NEWSLETTER :: WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 12 2020
 
XMAS FILMS DOMINATE SALES
TENET ARRIVES TO BOOST MARKET
NOLAN’S HIT BOOSTS Q4 BUSINESS
DISNEY UNVEILS SLATE, SUBSCRIBERS
GRUNBAUM EXITS LIONSGATE… 
…AS COMPANY UNVEILS Q1 SLATE
POWERING ON
MAKING A MONKEY OF MASK-WEARERS
I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING THIS WINTER
MUSCLE GETS RIPPED
PIRACY FEARS FROM WARNER’S MAX MOVE…
…AS FIGHT FANS WARNED
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK


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If anyone is doubting what time of year it is, then they need look no further than the current Official Film Chart. For in a rarely seen sight, this week’s Official Film Chart top 10 is made up of seven seasonal titles and a smattering of others. The Christmas rush, it appears, is on in chart terms, with Elf sitting atop not just the aforementioned home entertainment listing, but the Will Ferrell starrer is also number one in the box office rankings for the UK too. In both, it highlights not just the lack of blockbuster fare coming through the system, but also indicates the public’s desperation to enjoy some feelgood entertainment in the middle of a pandemic and fears of Brexit too. It’s the same for retailers, as Asda’s senior buying manager for entertainment Andrew Thompson explained: “It is true that Christmas titles are dominating the video charts this year more so than any other year - in fact seven of Asda's top 10 titles last week were Christmas films. It does have to be recognised that this is partly being driven by the lack of new release product this quarter owing to cinema closures worldwide, however it is good to see that Asda customers are still buying into festive titles to allow themselves to escape into a world of video Christmas cheer.”
 
At last. After a relatively quiet Q4 in blockbuster terms, where the onus has been retailers such as HMV and Zavvi and the studios and distributors to come up with creative ways of reviving older titles or presenting other gifting options to consumers, a bona fide 2020 blockbuster finally arrives on home entertainment formats on Monday with the release of Tenet. It marks a big day for Warner, as there’s also a physical and digital release for The Witches, originally intended as a wider theatrical release until Covid-19 and the portentous decision to go straight to its HBO Max service in the US saw the release strategy change. Hmv is among those gearing up for the big releases ahead of Christmas, offering up an exclusive 4K Ultra HD SKU of the film as an exclusive under its First Edition banner, complete with a 64-page booklet (you can see how good it looks here). The retailer has also made the Christopher Nolan directed outing its Film of the Year. Commenting on the release, cmv’s John Delany said: "Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is a true event film, and our ’Film Of The Year’ at hmv. It’s also a huge opportunity for Home Entertainment, especially considering many fans would’ve been unable to experience it in cinemas, and the people like myself who did, will be keen to revisit its twists, turns and reverses. I’m personally looking forward revisiting it on 4K - the closest I can get at home to revisiting how it looked, sounded and unfolded in IMAX. At hmv we’re delighted to present our customers with a hmv exclusive First Edition, featuring exclusive artwork, booklet and high end packaging along with that essential 4K disc. I’d like to thank the whole team at Warner Bros for their continued support, and appreciation of the single, clear release date across disc and digital, which allows all fans to own Tenet at the same time, regardless of their format choice.”
 
Tenet also gives feature film a chance to shine in the grocery sector too – The Raygun will be out checking stores on Monday morning to see how the title is being sited and capture some images of Christopher Nolan’s ambitious film in the wild, hopefully in FSDUs and other point of sale as well as on the shelves too (see our Twitter for more). Supermarkets are right behind the title as Asda’s Andrew Thompson told this newsletter: “We are very much looking forward to having a major release next week with Tenet launching on home entertainment on Monday. Warner Bros has to be commended for getting this release out just in time for the key gifting period and I am confident it will be a great success across retail.”


Entertainment giant The Walt Disney Company held its investor day this week and while film and franchise fans everywhere were digesting the mammoth announcement of Star Wars, Marvel and other brand plans for the future – and there are great swathes of programming, much of it bound for Disney+ – analysts and others were assessing the figures and ambitious growth plans it revealed. More on its plans below in our At The Movies section below, but it’s worth noting here some of its impressive figures. Its streaming and direct to consumer services, taking in not just Disney+ but US company Hulu and ESPN+ , now boast 137 million paid subscribers worldwide. It’s a figure that’s above forecasts, and includes almost 90 million global  Disney+ paid subscriptions. What’s more, it’s upped its targets going forward and is predicting a figure of between 300 and 350 million by 2024. It will be driven by the launch of Star as part of a global brand, it will appear through Disney+ in the UK and more content and programming – 100 new titles through Disney+ each year alone. Disney ceo Bob Chapek said: “The tremendous success we’ve achieved across our unique portfolio of streaming services, with more than 137 million subscriptions worldwide, has bolstered our confidence in our acceleration toward a DTC-first business model,” said Mr. Chapek. “With our amazing creative teams and our ever-growing collection of the high-quality branded entertainment that consumers want, we believe we are incredibly well positioned to achieve our long-term goals.”
 
Lionsgate is shortly understood to be officially announcing its new-look after restructuring the UK operation following the departure of uk chief Nicola Pearcey, with a full statement from the company unveiling its strategy and team to take the company forward into 2021 and beyond expected. But in the meantime, former hmv marketing staffer Ben Grunbaum, who crossed over to work for the mini-major a decade ago and has worked across home entertainment and digital, is leaving the company to pursue new opportunities. He told The Raygun: "I’ve so enjoyed my time at Lionsgate, my decade there has been an absolute blast, amazingly rewarding and I will certainly miss the fantastic people there. However now is the time to pursue other opportunities. It’s been a privilege to share this experience with the (many times over) multi-BASE award winning team and want to thank the leadership team for their support throughout my time in the business.” If you’d like to catch up with Ben, feel free to drop him a line here.
 
Meanwhile, the company is busy preparing or 2021, and has just revealed its first titles of the year arriving in the first quarter. Here’s Lionsgate product manager Kirsten Sweeney on its forthcoming slate. She said; “We’ll be kicking off the new year with high-octane, action thriller The Doorman, starring Ruby Rose and Jean Reno. The film sees Ruby Rose play an ex-Marine, who must outsmart and battle a group of art thieves and their ruthless leader. Releasing on DVD on January 25, the release promises to be a punchy start to the quarter for Lionsgate. At the beginning of March, we’re very excited to finally bring Hellraiser Revelations and Hellraiser Judgment to the UK market. The 9th and 10th films in the iconic franchise are the perfect addition to any horror fans’ collection. Full to the brim with gory special effects that will appeal to fans of the genre and must-see viewing for any horror enthusiasts.”


More forthcoming titles news, and Powerhouse Films and its Indicator series imprint has been revealing some of its titles, looking ahead to its March slate, as well as updating on how things are going for the ever-growing operation. Powerhouse Films' Sam Dunn said, "2020 has been a challenging year for us all, so it's especially rewarding for the Powerhouse team to find that the incredible hard work that they've put in during some difficult months has been recognised by the contributors to the Sight & Sound year-end poll, in which two of this year's releases - our special edition of Joseph Losey's Eve (containing no fewer than four different cuts of the film) and the five-film Fu Manchu Cycle box set (which features our all-new restorations as well as extensive extras) - have found a place in the top ten. As we look to the new year, it's been fantastic to see the incredibly enthusiastic response to our typically diverse Blu-ray premiere announcements for March 2021: Howard Hawk's pre-Code classics The Criminal Code and Twentieth Century; the bonkers Sam Raimi/Coen Brothers genre hybrid Crimewave; and David Mamet's brilliant-as-usual drama Things Change. And, finally, with Christmas coming up fast, we're delighted to see that our December releases (all of which are currently shipping from retailers) are performing exceptionally well, with our newly remastered, deluxe edition of the stylish Stacy Keach-Jamie Lee Curtis suspense-thriller Roadgames doing particularly well." 
 
Good to see the old spirit of clever marketing and a lightbulb moment idea can still work for a release even in this more cynical age, so we welcomed Fabulous Films’ smart exclusive offer available through amazon from Monday December 14. For as part of its ongoing releases of classic titles from the likes of Universal on DVD and Blu-ray, it has dipped into the vaults to bring 12 Monkeys back to the market, albeit with a new and timely gift with purchase offer. In an Amazon exclusive, it is giving away a free branded 12 Monkeys mask, featuring the film’s memorable logo as utilised throughout the film, with copies of Terry Gilliam’s dystopian virus film. It’s the kind of clever move that our industry has thrived on for years and the first Covid-19 prevention gift we’ve seen in our business. Commenting on the offer, Fabulous’s Robert Starks said: “It’s just one of those rare moments where movie fiction comes close to reality, this not the past, this is not the future, this is where we are! You might say that we're the next endangered species - human beings!  The inclusion of a mask was a no brainer, this is another 2020 moment of reality we are living in, seemed appropriate to include a free mask.”
 
88 Films continues to mine a deep seam of genre fare spanning horror, martial arts and more, next up from the operation is the December 21 release of the I Know What You Did Last Summer Trilogy boxset in a premium edition. Richard Elliott from 88 Films said: “I’m delighted that we will releasing I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequels on the December 21 in a very special limited edition trilogy boxset. (which incidentally has almost sold out before release date) These are films that i remember vividly from my teenage years and so be able to license them and then release them in such a premium package is really exciting and caps off 2020 for us nicely which despite all the difficulties has been a record year for us. 2020 has seen us grow from strength to strength and i think our customers will have noticed an uptick in the quality of the packages we have been putting together, from the staple Italian and slasher lines to early Jackie Chan and 90s Jean-Claude Van Damme we’ve been adding a bit of premium sparkle to some very underrated films and hopefully that will continue into 2021 where we have some very exciting Blu-ray lined up including Jackie Chan’s seminal The Young Master, Short Circuit 2 and an Urban Legend trilogy boxset. We want to express our continued appreciation for the amazing work that Elevation Sales do and to thank all of the customers that buy from, promote and support our label, hopefully next year will be much better for everyone.”


A late entrant for many year-end film charts – one that’s surprised many critics because of its star turn from DTV superstar and Return Of The Footsoldier franchise mainstay Craig Fairbrass – is Muscle, out now at cinemas and as a digital release from Dazzler. It represents a further move into the feature film world from the company, which has built its name on television series but has been releasing an increasing selection of feature film in recent months. The film itself really does deserve the plaudits its earned. Directed by Gerard Johnson, whose Hyena was a home entertainment hit for Metrodome, it stars Fairbrass alongside Can Clerkin in a sleazy, grimy tale of bodybuilding and, well, men, with Johnson’s brother Matt, aka The The, providing the superlative score. It arrived with a wealth of strong press (the most we can remember a film featuring Fairbrass for some time), including the likes of interviews in The Guardian. It will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 1 and Dazzler’s Paul Holland said: “Muscle is a stunning British movie which has showcases the talents of Craig Fairbrass to his fan base and a new audience. We were delighted with the response to the theatrical release, we have had great reviews and the pick up and initial results across all platforms has been very strong.”
 
Back to the Warner news from the US, and over the past seven days one wouldn't have to travel far to find an opinion on its plans to head day and date to US cinemas (those that are open) and its nascent HBO Max streaming service throughout 2021. As well as journalists, analysts and, key this week, talent, in the shape of directors and actors and producers, have also weighed in. One if the key fears expressed has been about piracy. As a piece on Fortune magazine noted: “The change also increased the odds of piracy, especially overseas, where pirates routinely point a video camera at the screen from a theatre seat and then sell copies. With major films on HBO Max at day one, pirates can stay home and produce much higher-quality rip-offs” Meanwhile, over in Wired magazine there was even more, with the magazine saying: “Historically, pirates have suffered from a zero-day problem: When a film debuted in theatres, there were no perfect digital copies of the film that could be circulated; pirates either had to pay to see it in person, watch a low-quality cam version (made by someone in a theatre covertly recording the movie), or resign themselves to waiting for months until a Blu-Ray release of the movie would be issued. But next year, when all 17 new Warner films premiere on HBO Max, pirates will immediately have perfect copies to share.” Over at the Hollywood Reporter, a report noted: “Industry insiders say the studio is pretending that pirates won’t pounce as soon as these films are streaming on HBO Max. As soon as one does, there's an ‘excellent version of the movie everywhere immediately,’ notes one industry veteran.’
 
Talking of piracy and ahead of Saturday night’s big boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev, FACT and the experts at the City of London police’s anti-piracy PIPCU team, which warned of the dangers of illegal streams. Joshua’s last match saw 30,000 illegal streams taken down, many before the bout even started, meaning that fans missed out ,while, the authorities said, criminals and hackers could have accessed their information. Detective Chief Inspector Nick Court of the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit said: “Many of us wait years to watch a high-profile boxing fight and this year, with only limited fans allowed in the stadium, more people than ever will be watching from the comfort of their own home. We are urging fans this year to ask themselves if the risk of watching an illegal link is worth it. Not only is it illegal to stream matches without paying for them, but it’s also unreliable and risky. You never know what malware is in the stream you are using and what damage it is doing to your device. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies and legitimate providers can shut illegal sites down during the match, often at a crucial point, to dissuade people from using these sites in the future.By using legitimate providers these risks can easily be avoided. Remember - watch it live, watch it legally and don’t let your eagerness to tune in make you commit a crime.” CEO of FACT, Kieron Sharp said: “If you are accessing the fight by avoiding the official provider, whether it’s a re-stream on social media, a piracy site, or using a device, box or stick connected to your TV, this is illegal. Consuming content illegally is a crime which carries a maximum sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment and consequently results in a criminal record. FACT are leading the way in combatting digital piracy and work with PIPCU, industry and partners to crackdown on illegal streaming and to identify and hold to account those responsible. The running of illegal streaming services is a serious crime and by paying for these services consumers are giving their money directly to criminals. If you come across any content that doesn’t look legitimate, Crimestoppers makes it easy for you to report it. Contact Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555 111 or filling out their online form.”


QUOTE OF THE WEEK 
‘We are hugely grateful to government for the furlough scheme and other business support, all of which has helped to see our members through the COVID crisis to date. But given ongoing challenges, we believe that many cinemas will need further direct funding if they are to survive and recover in 2021. For our smaller operator members, that may mean additional finance over and above that already provided through the Culture Recovery Fund. But crucially for our larger members, who have so far received no targeted support and account for the vast majority of employment and audiences, that means direct funding to help bridge the increasing revenue gap they are experiencing. The positive response from the public when cinemas were briefly allowed to re-open in Summer after the first lockdown was overwhelming. We now need to draw on that affection to ask people to make clear to their MP how much they would miss local cinemas if – as is still possible for many – they were required to permanently close. This is not just about cinemas as places of entertainment, important though that role is. They are also a vital contributor to many people’s mental health and, as well as being key local employers, particularly of young people, also act as a focal point for retail and hospitality activity on the high street, something which is now under pressure like never before.’
UK Cinema Association chief executive Phil Clapp on the new initiative Keep The Magic Alive, aiming to get the public to write to their MP urging them to do more to protect cinemas during the pandemic… More information here https://www.cinemauk.org.uk/magic
 
 
AT THE MOVIES
The film and TV world this week has been dominated by Disney’s hugely ambitious plans for the assorted arms of its mighty empire. We’ll run through them each distant operation at a time. First is Lucasfilm, which, of course, includes the mighty Star Wars under its banner. There’s a whole raft of series spin-offs destined for Disney+, including Obi Wan Kenobi, which will reteam Ewan McGregor alongside Hayden Christensen as the Jedi master and the apprentice who ends up as Darth Vader. There are two set in The Mandalorian world, from Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka, the latter based on Ahsoka Tona. Other series bound for Disney+ include Andor, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars: Visions, Lando, The Acolyte, and A Droid Story. On the feature film side, there’s Rogue Squadron, due at the end of 2023, with Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins in the chair. Further Star Wars titles include one directed by Taika Waititi, while there’s also the not inconsiderable matter of Indiana Jones 5, directed by James Mangold… 
 
On the animation front, the Walt Disney Animation Studios arm has Encanto, due in November next year and boasting the involvement of Hamilton genius Lin Manual Miranda. Raya and The Last Dragon will appear both as a premium title on Disney+ and in cinemas next year. There are also Disney+ series based on the Big Hero 6, Moana and Princess and The Frog features. On the Pixar front, there’s the first “long-form animated series” imation giant, Winf Or Lose, alongside a rat of other Disney+ series – Inside Pixar, Pixar Popcorn, Dug Days, and Cars. on the feature side, there’s Lightyear, the story of the character that inspired the action figure that stars in Toy Story. 
 
Marvel news was obviously huge, with three new Disney+ series announced – Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L Jackson, ironheart, starring Dominique Thorne, and Armor Wars with Don Cheadle. These join WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki; the animated series What If…?; Ms. Marvel; Hawkeye, with Hailee Steinfeld joining Jeremy Renner in the series; She-Hulk, starring Tatiana Maslany, Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth; Moon Knight; Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and I Am Groot. On the feature front, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and returning Fantastic Four join a packed slate including Black Widow, Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings, Eternals, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther 2, Blade, Captain Marvel 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
 
TWEET OF THE WEEK 
 
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK 
More Clooney… 
 
 All new Disney+ Star Wars teaser…
 
And here’s Andor…
 
And here’s Patty…
 
 
 
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