GOOD…
…AS FOREST FILM CELEBRATES TEAM
DUEL PAYS OFF
IRON COMES IN STEEL
RADIANCE SHINES…
…AS IMPRINT REVEALS NEW TITLES
TWILIGHT GLOWS
WEEKENDER, GO OUT, HAVE A GOOD TIME
TWELFTH NIGHT ON THE 19TH
ROTH SELECTS FOR ARROW…
…WITH STREAMING TIPS
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
If you can't read this newsletter or see the ads, please click here.
It was a good week for… John Wick, with the title enjoying a big first week on physical to go with its strong digital performance…
It was a bad week for… Anyone waiting for the Avatar sequels – 3, 4 and 5 have now been delayed, with the last not arriving until 2031…
This week we’ve been watching… With two giant Transformers stationed in Leicester Square (or, to be factually correct, one Transformer and one Maximal), looking down on the Cineworld that hosted both the multimedia event and the premiere the following night), Paramount previewed its latest blockbuster Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts. The Raygun was in attendance for the former and our teenage correspondent thought it was one of the best entries into the franchise and one that, with the addition of the new allies and baddies, as well as a tease of a possible tie-in with another Paramount and Hasbro franchise during the credits, will give a new lease to the franchise. Our pals at kidzcoolit.com also highly rated the film after attending the premiere, while reviewers have noted its potential to kickstart the brand again. Keep an eye out for current drafting opportunities with previous titles and a HE for Rise Of The Beasts in the autumn…
Let’s start with some nice, positive news and Lionsgate is currently sitting pretty at number one in the Official Film Chart for the second week running with John Wick Chapter 4, both of those weeks saw it at topping the charts purely on digital (it did 126,000 units in its first few days), while this week, from June 12, saw its physical release joining those downloads. And word is that it will be the year’s biggest week one seller on physical formats, adding to other landmarks already notched up – it’s Lionsgate’s biggest ever week one in terms of digital and the eighth biggest of all time. What’s more, it looks like the fourth outing starring Keanu Reeves is outdoing its predecessors, bucking the trend for sequels. Comment came from the company’s Olivia Dean who said: “Following a fantastic theatrical run, John Wick: Chapter 4 launched on EST on May 29, followed by packaged media on June 12. The EST result was phenomenal and marked Lionsgate’s largest ever week one EST performance and the eighth largest in the market of all time. Packaged has not failed to disappoint, launching at #1 in the Official Charts Company chart. While still in the first week on sale we’ve sold around 34k units so far including our four-film box set collections. With media and in-store support continuing through to Father’s Day we’re looking forward to seeing the final week one figure and to continued success for franchise.”
Also currently performing well is, perhaps not unexpectedly (and as already featured here), is the latest Wrestlemania release through Fremantle, charting the latest grappling antics from the WWE. Here’s the company’s Ken Law in the release’s performance: “WrestleMania 39 made the Top 5 Official Video Chart on week of release as we hoped it would. WWE and wrestling has always been seen as specialist but our monthly releases are regularly making the Official Charts Company Top 10 and our market share has grown consistently over the last three years so WWE is now very much mainstream home entertainment with a huge, dedicated fanbase continually buying physical product.”
Another strong seller in the Official Charts Company data is homegrown football documentary Local Heroes, an interesting companion piece to the equally successful I Believe In Miracles from a few years ago. This too charts the heyday of recent Premier League returnees Nottingham Forest and their 1970s glory years under Brian Clough. However, it concentrates on three of his brightest stars who all came through the ranks at the club and experienced both hardship and success. The stars are Garry Birtles, Tony Woodcock and Viv Anderson, all of whom have supported the release in getting great publicity including major broadcast coverage on BBC and ITV, BBC 5 Live, Talk Sport, and national and sporting press including The Sun and Daily Mirror, The Athletic and When Saturday Comes, as well as Notts Forest YouTube influencers, were also on hand for a premiere in Nottingham attended by Ian Bowyer, Andy Reid, Alan Tate and more familiar football stars. It has further been buoyed not just by the impressive PR support, but also Forest’s success in retaining top flight status. The release is from Miracle Media through Trinity Creative and the company’s commercial director Andy Taylor said: “This has been a great project to work on with John Warrington, from Krafty Entertainment, along with Deb Shenholds at Aim Publicity. We love to work on titles where the film makers and those in the film, support the release, especially when you have sporting icons that the fans love to hear from. This gives a film a huge boost, creating a lot more awareness around the release. Thanks to the support we’ve seen a lot of interest from publications and media channels, which has really helped the titles pre-sale numbers. We expect to see strong physical sales for the title, not only around the release date but ongoing. We’re also encouraged for the digital release, getting wide support across all of the major platforms.”
Sticking with Local Heroes, director John Warrington at Krafty Entertainment added: “We're delighted by the positive reviews and first week sales since Local Heroes was released. I know the boys themselves have been a bit taken aback by the attention the film has received. We're grateful to Andy Taylor and Trinity Media who have shown huge support for the film going back to when it was still in post-production. The hard work that they and everyone involved with the release of Local Heroes has been instrumental in making the release such as successful one and in many ways this echoes one of the key themes of the film.”
More strong selling news, and this one just on pre-order too. Universal continues to mine its rich catalogue to bring classic films and cult titles to market in pristine 4K editions and its latest has proved to be a huge hit with consumers. It is presenting the early Steven Spielberg classic Duel in an edition that is so desirable that it sold out within hours of going live for pre-orders across all the usual sites. It’s due out on September 18 and here's Universal's John Partridge on the thinking behind the release. He said: “We wanted to do something special for the 4K release of Duel so we went through the archives and found the original storyboards which were basically a drawing of the entire road where the film is set with every event in chronological order and broken up into acts to account for the TV ad breaks. We have printed it as a fold out Ordinance Survey style map and it looks amazing, Our fabulous Steelbook artwork was very graciously provided by Fabulous Films – our licensee on Bluray who created a fabulous 50th Anniversary edition in 2021. We went to pre-order hoping for a pretty warm response from collectors but the feedback was so positive it blew us away and the set sold out on day one – something you don’t see so often these days.”
Talking of classics getting the 4K treatment, not content with its ambitious plans for the Wicker Man – due to screen at cinemas on the summer solstice of June 21 – Studiocanal is planning another big release of a spiced up, 4K classic. For it has unveiled plans for a 4K restoration home entertainment release for Sam Peckinpah’s bloody Second World War classic Cross Of Iron. The newly restored film, with brand new extras, will be released on 4K UHD Steelbook, Blu-ray and DVD SKUs on July 31. The film, which stars James Coburn, James Mason and David Warner among others, was famously described as one of the greatest anti-war films ever made by none other than Orson Welles. Commenting on the release, Studiocanal’s Mona Schlotter said: “We’re excited to release a new 4K restoration of the war classic Cross of Iron directed by Sam Peckinpah. We are releasing this on a beautiful three-disc 4K UHD Steelbook, a two-disc Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital. Supported by a full PR and media campaign, this will be a great addition to our Vintage Classics range.”
Boutique label news now and we covered fledgling label Radiance Films, a new operation run by former Arrow staffer Fran Simeoni, in 2022 before going on hiatus and we thought it time for an update from the imprint before going on to unveil some forthcoming titles from the indie. Simeoni told The Raygun: “It’s been six months of releasing and we’re delighted with feedback from trade and consumers so far. Elevation has been a wonderful partner for the business and I’d like to thanks Kevin Dersley and the team for their amazing support. Customer response to our unique packaging, distinctive artwork style and fresh mix of content has been very heartening with many saying Radiance is their new favourite label which is just astonishing. We have a strong Q4 schedule to build on this so look forward to seeing more fans discover us.”
And so on to the latest announcements from the label and here’s Simeoni again. He said: “We’re delighted with the reaction to our latest announcements. Scream and Scream Again is an Amicus classic that fans adore with the triple threat of Price, Cushing and Lee and the bevy of bonus features we’ve assembled and the additional restoration work we’ve undertaken we’re sure this is going to be a hot seller in the run up to Halloween, where a September release will hopefully ensure it finds plenty of breathing room. Our second announcement of Jaunma Bajo Ulloa’s The Dead Mother has also met a strong reception, while unknown to some younger audiences, the film has strong reviews which can be easily found online and strong word of mouth from those who saw the film via it’s US DVD release or via the UK Tartan Video release in cinemas and on VHS. A brilliantly tense thriller with gothic atmosphere and wicked black humour we’re sure this is going to feel really fresh with audiences once trailers and reviews surface.”
Just landed in stores, on June 12, via independent Second Run, is a lost Hungarian classic Twilight. Commenting on the release, the company’s Chris Barwick said: “Our most anticipated release of the year so far, Twilight is a lost masterpiece, now beautifully restored in 4K and making its world premiere on Blu-ray. Based on the same source material as Sean Penn’s impressive 1991 film The Pledge starring Jack Nicholson, Twilight couldn’t be more different. Director György Fehér, a long-time collaborator with the great Bela Tarr, made only two features, and Twilight is regarded as his master work. Its reputation was almost mythical, and we’ve managed to persuade filmmaker fans Quay Brothers, Peter Strickland and others to talk about the film for our release. We’ve already had a stunning response to our announcement and we think that viewers will not be disappointed with our stacked Blu-ray edition.”
Also due in stores on Monday is a title we’ve already mentioned here, I Am Weekender, a package from the BFI featuring the legendary short film made for post-acid house band Flowered Up’s single Weekender, as well as a documentary looking at the seminal 20 minute long excursion and featuring a wealth of promos and extras from director Wiz. It was launched in style at the BFI on Thursday night, complete with an after-party at the Social in Fitzrovia, owned by Flowered Up’s old label Heavenly. The BFI’s Ben Stoddart said: “Thursday night saw a vibrant crowd descend on BFI Southbank and pack into a sold out NFT1 for the launch of the BFI’s new Blu-ray of I Am Weekender. After signing copies of the new release for fans, a raucous audience were treated to a screening of Chloé Raunet’s I Am Weekender (about Flowered Up’s acid house anthem Weekender), the newly restored full length music video for the song directed by WIZ, and Nish, a 1989 short film (also by WIZ) about acid house culture. If that wasn’t enough, the screening was followed by a great Q&A with Chloé and WIZ, hosted by journalist Miranda Sawyer. It was particularly cool to spot Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting and one of the interviewees from the documentary in the audience! The party continued at The Social with special guest DJ’s Chris Camm and David Holmes providing the music. The limited edition Blu-ray (2,000 copies) is released on June 19 and includes everything that was screened at the launch, a selection of music videos, an audio commentary on Weekender by WIZ and more.
Monday in stores arrives the latest from one of our favourite imprints, Picturehouse Entertainment, which has been consistently bringing interesting, unique and strong titles to market, all backed with theatrical releases too. Latest off its impressive production line is The Night Of The 12th, an acclaimed thriller from Dominik Moll, which, as is always the case with Picturehouse, comes with a raft of critical acclaim behind it. Commenting on the release for Picturehouse Entertainment, Alice Werdine said: "We're thrilled to be releasing Dominik Moll’s powerful new film THE NIGHT OF THE 12TH on Blu-ray and digital. Having triumphed at the César awards earlier this year, where it picked up six awards including best film, this brilliant and deeply arresting true-crime thriller is a must-see.”
Some interesting news from Arrow and its eponymous streaming service. For it has scored a coup in having a selection hand-picked by noted horror director and pal of Quentin Tarantino Eli Roth debuting on its service from today (June 16). Unveiling Eli Roth Selects, the director said: “I absolutely love Arrow and have been a collector of their editions for years, and Arrow Player is the most streamed channel in my house. I’ve seen a lot of Select lists, and while I agree with them, I wanted to highlight some that people might have otherwise overlooked.”
Eli Roth’s selections, with comments, include: Audition (“Miike’s masterpiece on the pursuit of perfection. A huge influence on Hostel.”); Basket Case (“It still manages to shock all these years later. A work of art that showcases the forgotten era of sleazy times square. You think you can handle the movie and then the last ten minutes happen…”); Contamination (“I love Luigi Cozzi. He does fantastic low-budget films and they’re always entertaining. Argento’s former assistant director, when he’s on, he’s on.”) Creepshow 2 “It’s all about ‘The Raft’. Huge influence on Cabin Fever.”); Donnie Darko (Theatrical) (“Don’t tell Rich Kelly I prefer the Theatrical Cut. Please. Not that I don’t love his cut, but I fell in love with the movie I saw in the theatres.”); Madhouse (“You can’t beat Ovidio Assonidis for all-out bonkers in movies. And what’s that score I hear in the middle of it? Sounds a lot like Ortolani’s Cannibal Holocaust music, doesn’t it…?”); Society “One of the best horror movies of all time for use of makeup effects is also one of the most overlooked. A mix of Akira, Reanimator, and an 80s California high school movie.”); The Suspicious Death of a Minor (“Very cool Sergio Martino movie with an incredible car chase through Rome. I still have no idea how they did that bicycle.”); The Addiction (“One of my favourite Lily Taylor performances ever. Vampirism as a metaphor for drug addiction. Walken of course steals the show but this is one of Ferrara’s best from his incredible 90s New York City run.”); The Mutilator (“I love this movie so much I had to rip myself in half in Cabin Fever to homage it. I love that they don’t even hide who the killer is. He’s just a mutilator. Check out the great doc Arrow had about the making of.”)
BASE Awards update and the trade organisation has confirmed details of two awards at the event due to take place in November, with voting now open. The first, Entertainment Moment of the Year, will, BASE said, “champion pivotal moments in popular culture that didn't just trend for a day but remained in the public's consciousness across the year – the moments that made audiences gasp, laugh, cry and cheer”. The second is a returning Hidden Gem of the Year gong, which, as BASE noted, “celebrate[s] any piece of Home Entertainment content that captured the imagination of audiences irrespective of its commercial performance”. Phoebe Vaneveld-Taylor, projects and events manager at BASE, said: ”It was an incredible year of content, with so many great moments that set social media ablaze and sparked endless office debate. We had Tom Cruise astounding us with nearly every moment of Top Gun: Maverick worthy of an award; the viral sensation that was Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix Original; and Paddington’s delightful afternoon with the Queen. But if I had to pick, it has to be the resurgent Jennifer Coolidge in the season finale of The White Lotus - Season 2. But it’s not up to me! These are our People’s Choice categories - the ones where the industry gets to decide – with the winner getting to take to the stage at the iconic Camden Roundhouse on Thursday November 2. So, start your campaigning and get to voting!” Go here https://base-awards.org/peoples-choice/ to vote.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"I don't have any excuses. I could afford to pay for it all if I wanted, but instead of giving my money to some media company's CEO who makes a thousand times what I do, I'd rather just save the money for my own retirement.”
"I was paying for one or two, but now there's 50 of the damn things and everything in the world costs more practically every day, so I went back to piracy.”
Reddit users on the reason they illegally download/stream films and TV shows…
"It's as easy as it ever was to get illegal content. Piracy is effectively the largest VOD platform in the world. There is no platform bias, no cost bias, no access bias. You see what people actually want to watch. We have clients who see what's popular on piracy websites and then go buy it for their platform.”
Andy Chatterley, CEO at pirate date experts MUSO
“People [are] buying supercars with the millions they are making out of piracy sites. People always find an excuse for piracy. It used to be there wasn't enough choice -- now it's too much. We've made a hell of a lot of progress to make it less easy. If people are dedicated to breaking the law, they will do. But it should be a marginalised activity, not mainstream."
MPA chief Stan McCoy
Thoughts on the current state of piracy from an article here https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/entertainment-industry-struggles-215-bn-piracy-site-visits-1716314
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Summer anime from Anime Ltd…
Just hoping there's no careless whispering in the cinema…
Got a yen to see this…
Take me to your leader…
Also due from Pixar, ahead of Elementals…
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
You're on The Raygun newsletter mailing list, which has been running for eight years, because you requested it, have been recommended to us or sent us emails. You can unsubscribe at any time, if you're daft, using the link elsewhere or by emailing as below. But of course, you don't want to do that, do you? We don't share your information with anyone else, we don't like cookies and we're the good guys. We care because you do…
To subscribe to The Raygun newsletter, please email info@theraygun.co.uk
with subscribe in the subject matter
To unsubscribe, email info@theraygun.co.uk with unsubscribe in the subject
line
For editorial or advertising queries, contact tim@theraygun.co.uk
The Raygun,
31 Corrib Court,
49 Crothall Close,
London N13 4BG
|
 | Powered by YMLP.com | |
| | ||