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WARREN GOLDBERG RIP
FORMER COLLEAGUES PAY TRIBUTE TO INDUSTRY LEGEND…
…FROM EAST END BOY TO RUNNING MAN AND BEYOND
“ARGUABLY THE GREATEST MARKETEER THE INDUSTRY EVER HAD”
JUSTICE IS SERVED, AGAIN…
…AS PETER STILL UP TO HIS TRIX
WWE BEYOND THE THUNDERDOME
CURTAINS FOR MICKY
TAKING A HOLIDAY
HAVING A MARE
DISNEY+ HAS MORE STARS…
…AND MOUSE HOUSE LANDS ON FINDANYFILM.COM
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It is with great sadness that we report the death of industry legend Warren Goldberg, one of the founding fathers of the video industry, a character there from the start and who continued to play a role in the business for much of its history and whose legacy has been continued by his son Marc at Signature as part of a bona fide industry dynasty. Tributes came from industry members past and present and it’s worth reminding our business that without pioneers such as Warren Goldberg, few of us would be sitting here today… His son Marc Goldberg said: “My father will go down in the hall of fame as one of the pioneers in the early days of home entertainment. He built a handful of companies that were successful and respected, it set the tone for many companies to follow. He was a pain in the ass for a few, for more he was a man who was looked up to and made 100s of lifelong friends from within the industry. He allowed me to learn the ropes giving me the platform I was lucky to have. He will always be remembered as one of the great impresarios of the UK Film and Video business.”
Goldberg formed Lasgo with Peter Lassman, who told The Raygun: “Warren and I formed a record export company, Lasgo Exports in 1978, and after a few years of sustained and successful growth the company was sold to Chrysalis Plc in 1985. I’m delighted to say that this early incarnation still operates today as arguably the UK’s largest home entertainment distributor and this was all due to a conversation that Warren and I had nearly 45 years ago! Warren was enthusiastic and irrepressible. He had a million ideas, some brilliant and some daft, but he was never short of suggestions as to how we could grow the business. He oversaw the growth of many businesses, and was responsible for employing hundreds, if not thousands, of people, many of whom went on to forge notable reputations for themselves in either the record, DVD, video or film business. He was certainly one of a kind and I, amongst many, will miss him terribly.”
Former Video Business and VHE/HEW editorial director John Hayward said: “Sad news... These days they call people like Warren ‘disrupters’. In an incredibly industrious career on the independent side of the entertainment business, Warren always seemed to be disrupting something, not necessarily to the enormous delight of the established major record companies or film studios. I first encountered him in Spring 1978 when searching for a front page splash to launch Record Business, the music industry forerunner of Video Business magazine. Warren and business partner Paul Feldman (later of Parkfield fame) provided it in the shape of The Italian Job Lot. Backed by long-time financier Paul Levison, the young traders had sussed out that they could buy boatloads of British records very cheaply in Italy. EC rules said they could sell them back into the UK ‘grey market’ at a healthy profit and quite legally. The record companies predictably cried foul but couldn’t stop the trade, and a pattern was set.In video, his involvement with rack-leaser VideoForm helped corner shops and forecourts cash in on the early ‘80s VHS boom and expand the whole video industry. He was a member of the inner circle that came up with the VCI sell-through revolution while with the Braveworld full-price rental label he was in the market for Hollywood blockbusters. He even secured a production credit on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Running Man in 1987. Studio overstocks found their way into Warren’s Christmas bargain pop-up shops, and in the early 2000s he and associates chanced on taking Sony’s remaindered UMD discs off their hands to no great profit – one of the rare mis-steps, in the career of a total one-off.”
Former VCI supremo and another key figure in the development of the home entertainment industry, Steve Ayres, also paid tribute to an old pal. He said: “I was very saddened by the news. I had known him for more than 40 years from when we were both in different roles in the music industry. I remember my first ever meeting with him. It didn't go well and any fly on the wall would have been truly amazed that we went on to be friends and in business, on and off, for decades. He was a one off! Entertaining, a great storyteller and good company. He could sometimes be – how can I say this – rather Warrenish at times… I was in touch with him right up to a few days before he passed and will miss him. A good guy and his passing is so very sad for those who knew him especially his loving family to whom he was so dedicated. Stephanie and I both raise a glass to him.”
Another industry stalwart, Garry Elwood, now md at Lasgo, the company formed by Goldberg and Lassman all those years ago, said: “It seems like I’ve known Warren forever from his early forays in music, to his various video labels, to the infamous ‘101 DVDs and a DVD player’ boxes. In his latter years we lunched two/three times each year to reminisce and discuss who was going bust next (so that Warren could buy all of the stock to re-sell!). Farewell my friend.”
And finally, Revelation’s Trevor Drane wrote at length about how former colleague, friend and fellow West Ham supporter. He said: “My friend and colleague Warren passed away earlier this week after a long and dignified battle with illness. He was arguably the greatest marketeer the UK home entertainment industry ever had. Our relationship goes back to the very dawn of this industry, before the US studios came into it, and before you could buy a video cassette as a consumer, before there were any national chains carrying video for rent, just independent shops which were on pretty much every street corner in the country then as old heavy industry shed work forces many of these people ploughed their redundancy into new media – video cassette and shops to rent them from. I first met Warren in the early 1980s in his fathers record shop in Barking. I was a sales rep for Palace Virgin Gold (PVG) in east London and the West End and looking to sell them films to rent. Warren’s dad Simon said he didn’t deal with video his son did, and called Warren out from the back ‘office’ to speak to me, and I was immediately struck by his charm and friendly nature, which was a first that week, trying to sell mostly foreign language art house movies to ex-dockers and printers who had opened video rental stores with their redundancy cash was not easy to say the least. The other thing that struck me about Warren was his inquisitive nature and that he listened intently, he really wanted to know what we were doing and what we expected to achieve!! To my utter surprise he knew the movies, Diva, In the Realm of the Senses etc which impressed me, we got on well, although in truth I think he felt sorry for me knowing the sort of dealers I had to contend with in the East End back then. But I must have struck a nerve as our paths were to cross again and again down the decades. I didn’t meet Warren again for a couple of years by which time he had moved out of record retailing and wholesaling and into home video to introduce two massive retail concepts into the UK market, the first was racking, by which a shop which was not a specialist video outlet could lease a range of titles and thereby benefit from the boom in home video use, (remember at this time there were just four TV channels which rarely showed movies), this company was Video Form and it was hugely successful, their racks were to be found the length and breath of the country before long.”
Revelation’s Trevor Drane continued his tribute to Warren Goldberg and it really is worth following, as it’s so important to the foundation of the home entertainment business. He wrote: “The next was the big leap, videos that consumers could buy and keep. I know, sounds daft doesn’t it, surely that was on everyone’s radar…. Well no not really, we were pretty happy getting £30 a cassette for 37,000 Evil Dead rental copies thanks very much. Step forward Warren with an idea, put out a range of quality movies priced to sell… What stood in the way you might ask? Well one thing at this time, there were no retail outlets selling video films, the independent rental outlets were not geared to sell nor were they in the right locations, which was the High Streets. Warren and his new company – Video Collection International – joined those dots by getting Woolworth’s to carry his range, and in one business deal the industry’s long term transactional business model was established. That is pure Warren, he not only had the idea, but he had the courage and drive to get it to market. Of course other businesses may have done similar given time, and he didn’t do it single handed, but at this point nobody had, and he did, which is what matters when you’re sorting the courageous innovators from the followers. And by any standard Warren Goldberg was a brilliant innovative marketeer, in my opinion our industry’s best ever. He then founded his own film/video company Braveworld and poached colleagues of mine to manage it, and he had also chosen PVG to run the selling and distributing of some of his output. The first of which was The Toxic Avenger, a Troma production, for which he had put together a 3D sleeve, a first and an example of his innovation in trying to get renters to pick his movie up off the self and rent it. Inlay design was a huge part of the marketing strategy for companies back then as the industry output was largely independently produced and distributed films which the consumer would never have heard of, and they would enter the shop to browse these movies and choose so you tried to stand out.
Trevor Drane continued: "It must have been during this period that our mutual love of West Ham United became apparent and we met in the ground on match days, he was usually with his two sons Marc and Nicholas as well as Joanna his daughter when she was old enough. We did this for approx. thirty years on and off, his young family grew, mine came along and we shared many many happy days watching the wholly unreliable West Ham do what they do, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, we ended our time at Upton Park sitting proudly in row three of the directors box, and moved into seats at the new stadium together. We did business many more times as the years turned to decades, co-licensing TV series, and working on trading platforms that emerged via the new online world, he saw opportunities early and was keen to share the potential with us, something I will be forever grateful for, we at Revelation provided the content and he the marketing skills. It was a successful blend with both businesses benefiting from the others skill set. When he told me he was ill again I really thought he would do as he always did, beat it and bounce back, I just couldn’t imagine a world without him in it he was the very definition of a larger than life character. The last time I saw him was just before the March 2020 COVID lock down at West Ham, he was walking into the Royal East lounge and looked very frail but his good humoured optimism was undimmed, I was seated away from him but made sure I went back to have a cup of tea with him and Jo at half time, I am so glad I did that, and so unbelievably sad that I will never get to do it again. Rest in peace Warren. COYI.”
Theatrical is still going strong too, despite a week on week fall, the box office to the week ending May 30 was still a relatively impressive number, with Peter Rabbit 2 (around £7.5 million) still storming ahead, joined by the likes of Funimation's Demon Slayer feature film, among others, posting the kind of numbers any Japanee anime would be pleased with (nearly £700,000 in receipts in its opening frame). As our favourite box office analyst Charles Gant writing for the Telegraph noted: “Thanks to warm bank holiday weekend sunshine, arriving at the end of a notably rainy May, cinemas faced challenging conditions to attract audiences, and most titles already in the marketplace fell by at least 60 per cent from the previous weekend. Given that context, cinema operators will be pleased that the May 28-30 weekend period delivered a healthy £6.75m from the 651 venues that have reopened so far, and £7.98m including previews. That’s down on the previous (May 21-23) session, which scored £7.23m for the weekend period and £9.32m including previews, but still an impressive outcome given the current social distancing requirements and capacity limits. Prior to cinemas reopening in late May, the biggest box office of the pandemic era had been recorded on August bank holiday weekend last year, when Tenet opened: £6.32m including previews. Cinemas are currently performing much better than was the case in 2020 between lockdowns.” With A Quiet Place Part II now in cinemas and more and more biggies to come, it’s worth keeping an eye on how things are progressing…
It’s the biggest Monday of the year for wrestling fans on June 7 as the latest Wrestlemania release finally hits the shelves. The event is the highlight of the annual WWE calendar and lands across DVD, Blu-ray and digital courtesy of Fremantle, with the release featuring a raft of sports entertainment storylines coming to a climax for the 37th event featuring the assorted grapplers. Commenting on the release and updating on the campaign, Fremantle’s Ken Law said: “We’re really looking forward to our WrestleMania release this year. WWE has done a incredible job over the last year with imaginative programming, creative staging and inventive filming, such as their unique ‘WWE ThunderDome’ concept, with 1,000+ virtual fans, which has kept their output of wrestling content constant and fresh throughout the pandemic and at such a high quality level. Many other TV companies and film studios have unable do this and we have benefited greatly from a consistent flow of great home entertainment releases. Now, as fans return, they can go back to their spectacular live shows and the first of these was WrestleMania.”
Monday also sees the return of another video favourite to stores as Spirit continues its relationship with Cockney comic Micky Flanagan with the release of Peeping Behind The Curtain. Here’s the company’s Matt Kemp on the release. He said: “We are delighted to be continuing our successful partnership with the one and only Micky Flanagan by releasing Peeping Behind The Curtain, on both physical and digital formats this Monday. It’s a uniquely funny and brilliant look at what it took for Micky to go from the back-rooms of pubs to record-breaking arena tours in just a few short years. Any fan of stand-up comedy should lap it up – plus it makes for a perfect Father’s Day gift of course. Support across the trade is fantastic and we wholeheartedly thank all of our retail partners (as always!).”
Universal has another biggie landing on Monday too, in the shape of another Sky Original title that arrives on the back go a high profile airing through Sky Cinema. Commenting on the release, Universal's Stephanie Don said: “We’re delighted to be releasing the latest Sky Original film The United States vs Billie Holiday on DVD next Monday. Winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress on her acting debut Andra Day delivers an unforgettable performance as the iconic singer, and with themes surrounding Billie’s life that still resonate strongly today The United States vs Billie Holiday is a compelling film for both music, history and drama fans alike.”
It's been one of the most-talked about series of 2021, Line Of Duty aside, and as Mare Of Easttown came to its shocking finale this week, HBO and Warner were on hand to put all seven episodes up to own on digital, while we’re sure, given the incredible word of mouth for the series and Kate Winslet’s star turn as detective Mare of the title, the series will be an absolute winner when it arrives on physical formats too. Don’t just take our word for it either, here’s some highlights from The Guardian’s review: “Winslet’s performance as the complicated, loving, fallible and sometimes dislikable Mare has been rightly lauded. So subtle, understated and multilayered: it was a privilege to witness it. The same, undoubtedly, goes for the series entire.” And as The Independent noted: “Writing like this doesn’t come along often. Easttown is an utterly believable community, where every conversation is alive with subtext and history. Deliberately or not, crime dramas set in small towns often come with a kind of inbuilt metropolitan sneer for the little lives and petty motives of their inhabitants. Despite the death and despair, Brad Ingelsby’s script is a kind of love letter to this grey, washed-out part of Pennsylvania, and the people doing their best in dreadful circumstances. Other murder mysteries will look thin and amateurish in comparison. Even rarer is a performance like Winslet’s. They’re going to fill her awards cabinet like Oliver Reed’s recycling bin. No quibbles with any of the cast, but whenever she’s in a scene, which is most of them, it’s hard to look at anything else.”
A ridiculous amount of announcements from Disney+ and its assorted offerings such as the Star offshoot of the streaming service, with the studio announcing a raft of product due to land in the coming months. The Star arrivals come alongside an already announced slate of big Marvel and other franchise-related arrivals on the service, which kicks off next week with the latest superhero, or rather, super villain outing, Loki and extends with the likes of Black Widow (as a simultaneous pvod and theatrical title). Chief among these – well, certainly the ones that piqued our interest – were Pistol, the docuseries charting the rise and fall of punk legends the Sex Pistols, based on guitarist Steve Jones’ riveting memoir, as well as the reteaming of Three Amigos pair Steve Martin and Martin Short alongside Selene Gomez for Only Murders In The Building (later this year) and, into 2022, Pam And Tommy, the tabloid-friendly tale of Baywatch star Ms Anderson and rocker Mr Lee, the duo played by Lily James and Sebastian Stan and already the subject of acres of newsprint. Welcome To Wrexham, meanwhile, charts Hollywood stars Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds takeover of the Welsh football club.
All these Disney+ arrivals can and will be found on findanyfilm.com, the Industry Trust For IP Awareness—run resource for consumers after the service worked with Disney to put all the studio’s titles on there. This means consumers can search and find where they can view Disney titles across theatrical, physical home entertainment, digital and the subscription video on demand service. As ever, the findanyfilm.com service directs consumers towards legitimate ways of viewing films. Liz Bales, Chief Executive of The Industry Trust, said: “It is fantastic to be able to announce that Disney+ have chosen to partner with FindAnyFilm.com. The Industry Trust works to keep consumers safe with education about the risks of infringing content, and FindAnyFilm acts as the ideal call to action for all anti-piracy outreach. Building on the collaborative relationship between The Walt Disney Company and the Industry Trust, Disney+ is a vital addition to the site’s SVOD offerings, which serves our shared goal of ensuring that FindAnyFilm.com is the ultimate destination for consumers to search, find and watch content safely.”
AT THE MOVIES
Babylon and on and on… as the casting for the forthcoming ensemble cast flick detailing the early days of Hollywood from Damien Chazelle, he of La La Land fame, continues to ramp up. Latest to join big names such as Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie are Samara Weaving, Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Max Minghella… It’s still a way off, with Babylon not due until at least the end of 2022…
Martial arts star Donnie Yen is lined up to join the John Wick cast, adding even more kung fu and fighting skills to the heavy action hitter. He will star alongside Keanu Reeves as an old pal of Wick’s who teams up with him to provide further punching power. Director Chad Stahelski said: “We are very lucky to have Donnie Yen join the franchise, I am looking forward to working with him in this exciting new role.”
TWEET OF THE WEEK
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TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Kindred spirit…
More from the hitman, the bodyguard, the wife etc…
Bossing it, again
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