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TRUST AND BBFC WORKING TOGETHER…
…INITIATIVE APPEARS ON BBC, SKY
CAGE STEALS A MARCH ON RIVALS
LIONS ROAR ON DVD, AGAIN
HMV APPOINTS, HEADS HOME…
SHARKNADO PHENOMENON HITS DVD
THE GIRLS ARE BACK IN TOWN
4DVD HEADS SOUTH
BFI UNVEILS Q4 SLATE
MCCONAUGHEY’S NAME IS MUD
BUTLER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
LIONSGATE ORGANISES A REBELLION
HOME CINEMA DAY LOOMS
LOVEFILM JOINS THE EASY CREW
QUOTE OF THE WEEKAT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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It Was A Good Week For… The Lions and Nic Cage, both starting off well…
It Was A Bad Week For… Russian pirates, now legislated against as new laws come into force in the territory…
It’s been a busy week for the Industry Trust with ambassador Tina Hobley, ex-Coronation Street and now from Holby City, out flying the flag for its freshly-launched initiative in partnership with the BBFC. Hobley appeared across TV and radio, on the likes of Sky News and ITV’s Daybreak, as well as radio. The campaign by the Trust and the BBFC is aiming to warn parents about the dangers of age inappropriate pirate films on the internet, pointing them instead in the direction of FindAnyFilm.com, which now features BBFC ratings and BBFCinsight details about classification. FindAnyFilm.com also provides information on where to watch films legally online and elsewhere. The initiative was launched with a raft of research which made for sobering reading, especially for parents. A survey of 1,000 11 to 15-year-old children found that almost one in five kids had been “disturbed” by films they’d watched on illegal websites, while nearly two-thirds wished they’d checked the ratings first. Some 25 per cent of those questioned had downloaded or streamed films from illegal sites, where there is no advice or guidance on what is or isn’t suitable. Around 45 per cent watched films on their phones or tablets for up to an hour a day, making the age ratings and information even more important for parents. Head of education at the BBFC Lucy Brett said: “There is a wealth of free digital tools and advice available for parents and children to take advantage of so they feel confident about their family accessing films safely and legally online. FindAnyFilm.com, the easy-to-use gateway to legitimate film, now carries BBFC age ratings and BBFCinsight, so families know what they are accessing is not only from above board and safe sources, but that they have at their fingertips information which allows parents to make informed decisions about the right film choices for them and their families.” The Trust’s director general Liz Bales said: “Public concern around what children are watching online has never been higher, making age-appropriate guidance even more critical. The film and TV industry believes education has a role to play. We provide tools to educate families around legitimate and age-appropriate source of film and enable parents and guardians to talk to their children to help them navigate the online landscape safely and legally.” Doing the rounds of the TV and radio studios, Tina Hobley, said: “As a mum, I know how excited my kids get at the thought of watching the movies they love during the holidays, but I also know how tough it is to keep tabs on what they are downloading or streaming online. This research shows peer pressure is tempting kids to visit illegal websites for their film fixes even though they know these websites are off limits, and many are clearly upset by the content they stumble upon. Portable smartphones and tablet devices mean children and teens will often be watching films away from the safety of the front room this summer, which is why I’m urging parents to know how to access film and TV content online safely and legally, and check out the tools and help that are available.”
The launch of the initiative resulted in a wealth of publicity, taking in national broadcast, print and online coverage. Commenting on the response, the Trust’s Katy Carter said: "We're delighted the age-inappropriate campaign in partnership with BBFC piqued the media's interest yesterday. The campaign highlighted what our industry is doing to provide tools to enable parents and families to navigate the digital landscape and access age-appropriate films from above board sources for everyone to enjoy. Initial numbers indicate that the campaign reached over 1.1m viewers and in excess of 1.18m listeners." We'll have more on this on our website over the weekend, along with more features, including a look at eOne's work with lenticulars…
 Right, some news on sales now, and a few titles have got off to a lively start in stores. Nicolas Cage has proved that, after more than 20 years as a video star, he can still do the business, with an impressive start for Stolen, released by Lionsgate. The company’s Grace Alexander said: “We are delighted with Stolen’s performance so far this week - it really does show that Nicolas Cage is back to his best. As well as a nationwide TV and Radio campaign, we’ve had some great coverage online, highlights being Loaded’s Twitter Takeover on the day of release and we were lucky enough to get time with the legendary director Simon West (Con Air) who supported the release with interviews in key media. Overall, we are extremely happy with the result and it puts us in good stead for the rest of our action-packed quarter, when we’ll be releasing both Rebellion and Olympus Has Fallen.” (For more on those two titles, see below.)
On the sporting front, the big seller this week has been The British And Irish Lions Tour To Australia 2013 Official Film. Not only has the title become Lace DVD’s fastest out of the blocks this year, it’s also the fastest selling overall sports DVD in 2013 too. The film was supported by a launch in Asda’s Cardiff store, while Lions captain Sam Warburton carried out numerous TV, print and radio interviews. The release continues Lace’s long-standing involvement with The Lions, which has last more than 10 years, as well marking another video success story for the rugby side. In 1997 Living With The Lions, the groundbreaking behind the scenes documentary cataloguing another tour, was released to great acclaim by Fremantle, selling more than 200,000 copies. Subsequent releases from Lace in 2001, 2005 and 2009 have all gone past the 60,000 mark. Even the behind the scenes documentary from most recent tour, a losing one from four years ago, has sold more than 90,000 units, which bodes well not just for sales of the current Official Film release, but also for Lace’s October 28release of the behind the scenes documentary, The Lions Raw. Commenting on its latest conversion, Lace’s Andy Lyon said: “We are very pleased with the retail and consumer response to what was an amazing achievement for the British and Irish Lions, we had over 500 members of the public attend a launch signing at Asda in Cardiff on Monday which was an overwhelming result for both the retailer and Lace. Although we are very pleased with the result so far on the Official Film and we feel this release will break all kinds of records for this programme format – for example it’s already the fastest selling Lions Official Film ever published – the main source of excitement for us is the huge potential for the behind the scenes documentary out on October 28, The Lions Raw, which for 16 years, since the groundbreaking documentary Living with The Lions in 1997, has been the preferred release for all Lions Fans. This is sure to be a top gifting title for Q4 and could top the 20,000 unit mark in its week of release. 2009's documentary sold more than 11,000 units week 1 against a losing tour.”
 HMV has been hitting the headlines this week, thankfully for all the right reasons. The news that the retailer has confirmed it is going back to its proverbial roots and opening a new store on the site of its first London site, 363 Oxford Street in the heart of London’s West End, was greeted warmly by most newspapers. The new location will include a neon sign outside the store that will hark back to the old days at the retailer, recalling its old look and featuring Nipper himself. More from HMV too, as the company has further confirmed that former Vodafone digital music supreme James Coughlan has joined the retailer to develop its digital film and music offering and online activity. First priority will be to oversee the relaunch of its online e-commerce offering, said to be going live in October. It is thought the streaming offering will mirror The Vault, the digital platform launched in Canada earlier last year. He joins an increasingly ramped up HMV head office team, which effectively has a new marketing team.
One of the biggest internet sensations of the year has been Sharknado, the latest in the seemingly never-ending stream of shark-related films from low budget creature feature specialist The Asylum. The film went far beyond the normal cult film audience for the studio's titles after airing on SyFy channels in the US and, just this week, the UK too. The film's title saw it being seized on by social media sites such as twitter, (sharks arrive on land after a tornado) and it became a bona fide online sensation. Now the video market can get in on the act after Studiocanal picked up the UK rights to the film, which is due out, memorable sleeve image and all, with the film slated for release on October 7. The company's Will Attard said: "It's great to be working on a title that's having such a phenomenal buzz on the internet. It's really kicked up a storm in the media and it just keeps on growing, so I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into this one as quickly as possible. After the great sales we had with Bait, we're hoping that the extra media attention means we can deliver an even stronger result with Sharknado.”
 As noted last week, HBO is going through a busy patch, with another release, the second volume of the rather wonderful, and much-talked about, Girls due on shelves on Monday (August 12). The second season of the series created by (and written, directed, starring and just about everything else) Lena Dunham, sees more of her and her pals’ caustic, cutting and downright obscene humour and painfully real scenarios. Commenting on the release, HBO’s Sophie Knight said: “Girls is back on Monday for its second home entertainment release of the year. We’ve gone online heavy advertising Season 2 with a vod campaign across 4OD as well as a digital campaign targeting a range of entertainment sites. We’re also releasing a season 1 and 2 box set which promises to be a great gift this Christmas. We pulled out key themes from season 2 to inspire various partnerships with top publishers Pan Macmillan as well as Urban Outfitters which has been great fun to work on. The review response from media so far has been overwhelming and we’re looking forward to results next week.”
More television and current required viewing round our way is Southcliffe, from the homegrown production powerhouse that is Warp Films. The first two episodes of this gritty series, penned by Tony Grisoni, who had a hand in the TV adaptation of the Red Riding Trilogy and stars the likes of Rory Kinnear, Eddie Marsan and a genuinely scary Sean Harris, aired on Sunday and Monday night (August 4 and 5), with the concluding two parts due on the corresponding nights this weekend, from Sunday August 11. 4DVD will be getting in on the act by releasing Southcliffe on August 26. The company’s Lucy Bulmer said: “Since the first episode was shown on Sunday night the feedback from Southcliffe has been tremendous, the overall feeling is that this is a piece of television art sensitively showing a portrait of grief amongst families affected by the actions of one man. Beautifully written and acted with an awarding-winning cast and director Sean Durkin we have high hopes that this is going to sell very well. It’s more film than television and will leave viewers wanting to know more, the DVD has some great extras too including a closer look in to the Behind the Scenes elements.”
 The independent sector is continuing to use online elements, including Twitter and Facebook, to launch Q4 titles and other offerings, with the BFI being the latest to take to the online space to unveil its slate for the final three months of the year. As previously revealed here, much of its focus for the last part of 2013 will tie in with the planned Gothic season, which takes in BFI cinemas, its book publishing arm and other divisions of the film organisation. Titles under this umbrella include BBC 1977 gothic horror anthology Supernatural, starring a whole host of big British names (November), a three-disc dual format release of Lon Chaney’s inimitable 1925 take on The Phantom Of The Opera, a remastering of 1940 psychological drama Gaslight, and a selection of creepy films under the Children’s Film Foundation banner, Scary Stories (September). October alone sees more classic BBC spooky stuff in Robin Redbreast (seen as a folk horror precedent of The Wicker Man), ghost story anthology Dead Of Night, Classic Ghost Stories and a repackaged BBC Ghost Stories For Christmas. Elsewhere there’s another title for the excellent Flipside imprint, Schalken The Painter (November) and, in December, a slew of Roberto Rossellini titles. Commenting on the slate, the BFI’s Sam Dunn said: "We couldn't be more excited to be offering such an incredible array of gothic film and TV content in Q4. The initial responses to this week's new release announcements has been extraordinary, with forums full of people who simply can't believe that these titles are finally coming to DVD and Blu-ray. In particular, the announcement of Schalcken The Painter as a forthcoming Flipside title has created a real stir, since it's a rare case of legacy TV content making it to Blu-ray. Just as last year's Ghost Stories for Christmas box set did terrific, record-breaking business for the BFI, these highly anticipated titles are sure to perform amazingly well."
The wonderfully titles McConaissance, the career renaissance, of actor Matthew McConaughey continues apace. Not content with one of our favourite films of 2012 (Killer Joe) and one of our favourite home entertainment releases of 2013 thus far (The Paperboy), he’s back with another star turn in Mud, due on September2 from eOne. Commenting on the release, eOne’s Stephanie Don said: ““We’re delighted to be releasing this critically acclaimed film from director Jeff Nichols, starring Matthew McConaughey in a role that has been lauded as his ‘best ever performance’. With a tactical TV and press campaign, along with comprehensive PR coverage and on-shelf appeal, we are confident that Mud will be a great success on DVD.”
 Back to Lionsgate titles now, with a look at a brace of titles, both due on August 26. Olympus Has Fallen sees Gerard Butler showing off his action chops, instead of his usual romcom fare. Lionsgate is planning to give the title a presidential push, with an impressive campaign behind it, as the company’s Kaz Mills outlined: “Olympus Has Fallen is the year’s most explosive action film – and we will be launching (aptly) with a bang. With a massive national TV, outdoor, press and online campaign, Olympus will be unmissable across mass media from 19th August. POS will dominate stores on week of release, and we are particularly excited to see the fans’ reaction to our exclusive 3D artwork in Sainsburys stores. We’re also looking forward to our ‘Save the President Day’ – where key journalists will be shipped off to a secret location, taught in the art of weaponry and warfare, split in to teams of SWAT Vs Terrorist, and then sent to ‘save’ or ‘enslave’ the president in a bespoke Olympus mission. There’s much more to this campaign to be announced which we’ll fill you in on in the lead up to release. “
Meanwhile, on the same day, Lionsgate is also releasing Rebellion, directed by the man behind massive world cinema crossover hit La Haine, and this bears similar hallmarks. As Lionsgate’s Grace Alexander explained: “Rebellion is a return to form from La Haine’s award-winning director, Mathieu Kassovitz, and in this explosive thriller Kassovitz really shows what he’s made of in front of and behind the camera. To celebrate the Home Entertainment release we’ll be launching an online campaign designed to showcase this outstanding thriller. We’re also doing a national press campaign across men’s magazines and redtops, while the PR campaign will focus on the broadsheets to make sure all bases are covered. We’ll also be doing extra special editorial including interviews with Richard Mullender a real-life negotiator and Mathieu Kassovitz himself.”
 It still excites us no end to see a poster that resembles the famed monthly sheets from London’s Kings Cross-based Scala Cinema, so it was with a certain frisson that we opened the link to the Scalarama season, the third annual season celebrating cinema inspired by the legendary fleapit and consisting of events all across the UK. Scalarama, unveiled last week, takes place from August 31 to September 29, with more than 100 screenings planned and 50 different partners, with films being shown in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton, Derby, Leeds, Glasgow, Hull, Belfast and Cardiff, making it a truly nationwide event. As well as all kinds of different films airing, a core programme of eight titles, including DVD-friendly fare such as Eureka’s Masters Of Cinema title The Passion Of Joan Of Arc, Czech sci-fi masterpiece Ikarie XB-1 from Second Run DVD and Flipside and Children’s Film Foundation titles from the BFI, will be screened at some of the venues across the country. And, as we’ve reported previously, the month-long season concludes with Home Cinema Day, on Sunday September 29. It is, as the organisers explained, “a 24-hour event where members of the public are encouraged to pick films to show in their own homes, inviting friends, family or neighbours round and turning their home into a cinema for the day.” The not-for-profit Scalarama has been raising money via Kickstarter and we at The Raygun are loosely involved too. For more details and to marvel at the programme, visit www.scalarama.com, and if you want to talk about Home Cinema Day, please get in touch with us at The Raygun.
Some news from LOVEFiLM, and the Amazon-owned giant has added another raft of programming to its Instant streaming service after inking a deal with Universal. The titles now online further increases LOVEFiLM’s selection of children’s titles available for streaming, with the deal, inked with Universal’s international television distribution arm, takes in the likes of Rastamouse, Curious George, Barbie, The Land Before Time and Maisy. Commenting on the deal, LOVEFiLM’s Simon Morris said: ““From talking to our members we know there is a real demand for top quality entertainment for younger viewers, so we are delighted to add such great shows to our already vast library of kids content. From nostalgic classics to modern favourites, there is a wealth of child-friendly series available on LOVEFiLM Instant and these latest additions allow us to offer our ever-growing audience more choice than ever before.”
 QUOTE OF THE WEEK
If you go around the world, I think you're right, that Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world," he said. "Now that's better than an Emmy."
Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes on Game Of Thrones piracy…
AT THE MOVIES
Three wildly different films were vying for attention at UK cinemas last week, with the trio all entering the top 10 in the first three slots. The Smurfs 2 won through, with £3.2 million in its opening frame, followed by The Heat (£2.5 million) and The Conjuring (£2.2 million). The only other new entry was the excellent Only God Forgives, with just under £500,000.
And lo, it came to pass that the old action stars’ franchise Expendables will have a new member, and it looks as if Harrison Ford will be joining the all-star line-up led by Sylvester Stallone. His place in the starting team has come at the expense of Bruce Willis after excessive wage demands which drew an unprecedented attack on the star by Sly himself. Some pundits were suggestion that Willis may return, but Stallone is happy with his current replacement, with Ford’s arrival taking some by surprise. He joins a cast that includes “new” faces such as Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes and Nic Cage. It’s due to arrive in 2014…
Reboot news of the week concerns the Poltergeist franchise, with Tobe Hooper’s horror classic, now more than 30 years old, due to get a new lease of life from the combined forces of Fox and MGM. The new take is being produced by Sam Raimi and the rumour mill has this week put another Sam, actor Rockwell, in the frame for the lead role…
An interesting press release reaches us about forthcoming title Black Sea, due to be directed by Kevin Macdonald, the man behind the camera for, among other things, Touching The Void and The Last King Of Scotland. After dealing with mountains in the former, he’s going far below sea level this time, with Jude Law starring as the submarine captain on the trail of sunken treasure…
 TWEET OF THE WEEK
We tweeted the news about HMV’s plans for 363 Oxford Street to our 900 or so followers and were retweeted by all manner of people, from the number of HMV stores that follow us and, in a more unlikely move, none other than Edwyn Collins himself… Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun for breaking news and scurrilous gossip…
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
This is our documentary of the week. Looks outstanding…
This week’s Marvel trailer…
We still love Spike Jonze…
Clooney (writing, directing and starring) and pals…
Can the new Muppets trailer be as good as the last lot? Er, yes…
Naomi Watts IS Diana…
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