BOOK STILL TOPS BESTSELLERS…
…BIG UP THE JUNGLIST MASSIVE
VERNON DOCKS AT PORT…
…AND QUESTIONS FUTURE FOR INDIES
FRIGHTFEST ROUND-UP…
DIRECTORS ON HORROR FEST…
…ARROW AIRS FIRST NEW VIDEO RELEASE…
…SCREENBOUND’S ZOMBIE CHAPS LOOK GOOD…
…TRAIN ROLLS ON…
…AND DESIGNER TURNS DIRECTOR
SID LIVES. AGAIN
STUDIOCANAL REVEALS Q4 SLATE
LFF LINE-UP REVEALED…
…AS SODA UNVEILS HEAVY HITTERS…
…AND DISCUSSES Q4 SLATE
CRITERION SALES STRONG SO FAR
TREK BOLDLY HITS 50 MARK
VIRGIN PIRATES JAILED
BASE SUMMIT ADDS MORE
DISTRIBUTION LEADERS WELCOMED
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It Was A Good Week For... Horror film fans – and distributors – after the latest FrightFest was deemed a huge success…
It Was A Bad Week For… Virgin Media pirates, jailed for their part in a set top box fraud…
Disney has continued its 2016 dominance of the Official Charts Company’s listings this week as, on the eve of the release of Captain America: Civil War (a surefire a bet for next week’s number one following its September 5 bow), it was another Disney title sitting pretty in the company’s midweeks and set for the top slot come Sunday September 4. After an impressive week one, with sales of 236,000 in its first seven days, the new live action take on Rudyard Kipling’s tales had shifted another 53,000 units up until the halfway stage in its second week, according to the Official Charts Company’s bulletin. Making a strong showing out of the traps in its first week of release was The Big Bang Theory’s ninth season release, with another Warner title, DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow Season 1, in at number seven, continuing its run of staggered comic book-related successes. Other new entries include Golden Years Grand Theft OAP at number 13, Ratchet & Clank (16) and Narcos (32)…
Back to that number one, and, of course, it’s worth noting that The Jungle Book rode into town on the back of some interesting PR which included, as we mentioned here previously, a takeover of afternoon teas at the t James’ Court hotel, a press trip to India for journalists to see Kipling's original location, work with popular Instagrammer Paperboyo to create Jungle Book inspired art pieces and a singalong to Bare Necessities at the Summer In The City event with Dodie Clark. Oh, and it's worth having a look at Disney’s online promotion with the Guardian on The Jungle Book, extolling the virtues of downloading and offering hints and tips on hosting a Kipling themed party… See here and here… More next week on Disney’s launch of the latest Captain America…
News from former Metrodome md Jezz Vernon, who had already announced plans to exit the company ahead of it falling into administration just over two weeks ago. He had signalled a desire to move into production as he announced plans to leave the independent earlier in the summer, and has now unveiled a new company, Port Royal London, a production and consultancy company. Port Royal London also taken a stake in Urban Edge Films, the company owned by former football hooligan Cass Pennant, the West Ham fan turned book publisher and film producer. The pair had already worked together on The Guvnors two years ago, and other projects. Both companies have a busy slate of film and TV projects. Commenting on the new launch, Vernon said: “As well as a production company Port Royal London is a network of film professionals from all parts of the process from financiers through to distributors, the aim is to consult on or board viable projects at any stage from cradle to screen. We are speaking to a lot of indie producers that have realised they can’t make films in a commercial vacuum anymore, the market’s just too tough now.”
And what, The Raygun wondered, did Jezz Vernon make of the collapse of Metrodome? He said independents faced an uncertain future, as well as paying tribute to the staff at the company. He said: “I was very sad to see Metrodome go into administration – the market has become increasingly difficult for standalone indies and the downward pressure on home entertainment revenues will only increase over coming quarters. If you don't have leverage through vertical integration, a unique relationship with a retailer, or an svod/ pay output deal - then you're completely unprotected against the elements. Between piracy, svod and the increase of the OTT services it's hard to predict what the future will be for small indies. It was an amazing team operating under very restrictive circumstances, it was a real honour working with them for so long.”
More from the fallout out of the collapse of Metrodome and independent label Second Sight, one of our favourite imprints, was one of the company’s distributed labels, with Metrodome handling sales for Chris Holden’s company. It has now announced its S&D will be looked after by Trinity Creative Partnership, the new sales company that has grown out of the old Lace sales arm, which itself went into liquidation. Commenting on the deal, Second Sight’s Chris Holden said: “‘I am very pleased to be partnering with one of the strongest and most experienced sales teams in the business. I very much look forward to working with them and taking the business forward. Our distribution will remain with Sony DADC and I want to thank Rob King over there for all the support he has given over the past couple of weeks.” Trinity’s sales director Andy Lyon commented: “I have been a long-time admirer of Second Sight Films and all at Trinity Creative Partnership are looking forward to working with Chris to deliver the best distribution possible on his new releases and wonderfully diverse back catalogue. Second Sight is an important signing for Trinity as we cement our position as the number one sales partner for UK home entertainment labels. Any customers looking for supply of Second Sight products should contact our head of sales: Andy Taylor on 07825 108120.”
So, to Vue cinema over by Westfield in Shepherds Bush, as Horror Channel FrightFest decamped to the venue for five days of the usual mayhem and lunacy, with scores of films airing at the UK’s, if not the world’s, finest horror film festival. Anyone keeping an eye on Twitter will have seen the instant reviews posted by the legions of gore devotees who turned up en masse to the multiple screens. So, how was it then? We first canvassed the opinions of the team behind the event. FrightFest’s Alan Jones said: “"Overall FrightFest 2016 was the most successful in cementing the community spirit we have built up over the years together. The Vue Shepherds Bush was the most perfect environment we've ever had for continuous audience flow and provided the best spaces for lively discussion and debate over the varied titles shown. The Vue staff were exceptional in making sure everything was high standard and top notch in terms of customer service and the whole shopping mall benefitted from our devotees making use of the local cafes, bars and shops. One of the security men said to me it was like a scene from Dawn Of The Dead, all the FrightFesters shuffling about in their distinctive red lanyard passes. We could not have had a better closer than Train To Busan. The auditoria were rammed, it proved to be the highly-anticipated movie everyone wanted to see, got the most rapturous reception and everyone felt it was the perfect capper to the five days that seemed to pass in a fabulous flash.”
More from the FrightFest organisers, and this on the event from another co-director, Greg Day He said: “This year we went for more events – a visual demonstration with SFX maestro with Dan Martin, a scriptwriting masterclass with James Moran and a stimulating talk on the future of British Horror (with Arrow’s Mike Hewitt, filmmaker Simon Rumley and ‘Ghost Stories’ co-creator Andy Nyman). We also staged a Women In Horror symposium with filmmakers Alice Lowe, Kate Shenton, Anna Biller and Jen Handorf, moderated by Digital Spy’s Rosie Fletcher. This Sunday strand culminated with a Screen International UK Genre Rising Star Award, won by Alice Lowe. All were very well attended and added to the vibrancy and the guest-count of the festival and we plan to expand this for next year’s event.” And last word, at least from the organisers, comes in the shape of another of its founding fathers, Ian Rattray, who said: “I was particularly pleased on how well the inaugural First Blood strand went. Large audiences and one of the films has secured a UK distribution deal as a result of the screening.”
One of the key sponsors at the event in recent years has been the ever-excellent Arrow Video label, an imprint we cover extensively here. And it once again lent its name and support to one of the screens, while, as mentioned above, Arrow Video’s recent high profile signing Mike Hewitt (a long-time FrightFest regular) took part in one of the debates. Commenting on the event, Hewitt himself said: “FrightFest this year was another huge success for Arrow Video. As continuing sponsors and huge supporters of the festival, it was fantastic to see the event succeed at its new home this year at Vue Shepherd's Bush. Our stall and branding both drove terrific sales throughout the weekend and allowed us to engage with our core fanbase at a grass-roots level. The response to our three films playing was very strong, especially for US thriller The Neighbour and Mexican debut We Are The Flesh which proved to be the major talking-point film of the festival with its controversial themes, and will be our first ever new release film out on the Arrow Video label later this year. We also took part in very engaging panel, alongside the esteemed Andy Nyman and legendary filmmaker Simon Rumley, on The Future of British Horror, hosted by Screen International which seemed to go down very well with the audience. A huge thanks to the organisers and whole team at FrightFest for their continuing collaboration - we're missing it already, and can't wait to return next year!"
Screenbound Pictures, as noted here previously, used the event to launch its move into the new release sector, showing off the wonderfully named Attack Of The Lederhosen Zombies to attendees. Commenting on its success, the company’s Alan Byron said: “Attack Of The Lederhosen Zombies went down superbly at FrightFest on Saturday playing to a nearly packed 200-plus screening. There were also some Lederhosen Zombies in attendance who were fans – we didn’t pay for them! [See photo on our website shortly.] Early reviews are also good and the great thing was that the audience first laughed at the zombie deer at the beginning and then laughed or groaned in all the right places for the rest of the film and gave the film a couple of minutes applause at the end - so a perfect launch.”
As noted above, and judging by the chatter after the event, one of the biggest hitters from the weekend was Train To Busan, which brought the curtain down on the event on Monday. It was one of a number of big hitters from Studiocanal, which was one of the leading distributors at the event in terms of not just the number of films it was screening, but also the reaction too. Here’s the company’s Kristin Ryan on its presence there: ‘This year’s FrightFest was a great success with the world premiere of Ben Parker’s tense and claustrophobic thriller The Chamber garnering great buzz and some excellent reviews from Screen’s Kim Newman, Bloody Disgusting and HeyUGuys to name a few and closing night film, the excellent Korean zombie film Train to Busan scooping up the Best Film award and wildly praised across by all as the high point of the festival. Rounding out our fare was the drug-induced cannibalistic gore-fest of The Evil in Us and the physiological pregnancy horror Shelley, both due for release October 10 on DVD, Blu-ray and download.”
And we’ll end our Horror Channel FrightFest mini round-up with words from Ben Parker. He is, of course, head of creative at OTMentertain and has overseen the design and creation of scores of film posters, sleeves and more in his time in the industry, all the while working on his nascent career as a director, with The Chamber marking his feature length debut. After the film premiered, he told The Raygun: “FrightFest is a festival I’ve been going to for eight years now, so to be given the chance to play my film there and to have such a good reaction to the film from the audience is thrilling. FrightFest has maybe the best audience for genre films in the UK and it’s just a great atmosphere there. I’ll be back next year and hopefully I’ll get to show another film there sometime in the future.” More on FrightFest, including a few extra comments, on our website shortly…
Meanwhile, simultaneously with the screening of Train To Busan, in another cinema elsewhere in the capital, Studiocanal was involved in another event, as the 40th anniversary of the Sex Pistols’ legendary concert at Islington’s Screen On The Green was celebrated with a screening of the restored punk biopic Sid & Nancy, released under its Vintage Classic banner on the same day. The company’s Kristin Ryan said: “We held a special a special screening of Monday evening of Sid & Nancy at the Screen on The Green cinema to celebrate 40 years to the day since the seminal gig there that featured the Pistols, the Clash and the Buzzcocks. Don Letts introduced the film and did an incredible DJ set at the party afterwards – the screening was sold out, which for a Bank Holiday Monday was fantastic – the night was a huge success, doubling as a launch party for the new DVD and Blu-ray, on our Vintage Classics label.”
We’ll stick with Studiocanal, as the company has this week been talking about its impressive Q4 slate, which sees it further extending its purple patch and continuing to excel in both new releases (the excellent Swallows & Amazons leading the charge as well as those aforementioned FrightFest friendly horrors) and, with its Vintage Classics imprint, in catalogue too (the latter well represented by a sumptuous restoration of David Bowie classic The Man Who Fell To Earth, covered here already, with more in it next week). There’s also its move into children’s fare, with more due under its Alvin And The Chipmunks and Bing banners, both proving to be successful. Another well represented brand that has been a hiue home entertainment success over the years is Studio Ghibli, with When Marnie Was There arriving as well. Outlining more of its titles, the company’s Kristin Ryan said: “Topping the £2m mark at the UK box office after only two weeks on release, Swallows & Amazons is a wonderful film that has really struck a chord with the family audience this summer. With a planned release on DVD, Blu-ray and download on December 12, we’ll be setting the release up as the perfect gift for the whole family this Christmas. Also performing well at the box office is the documentary Tickled, a ‘you’ve got to see it to believe it’ look at the strange world of Competitive Endurance Tickling which we release on DVD and download early November. Tickled is one of a collection of really strong documentaries that we have this Q4 that include also the Paris ballet set Reset, starring Benjamin Millipied, the principal dancer and choreographer of Black Swan and Stretch & Bobbito about the influential 90s NY hip hop radio show that broke everyone from Jay Z to Eminem.” And moving from hip-hop history back a few decades, there’s also a biggie due from a certain Fab Four, but more on that soon…
Studiocanal is again well represented at this year’s London Film Festival and The Raygun was there at the launch for this year’s event, due to take place over 12 days from October 5 to 16. Some of the key titles among the near-200 feature films and 52 documentaries screening have already been announced, including Ben Wheatley’s closer Free Fire – the director was on hand to help show an exclusive of the trailer for the thriller, his second in a year after recent hit High-Rise. We won’t run you through the full line-up, as there are far too many to list – you can see more here – but it’s interesting to note that the BFI Player, the organisation’s own video-on-demand service, is even more closely involved this year than ever…
One company well represented in the event is Soda Pictures, which is showing off two of its big recent acquisitions – the Jim Jarmusch-helmed Paterson (with Adam Driver starring as a driver) and comedy Toni Erdmann, the clips aired at the event drew raucous laughs from the assorted journalists and PRs in attendance. Commenting on its LFF slate, the company’s Louise Rae said: “Toni Erdmann will more than live up to being the Laugh gala - I can guarantee that the whole cinema will be in hysterics at Toni's antics. Beyond the laughs, though, it packs a real emotional punch and is a truly wonderful film that deserves all of the critical acclaim it attracted at Cannes. Also well-deserving of its critical acclaim is Paterson, featuring as the Journey gala. It's an absolute joy of a film and already on my all-time favourite list, and I cannot wait to work on our Q1 home entertainment release where we will strive to live up to Jarmusch's beautiful creation."
Sticking with Soda, the independent is another company we’ve been discussing Q4 with this week. here’s Louise Rae on its forthcoming titles for the final quarter… She said: “Our upcoming slate is an eclectic mix of films, kicking off the quarter with Fight Valley, a martial arts action-thriller starring three of the superstar ladies of UFC, which will come in the same week Britain's own Michael Bisping defends his UFC title in Manchester. Another stand-out is slick British thriller Remainder, with director Omer Fast providing a compelling adaptation of Tom McCarthy's novel that has critics comparing him to the likes of Nolan and Kaufman. From Wales we have a pair of films, The Lighthouse and The Library Suicides, the latter of which is an award-winning thriller in the Welsh language directed by Doctor Who and Black Mirror alumnus Euros Lyn. Alongside those are a pair of acclaimed horrors, including indie-darling Darling, intriguing documentaries, including the true story of filmmakers kidnapped by Kim Jong-Il in The Lovers and the Despot, and to cap of the quarter we have Jean Dujardin rom-com Up For Love, which arrives just in time for the gifting season."
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and partner label Criterion Collection have just unveiled the next wave of releases for the UK version of the hugely popular imprint, with, in November, Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams and Punch-Drunk Love joining the ever growing roster of titles. It’s now been four months since Criterion, well established in the US, launched in the UK, so what better time to take stock of how things are going for the UK version handled by SPHE. Commenting on the story so far, the major’s head of product marketing Neil Rodwell said: “We’re just four months on from the launch but we’re extremely pleased with sales results so far – they’re at the top-end of our expectations and we expect to see significant growth as time goes on and the brand becomes more established in the UK. There have been some obvious best-sellers such as Dr Strangelove, which is beautifully presented even by Criterion’s standards, but also impressive results on the likes of Humphrey Bogart’s In A Lonely Place and Cary Grant’s Only Angels Have Wings. This success is due in large part to the incredible level of engagement from our retail partners. As film fans themselves, they understand the significance of the label’s UK debut and have given tremendous support, for which we’re really grateful. Looking ahead, we’re very excited with the titles that are coming down the line. We can’t reveal too much at this stage but we’re confident that our slate going into next year will continue to delight loyal Criterion fans and grow that market even further.”
And on to some anniversary business now and, as some, especially sci-fi fans, should have noticed, Star Trek is celebrating its 50th anniversary and Paramount, through its relationship with Paramount, is marking the event with a raft of releases. September 8 is the exact anniversary of the transmission of the first episode in the US, and Monday the 5th sees the release of two 4K UHD versions of recent movies, 2009’s Star Trek and its sequel Into Darkness, as well as a lavish box set featuring every adventure involving the original crew, from the seminal series, through the first six films and the animated series, the latter on Blu-ray for the first time. There’s also a new documentary,some extra goodies and the whole thing is house in an Enterprise transporter style box. The PR is, Universal said, in “full swing”, with a special guest due at the end of the month. Commenting on the activity, the company’s Emma Kay said: “It has been an amazing year for Star Trek so far and there is still so much to look forward to. Live Long and Prosper.”
A gang of six men have been given a total of 11 years in prison for their part in a piracy ring that allowed consumers to watch Virgin Media boxes without paying. The group’s ringleader, Mahesh Tailor, was given the longest stretch, of six years, for his part n the Leivester-based operation. A FACT spokeswoman said: “Illegally modified set-top boxes are defrauding the creative industries of millions of pounds, as well as short changing hard-working legitimate customers who pay their monthly subscription fee for pay-for TV services This sentencing is a great result for broadcasters, TV and film rights holders as well as the wider creative industries. It sends a strong warning to anyone involved in TV/film piracy that both the police and the courts take this criminality seriously and will pursue those who break the law to bring them to justice.” Police had found some £250,000 cash at his house.
Next Wednesday (September 7) sees the BASE MESA Entertainment Summit taking place in the centre of London and the organisers have this week unveiled a further speaker as Luke Bradley-Jones, director of TV and content products at Sky has been confirmed to attend. He will be discussing, among other things, Sky Store’s Buy & Keep scheme. Speaking ahead of the event. Bradley-Jones said: “Since its launch in 2014, Sky Store Buy & Keep has been well received by our customers, who have responded strongly to the convenience of digital ownership coupled with the familiarity of a physical copy. Sky is always looking for new opportunities for growth and I am looking forward to sharing some insight behind our performance to date and outlining the future potential that we see in the industry.”
And another diary date as the Birds Eye View Film organisation, along with Creative Skillset, has announced its second Future Leaders In Distribution executive training programme, aide at helping women with even or more years’ experience in distribution the chance to learn more and help them move up to the next level in their careers, including running or owning their own distribution business. More details are here http://birds-eye-view.co.uk/training/filmonomics-future-leaders/, with the deadline on September 14. In a statement, the programme organisers said: “When we started in distribution in the 1990s, there was a woman running a studio, and three of the major distribution companies (Electric, Mainline and Artificial Eye) were owned and run by women. Now there are only two companies owned by women and only a handful operating at senior levels either in the studio or independent sphere as the census attests. We are committed to changing this. We are delighted that Creative Skillset have backed this programme for a second year, as we learnt significantly from Year One that this course has immense value to the attendees and to the industry as a whole. We are committed to continuing to run a high profile course, that, with support of Film Distributors Association and their membership, and with some of the best female leadership coaches and psychologists around, will go some way to redressing the balance and ensuring that, within the next decade, the figures have significantly improved. We believe a mixture of internal and external focus is vital to train up the future leaders in distribution. By creating a program that balances hard business with the personal - that looks deep inside and outside of film for good and bad practice, and takes into consideration the bigger picture of societal context and work from other sectors on addressing gender inequality in leadership roles.” Last year’s course included a few familiar names, not least people who’ve commented on this newsletter…
“Netflix is a company driven by engineers who think a good product will work across 130 markets. It’s a bit naïve, and it doesn’t work that way in France.”
Emmanuel Durand, from Warner in France, on Netflix’s problems in the country, as it shutters its Paris office and retreats from France…
“France is unique because of the prevalence of local content, and Netflix has struggled to acquire the necessary quantity, unlike in other markets such as Spain where they’ve been able to provide a wealth of local content and leverage it in Spanish-language markets.”
IHS’ Richard Cooper on the same issue…
AT THE MOVIES
A whole raft of new entries over the bank holiday weekend in the UK box office chart, with Bad Moms leading the way, earning just under £1.5 million in its opening frame. It was followed in the top five by both War Dogs (around the £1 million mark) and The Purge Election Year with more than £800,000. Earning more than £500,000 in its first few days on release was The Mechanic: Resurrection, while keep an eye out for Adulthood, which kicked off its previews with a strong opening day on the bank holiday…
Game Of Thrones news and the story that veteran Brit character actor Jim Broadbent is heading to Westeros, joining the biggest show n TV (and DVD) right now, Game Of Thrones. No news yet as to what role the star will take, but that hasn’t stopped endless online speculation…
It didn’t take a psychic to foresee that a second series of Stranger Things would sooner or later be announced as a Netflix exclusive and this week the sophomore outing for the series was confirmed as a trailer was unveiled for the programme… You can see it here…
SITE OF THE WEEK
Congratulations to former UK stafer Mary Daily, among those honoured by US trade Home Media Magazine for its Women In Home Entertainment event… There’s a few other familiar names here too…
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Due at cinemas, vod and DVD…
A Raymond Briggs adaptation…
Shut In opens up…
Do you believe in the Westworld…
Like Best In Show. With mascots…
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