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OFFICIAL CHARTS TAKES INSIGHT A STEP FURTHER
HMV AND CRUNCHYROLL PARTNER UP FOR ANIME HIT
IT'S IN THE BAG…
…AS LETTERS GOES ON LETTERBOXD
SWEETS TO THE SWEET FOR KALEIDOSCOPE RELEASE
RADIANCE REVEALS MORE TITLES
POWERHOUSE OFFERS YOUR NEW OBSESSION
101 TIDIES UP WITH LAWNMOWER
THIRD WINDOW’S IN FINE COMPANY
SCREENBOUND PLANS DOUBLE’BILL
NO TROUBLE FOR PARKLAND’S PRODUCTION
SNIPS LAUNCHES YOUTUBE SHOW
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It was a good week for… Suzume in stores and off to a bright start (see below)
It was a bad week for… Will Francis Ford Coppola struggle to get distribution for his Megalopolis epic? This is a good read…
We have been watching… Our second viewing of the Vertigo release of Shudder film Late Night With The Devil, this time in a Picturehouse Cinema, alongside Eureka's Black Mask and a psychedelic film club double bill of House and Tetsuo… …
The UK has, thank to the efforts of the Official Charts Company and assorted partners, led the way in digital chart information and April 3 saw the organisation launching a new online data platform that takes its insights one step further. For its new state of the art reporting tool the Official Charts Video Online will, the Company said, offer the “most comprehensive insights into digital movie consumption anywhere in the world”. It's a digital first tool, integrating data across EST, VOD and physical and give a “faster, intuitive, user-friendly experience”. Not only does it deliver up to the minute data faster than any other territory, but it also covers 95 per cent of the market, pulling in data from physical and digital retailers. It will enable users to build their own reports and combine physical and digital data and, as well as offering beyond title-by-title details, it gives further stats and market share details. The announcement further noted: “And, in addition to Official Charts’ own consumption data, the portal also offers title-by-title data on UK SVOD availability (spanning 14 SVOD platforms) and theatrical box office data (sourced from BB Media and Comscore respectively). By combining this with average price data by title, the platform gives the user a unique opportunity to analyse windowing strategies on a title-by-title basis. The brand-new portal has been built from scratch using the existing Official Charts online platform as its foundation, which means it offers more than 20,000 published charts dating back to 1994 – and access to data on 3.58bn video transactions, including 139m movie downloads, 152m VOD rentals and 3.29bn physical sales. Official Charts Company CEO, Martin Talbot said: “We are delighted to be unveiling this brand-new portal for our clients across the entertainment sector, which we believe represents a step-change in the availability of film and TV home entertainment data. By bringing our own marketing leading DVD, Blu-Ray, EST and VOD consumption data together with additional data on theatrical box office and SVOD availability, the Official Charts Online offers a unique ability to analyse the fast evolving film and TV home entertainment sector. And this is just the beginning – we are committed to improving the service ongoing wherever we can over the coming years, based on market feedback.”
News from anime specialist Crunchyroll, part of Sony and the pioneering company formerly known as Manga, which last week released a sumptuous physical SKU of last year's big theatrical anime hit Suzume. The company worked closely with retail, including hmv, which gave the title a huge profile (hmv stores’ X/Twitter accounts were full of mentions of it) and the pair collaborated closely on marketing. It’s a perfect fit given hmv’s ever-increasing pop culture profile, of which anime is a key plank. The retailer’s head of marketing Kate Longbottom said: “hmv was delighted to partner up with Crunchyroll for the launch of Suzume. It was a great result for Makoto Shinkai's latest release in the market, reaching a similar Week 1 to Crunchyroll's Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. We heavily promoted the title both online and in-store with some great OOH and email & social media reaching both fans and a broader entertainment audience. Suzume will continue to sell throughout the year and could easily become our best-selling anime release of 2024. Anime is no longer niche content and in partnership with Crunchyroll, we're excited for the future and what that will bring to our customers.”
This week's biggie comes from those fine folk at Studiocanal in the form of horror Baghead, in what, from where we’re sitting and given what’s been released and what’s on the way, is shaping up to be a fine year for genre fare. The film scored well with the cognoscenti on its theatrical release, paving the way for what should be a strong home entertainment performance. Commenting on the release, Studiocanal’s Chris Sharp said: “We’re excited that Baghead, Alberto Corredor’s directorial debut adapted from his award-winning short film, is out now to own or rent. With rising star Freya Allan in the lead (soon to be seen in the new Planet of the Apes film) and a supporting cast including Jeremy Irvine and the always excellent Peter Mullan, this supernatural chiller is a must-see for horror fans.”
Also from Studiocanal, and the company has has this week announced the digital release of its smart, sweary homegrown comedy Wicked Little Letters – it’s available to rent or buy now – and to mark the event it's teamed up with the ever-growing film-based social media site Letterboxd for a promotion to tempt those involved with the site, which ranks, rates and logs members' film viewing habits (we're on it as theraygun, obviously) to watch the film. For, as the email sent to members noted: “To celebrate this release, we are offering members a chance to win one of five super-limited edition sweary t-shirts. To be entered in the draw, just watch the film and submit a review on Letterboxd by using the tag #YouOldBeetle” Letterboxd is increasingly being used to target avid film fans, we’ve already been to member screenings organised by the likes of Vertigo, while it's also used to advertise home entertainment alongside theatrical releases (we were served an ad for the BFI’s Scala!!! Blu-ray last time we logged on). Comment came from the company’s Will Fraser who said: “We’re delighted to bring the outrageous true story of 1920s Littlehampton into people’s homes. This film has a special place in our hearts, as we celebrate Studiocanal UK’s first ever Premium EST release. Don’t forget to submit your review of the film on Letterboxd to be in the chance of winning a limited edition T-shirt #YouOldBeetle”
Other big new releases in stores this week included a new take on Hamlet starring Ian McKellen via Kaleidoscope, with the Shakespeare tale now reimagined as a psychological thriller. Comment on the release came from the company’s CEO Spencer Pollard, who said: “We were very pleased with our theatrical campaign for Hamlet, grossing £200k+ at the box office through a series of one night only + encore bookings and a director/Ian McKellen Q&A added and this has spilt over into solid pre orders and a very good multi territory SVOD deal for later this year. Alongside the international sales we have secured, the film has been an enjoyable experience for all concerned. We have a very solid line up for the rest of the year already in place including a re-release of Point Break and some other very exciting library titles and the release of Bleeding Love next month and Sasquatch Sunset in June 2024. Baltimore is going strong in cinemas across the UK and Ireland currently also and should top £200,000 at the box office too from a localised theatrical plan.”
As ever, the boutique imprints have been busy in recent days and weeks, with a raft of announcements from some of the key players in this burgeoning side of the business. Chief among them was Radiance Films, revealing its plans for July. Outlining the releases, Radiance founder Fran Simeoni said: "We're delighted to unveil our slate for July, a bumper crop of classic titles ranging from our third Tai Kato title, Eighteen Years in Prison which looks like it's going to connect with audiences as the previous two have done so well. A tough prison drama akin to work by Hollywood auteurs like Sam Fuller, this is also an examination of the postwar period and is a precursor to Kinji Fukasaku's epoch-making Battles Without Honour and Humanity. Tchao Pantin from Claude Berri is another slice of fatalistic noir, this time from the streets of 1980s Paris. A tale of friendship and revenge this classic crime story won France's Academy awards for both lead performances as well as the stunning photography by Bruno Nyutten of Possession fame. Then we have Hal Ashby's The Landlord, a stunning debut and an ahead-of-its-time race relations satire starring Beau Bridges. Plus our second Francois Truffaut, another Cornell Woolrich adaptation starring French acting royalty Jean Paul Belmondo and Catherine Deneuve. Finally in our partnership with Raro Video we have Michael Reeves' Revenge of the Blood Beast which comes loaded with extras including pieces with stars Barbara Steele and Ian Ogilvy.”
Powerhouse has been talking to The Raygun about its forthcoming slate and going into more detail on its impressive titles pencilled in for a June release. Here's the company's Sam Dunn on what's in store. He said: "We're delighted to be giving this quartet of dark and unsettling tales, made by and starring some of the British film industry's finest talents of the 40s and 50s, their world Blu-ray premieres. The first two – 1942's Tomorrow We Love, which shocked audiences with its unflinching portrayal of Nazi brutality, and 1947's Shop on Sly Corner, which marked the debut of Diana Dors – were directed by the enterprising director who launched horror sensation Tod Slaughter's film career, and have both been newly restored from the original nitrate film negatives. The third of the month's titles is 1949's Obsession, blacklisted filmmaker Edward Dmytryk's controversial exploration of the mind of a killer, also newly restored from the original negative. Last, but not least, we present the stylish 1958 murder mystery The Whole Truth, which stars British screen legends Stewart Granger and George Sanders. These four limited editions fill in some significant gaps for fans of British genre cinema, and come loaded with essential extras and comprehensive booklets."
Those of you with a long memory, or are as old as us at The Raygun, will remember the huge theatrical and video success of cautionary virtual reality sci-fi tale The Lawnmower Man, a film turned into a big commercial hit by First Independent. The film is ripe for reappraisal, so it’s great to see that 101 Films is preparing to bring the title and its sequel to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK in apsidal limited edition packaging, complete with a booklet featuring new writing on the film(s) on June 10. Comment came from 101’s Tim Scaping, who said: “We're very excited to be giving The Lawnmower Man its long overdue UK Blu-ray debut. The film caused a major stir upon its release back in 1992, mainly due to its groundbreaking special effects and prescient themes, but also on account of its deviation from the Stephen King short story upon which it was based, to the extent that a legal battle ensued, with King wanting his name removed from the all promotional materials. Instead of a bizarre tale of grass eating and sacrifices via lawnmower, Brett Leonard and Gimel Everett produced a sci-fi classic that on the one hand was a cautionary tale of the dangers of man playing God and on the other a camp and massively over the top sci-fi romp which provides a fascinating insight into where people saw virtual reality taking humanity 30 years ago. Our three-disc limited-edition release is title 036 on the 101 Films Black Label, featuring special packaging with newly commissioned artwork, and includes both the theatrical and director’s cuts of The Lawnmower Man along with a wealth of additional content, plus 1996 sequel Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace.”
More announcements and Third Window Films has announced a further three additions to its The Directors Company imprint, which celebrates the famed Japanese production company. Third Window’s Adam Torel said: “I'm very happy to be able to continue releasing these real gems of Japanese cinema which have been lost for decades, all from the short-lived production company the Directors Company. The Directors Company was a Japanese production company in the 80s run by directors (as the name suggests), yet since the company's collapse in 1992 the films from the company have been in rights limbo. A couple of years ago a friend of mine discovered a stack of long-lost negatives from the company and I've been working on getting them out ever since. Following on from Shinji Somai's Typhoon Club, Banmei Takahashi's DOOR and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's The Guard from Underground [all out now after 2023 release], I'm able to continue the series with two more Shinji Somai films in Luminous Woman [May 20] and Love Hotel {July 22], plus Sogo Ishii's The Crazy Family [June 17], celebrating its 40th anniversary. All three films get their first ever physical releases outside of Japan!”
News from Screenbound and the company is working with Blue Dolphin on an old-fashioned horror double bill due at cinemas at the end of April ahead of a home entertainment bow in May. The films, Malum and Hunt Her Kill Her are out at cinemas on April 26, including a series of late night double feature presentations at Showcase Cinemas, with digital and physical releases set for May 27 for each. Malum is a supernatural horror that follows a rookie cop – also the daughter of a policeman – who takes on a job in a station due for decommissioning, only to become embroiled in a cult. Hunt Her Kill Her, meanwhile, focuses on the learner at a large warehouse who is stalked by masked raiders. Comment came from Screenbound’s Martin Glew said: “Screenbound is delighted to release two female led, fight to survive features that will thrust UK cinema goers into their worst, terror-fuelled nightmares on April 26 2024. Stories of fictional murderous supernatural cults and ruthless gangs of killers help bring genre audiences through the door… Malum and Hunt Her, Kill Her should be just the ticket.”
One of last week’s big theatrical releases was The Trouble With Jessica, a homegrown UK production which boasts an impressive cast, which helped it garner plenty of press and media coverage. And the fact many of the cast turned up to promote the film at its premiere last week further boosted its chances. The film is the first production from Parkland, which boasts industry stalwart Tom Stewart among its key staffers, a familiar face in this industry some 30 years since he started selling VHS in the pre-DVD era. Stewart is working alongside Parkland CEO John Cairns, executive producer on the film, and Andrew Brown, Parkland’s head of international sales, currently busy selling the film around the globe to other distributors. The cuttings book we’ve seen is truly vast, impressive not just in the amount and weight of the coverage it’s received, but also its breadth too, taking in every publication from the Daily Star to the Times and Independent. The wide opening for an independent was matched by Q&A screenings and other events before the film eventually winds its way to home entertainment. Parkland's Stewart told The Raygun: “The Trouble with Jessica opened on 100 screens and is our first production as producers. After three long years, we were finally able to celebrate its theatrical release with a London premiere which took place last Tuesday evening with the super busy Rufus Sewell, Shirley Henderson and Anne Reid in attendance at VUE WestEnd. We also had Q&As taking place at various locations in London, Liverpool and Edinburgh. As with any independent production there are always so many people to thank for all their amazing work to get the film over the line.” The film continues its run with more Q&As this week too…
We'll end with our old chum Dave Wain, proprietor of Snips Movies, one of the country's last standing rental stores, is, as some of our readers may know, fairly active on Twitter (it's a wonderful feed, offering up details of new arrivals at his stores and little titbits of information about customer habits) and now he's casting his net further across the Internet and social media with the launch of a new show on YouTube, Inside The Video Store. There are now four episodes up own YouTube, each running at more than 20 minutes in length. Filmed in his store in the Wirral, Merseyside (voted in the top five coolest in the area by the Liverpool Echo), Wain looks at recent releases, specialist sections and what's renting in his store, as well as bigging up physical media (his opinions on the physical media and notably the lack of romcoms on physical media are very interesting and there's lots more besides). As he said in his introduction: "Every episode will carry the same format, it will give you a glance of the incomings, outgoings movers and shakers from this movie lovers paradise." It's a fascinating stroll through his small but perfectly formed store, stocked with thousands of films and, proving the public's ongoing fascination with rental stores, the first garnered well over a thousand views in its first few days online and views for the others all run into the hundreds of views. You can see it here and Wain told The Raygun why he was doing it He said: "I was getting complaints from new customers! Person after person was saying that they're annoyed they hadn't found out about the store beforehand. I have a great affection for the rise of the physical media YouTube show anyway, be it people like Heath Holland's Cereal at Midnight or Brian Saur's Just the Discs. I wondered if I could take that concept and tweak it to suit a rental store with a two-fold appeal. People in the Merseyside area with a kink for physical media may well stumble across it, and I could satisfy the growing number of followers I was getting on social media who were just simply curious about the place. A few customers have chipped in with their film school expertise, and hey presto, I have some relatively slick content to promote the shop, and to be honest the response has been incredible. Looking forward to seeing the knock-on effect on footfall, in what's so far a record breaking year."
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Got a joke for us today?
One of those Screenbound horrors…
And the other…
Praying that once the trilogy is done, there’ll be a lovely Blu-ray box…
Get me there soon…
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