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WINDOWS ON THE MOVE AGAIN?
FACT ON THE TELLY
MORE GONGS FOR 4DVD
HOURS AND HOURS ON DISPLAY
MORE CANNES ACQUISITIONS
REVOLVER'S BEHIND BARS
HOWZAT FOR PRE-SALES?
ON THE BOLL
EXPO UPDATE
NETWORK PEDDLES SHORT FILMS
ICON'S HORROR AHEAD OF THE PACK
NEW LABEL OFFERS 2020 VISION
PIG FLIES IN THE US
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
AT THE MOVIES
SITE OF THE WEEK
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
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 It Was A Good Week For… Fire In Babylon, Revolver's best pre-sales title ever and due on Monday with an excellent word of mouth…
It Was A Bad Week For… Theatrical exhibitors, still on the warpath… The ever-changing windows, currently being scrutinised by pretty much everyone in the business, have moved again. But this time it may not be theatrical getting squeezed, rather packaged media. For in the US, Summit is to release Source Code to video on demand ahead of its DVD and Blu-ray bow. The American version will arrive on July 8, followed 18 days later by the disc versions. It doesn't seem to have raised the ire of US exhibitors, who are still on the warpath over shortened theatrical windows caused by some studios' launch of premium vod. The move came as Vue Entertainment, one of the UK's top three chains, confirmed that it was in talks with studios over windows. It is said to be prepared to allow the studios and independent studios to shorten windows on one or two films a year, as long as it gets a greater share of box office. And if distributors agree, they will sign up for three years or more. Vue's Tim Richards told The Guardian newspaper: "We are in discussions with other studios and I'm happy that it's a model they will accept. If the window is too short it's a lose-lose for everyone. The pie will get smaller. When a film is successful in the cinema it drives all the ancillary revenue streams, from DVD sales to pay-TV deals." Our sources in this sector tell us that conversations have been had in the UK, although working out the exact system, how it will work, and how anyone will make it pay, means that there's nothing concrete yet…
It's taken some two years to come to the screen, but Crimewatch this week featured an in-depth look at the work of the Federation Against Copyright Theft, trailing FACT and the police on assorted raids and explaining in some detail the implications of piracy and its links to all other sorts of crime. It was as good an advert as our industry could get in the battle against physical piracy, and, many believe, couldn't have turned out better if it was written by FACT itself. The organisation's Eddy Leviten, who featured alongside Kieron Sharp in the 15 minute segment which aired on Tuesday on the BBC, said: "FACT worked very closely with Crimewatch which is a highly respected and well watched strand on the BBC to highlight the way organised criminality controls the sale of pirate DVDs across the the whole of the UK and the way in which these organised crime gangs are also involved in other areas or serious criminal activity such as money laundering, people smuggling, prostitution and crimes of violence." The programme aired on Tuesday in some regions, and on Wednesday in Scotland, with the English viewing figures boasting an audience share of more than 20 per cent, making it easily the best-viewed programme at the time. Leviten added: "While FACT is increasingly focused on online crininal activity, we still do have a focus on working with law enforcement to tackle the issue of hard goods piracy on the streets and markets of the UK." We strongly recommend you watch the programme on iPlayer here and pass it on to all your friends…
 Another week, another clutch of awards for 4DVD's programmes, as it picked up a trio of gongs at Televisual magazine's Bulldog awards. There were more plaudits for This Is England 86, which picked up two, The Inbetweeners, My Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and best channel. Other winners included the NBC Universal-owned Carnival Films, 2 entertain's Sherlock and ITV Studios Home Entertainment's Come Dine With Me. 4DVD was still celebrating the recent BAFTA success of This Is England and its recent release The Only Way is Essex. The latter is seemingly never out of the public eye. 4DVD's Karla Berry said: "We had a great night at the BAFTA Television Awards with Vicky McClure [This is England '86] collecting the award for Best Leading Actress, and Misfits' star Lauren Socha received the gong for Best Supporting Actress – both well deserved. Reality show The Only Way Is Essex won the YouTube Audience award, the only award of the evening to be voted by the public and we've seen an uplift in sales since. We're really pleased with sales of over 20,000 units which is a great achievement for what is usually such a difficult genre on DVD and I'm sure sales will continue as the cast remain in the public eye for the foreseeable future."
Monday sees the release of Fox's 127 Hours and the combined might of Fox, HMV and Zoo magazine have joined forces for an innovative stunt that will also raise cash for charity as well as promoting the release of the James Franco starrer. Zoo account manager Luke Jones will be spending 127 hours – almost six days – in a space just 2 metres by 1.8 metres in the window of HMV's Oxford Street store. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, he'll also be completing tasks set for him by passers-by and the wider public online. The event is sure to attract plenty of interest both in London's busiest shopping street and online, where Jones will be tweeting and is also raising cash for the Everyman cancer charity. HMV's Gennaro Castaldo said: "Obviously, there’s little comparison between the relative comfort of a shop window in the world’s busiest shopping street, where tens of thousands will be able to observe you, and a rocky crevice in the middle of nowhere cut off from all human existence. However, this attempt won’t be without its difficulties and challenges, and while Luke’s arm will remain safely attached to him and he won’t be forced to drink his own urine (unless he really wants to), we shouldn’t underestimate how much of a test of endurance this will prove to be.”
More from Cannes, as Artificial Eye has unveiled a raft of acquisitions from the film festival, including some of the most-talked about films of the event. They include The Kid With A Bike, joint winner of the 2011 Grand Prix award; Polisse, which follows officers on Paris' child protection unit arm of the police and won the 2011 Jury Prize; Aki Kaurismaki's well received Le Havrel and another gritty tale in Michael, which looks at a paedophile who has a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement. These announcements follow Artificial Eye's pre-festival acquisitions of some of the biggest Cannes hits of 2011, such as Lars von Trier's Melancholia; Lynne Ramsay's hugely well received We Need To Talk About Kevin and Rachid Bouchareb's Sienna Miller starrer Just Like A Woman. Artificial Eye md Louisa Dent said: "We are delighted with our acquisitions from the Cannes Film Festival, which will join our already very strong slate of releases. Once again Artificial Eye has demonstrated its ability to acquire films by the most talented filmmakers working today."
 Just about to go up on our website, incidentally, is the first part of our Postcards From Cannes feature, in which we get contributions from some of the UK attendees on the festival, and what the 2011 event meant to them and their companies. Click through here. Also up this week, our weekly round-up of home entertainment coverage in the national press, our regular report on the week in screenings and some top 10s, among other things…
The next big film festival in the diary is Edinburgh, taking place this month. And among the films airing there will be tough prison drama Ghosted, due from Revolver. It airs on June 17, a week ahead of its platform theatrical launch and 10 days before the June 27 DVD release. The debut from Craig Viveiros, it stars John Lynch, Martin Compston and Art Malik, some of whom will also attend a special screening and Q&A at the Curzon Soho on June 24, part of a weekend's worth of activity leading up to the DVD release. Revolver's Mike Hewitt said: "Continuing Revolver’s relationship with powerful debut feature films from home-grown talent, we are very excited to be releasing Craig Viveiros’ film in the UK and have no doubt that he is a very talented filmmaker to watch. The film’s executive producer and co-star, Art Malik, has been incredibly supportive to the filmmakers throughout the whole project and the rest of the talented cast (also including Neil Maskell and David Schofield) give outstanding performances, delivering perhaps the most gritty and brutal UK prison drama since Scum." To see the trailer, click through to the film's official website here.
Also from Revolver, keep an eye out for the company's Fire In Babylon, first featured here some weeks ago and due to arrive on Monday on DVD and Blu-ray. The film boasts an incredibly strong word of mouth, and its positive feedback across social media networks such as Twitter continues. It's also currently ranked as number two in Amazon's pre-order chart and is the company's highest ever pre-order, a remarkable achievement when you consider this is a documentary too. For more on the film, see the latest edition of Revolver's Take Down, here.
 To the Soho Screening Rooms in the heart of London, for a special sneak preview of High Fliers' July 11 release of Auschwitz, an uncompromising look at the concentration camp directed by the notorious Uwe Boll. The director, one of the most talked about helmers on the Internet, was over in the UK to help promote the release, carrying out a Q&A after the event to talk about his motives. Boll was as passionate as you'd expect him to be, talking about his move from more genre films, particularly adaptations of video games, to harder-hitting fare. He talked of his desire to show the holocaust and Auschwitz in their true, horrific light, without the heroes of other similar films, such a Schindler's List. The event was attended by us at The Raygun, as well as assorted journalists from print, magazines and online publications. High Fliers' May Monteiro said: "High Fliers is proud to be working with Uwe Boll on the release of this film. Due to controversial subject matter of the film we felt it was important for Uwe Boll to present his film in person and explain his motivation for tackling such a difficult subject. We were delighted that Uwe was able to spare the time to come over and support the release, which he will continue to do so in the run up to the release date. Now the press have had a chance to see the movie it is clear that this is a brave and important film that deserves a wide exposure."
And more in our ever-busy week, as The Raygun headed east to the Excel Centre to witness the latest MCM Expo, the show that blends films, Japanese anime, comic books and a whole bunch of dressing up. We bumped into numerous DVD-friendly stands as labels such as Manga, MVM and 4 Digital Media all took space to promote their forthcoming releases and flog their wares. They all reported a heaving Saturday event, while we at The Raygun were lucky enough to arrive on the slightly quieter Sunday. Still, it was busy even then, and we got to see a number of studios embracing the event with their forthcoming summer blockbusters, such as Warner's Green Lantern. The event takes place every six months at Excel, and is part of a rapidly expanding number of events from the MCM team.
Trailer and short film competitions are, it seems, all the rage. Following recent news on The Raygun that Momentum was looking at replicating the Hobo With A Shotgun competition for its impending UK DVD release (the film itself was borne of a similar competition tying in with Grindhouse, and the US DVD had a similar competition), comes Network's plans to organise a contest for its forthcoming release The Peddler, The film is released at cinemas on July 15, and tells the story of a man who travels from town to town in Argentina, making films as he goes along. To mark the release, Network is inviting filmmakers to submite their own short films, which will be judged by one of the film's director's Eduardo de la Srna, Time Out's film editor Dave Calhoun and Network's own Tim Beddows. The winning entry air before the film plays in London on its weekend of release, and also end up, along with runners-up, on the DVD release later in the year. Network's head of marketing Hugh David said: "It’s been wonderful through this competition to be able to encourage British indie film-makers in the same spirit as “The Peddler” himself, a spirit of independence and community that we at Network also identify strongly with." More details, and a trailer, here.
 Talking of competitions, Icon has organised a fascinating one for its forthcoming horror release The Pack. It commissioned artist Graham Humphreys (the man behind seminal horror artwork as The Evil Dead, A Nightmare On Elm Street and, in our opinion his finest ever, the sleeve for The Cramps' Off The Bone LP) to work up some designs for the film. They then posted the three "finalists" on their facebook page and dedicated horror site preparetobescared.com and invited visitors to choose which one they preferred. The winning entry is now the final sleeve, and a film looking at his efforts will feature on the final release. It's helped raise awareness for the film, which had already premiered at Frightfest and played at other similar festivals, thanks to coverage in the likes of SFX. In terms of futher marketing, Icon will be advertising in horror magazines, online and a newspaper ad on the day of release. Icon's Rebecca Burns said: "We have our dedicated horror site Prepare to be scared.com and facebook page and through this wanted to make horror fans part of the process of the creation of the sleeve art." We'll be posting the trailer and all the different versions of the sleeve on our website over the weekend…
After this week's nightly Coronation Street and Britain's Got Talent-fest on ITV, Monday sees another five night event status programming slot kick off, with the transmission on ITV of Injustice. The five part thriller is penned by Anthony Horowitz, of Midsomer Murders and Alex Rider fame, and boasts an all-star cast featuring James Purefoy (Rome), Charlie Creed-Miles (Criminal Justice) and Dervla Kirwan (Ballykissangel). It's certainly compelling stuff – we watched all five parts in one sitting. The title is due out from Acorn Media on the following Monday, June 13. Acorn's Paul Holland said: "With apologies to all Raygun readers with family members on the show, it’s going to be great see the back of Britain Has No Talent this week. However next week on ITV1 everyone at Acorn Towers in Clapham is really excited about ITV1’s prime time drama that goes out at 9pm every night. Gripping, exciting, dramatic, full of twists and turns, everything you want from a prime time drama. The five part drama is called Injustice and its been heavily trailed on TV and the press all week. Next week it's on TV and then straight after broadcast the DVD, backed by a major press advertising campaign, will be on June 13."
Another week, another new label, and the latest entrant into the fray is 2020 Films, which launches with its first theatrical release Love's Kitchen, a British film starring, among others, Gordon Ramsay, on June 24. It will presage a range of predominantly homegrown films from the company, which is launching its DVD imprint in the coming months. With up to two titles due a month, and the burgeoning Koch Media operation, which also distributes G2, it is aimed at being producer-friendly, offering "transparent" distribution making it easy for producers, working in partnership with distributors, to see where the costs are going. As well as Love's Kitchen, its slate includes actioner Exit Speed and horror Second Coming. Many will be homegrown and 2020 will be working on them in conjunction with the producers, although there will be some straighter acquisitions from territories such as the US. Similarly, some will have theatrical releases, others will be direct to DVD. 2020's Duncan Napier-Bell said: "We're looking at working across successful genres, horror being one and action another. We're looking at each release on a title by title basis. Love's Kitchen has mileage as a theatrical platform, while Exit Speed sits better as a DVD premiere."
 After shifting its new release titles to Metrodome at the start of 2011, 4Digital Media has this week announced that its catalogue will now be distributed by the company too. At the same time, 4Digital md Tony Taglienti's Stax Entertainment will also be moving to Metrodome. Taglienti said: "We have had our new releases distributed by Metrodome since January this year and moving the catalogue [from Lace] will enable the Metrodome sales team to manage our entire catalogue, and not just the new releases." Metrodome's head of sales John Ramchandani added: "The sales team is proud to be working with 4Digital and Stax and looks forward to bringing their wide range of titles to the market. 4Digital and Stax have developed a strong portfolio which incorporates a multitude of popular genres and Metrodome’s position within the distribution industry allows us to deliver their titles to all DVD suppliers."
We'll end with some interesting news from eOne and the US, as the company's successful homegrown brand Peppa Pig, currently the biggest news in pre-school product in the UK, is set to branch out to America. eOne has signed its first licensing partner for the brand in the States, with Fisher Price signing up for a toy line. Expect the British invasion to get bigger, as Peppa is already in Nick Jr's top 10 shows across the Atlantic, just a few months since launching. eOne's president Darren Throop said: "The initial success of the TV ratings illustrates the potential of the show and the confidence we have that the brand will be a big hit with US consumers."
QUOTE(S) OF THE WEEK
"We hope that this early VOD experiment begins and ends in the US. But if not, we want exhibitors everywhere to be prepared."
John Fithian, president and ceo at US exhibitor trade body NATO, on taking the campaign to keep the four month theatrical window and fight against premium vod international, going to Canada and Europe this month.
"In addressing the subject of illegal streaming, it is important to note what this debate is not about. It is not a debate between technology and innovation and the creation of content. That is a false choice raised by too many people," he told the committee. "This issue is really about favoring legitimacy over theft -- about promoting and preserving creativity and production and punishing people who seek to profit through stealing the hard work of others."
MPAA chief lobbyist Michael O'Leary speaking in Washington DC to a intellectual property, competition and the Internet sub-committee
 AT THE MOVIES
The week's two new entries were at opposite ends of the scale, but had one thing in common – both were sequels that outperformed the original films. And in the case of the weekend's biggest performer, The Hangover: Part II, it was and then some too – it took more than £10.4 million, three times that of its predecessor. The other, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules, took nearly £1.5 million. Sandwiched between them was Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which has now taken almost £20 million.
There's no definite news yet, but after passing the $200 million barrier at the global box office within days, the fastest comedy ever to pass that landmark, rumours have been sweeping Hollywood that Warner is pushing through on the third film in the series.
The Internet has changed our business beyond recognition, not least in the way news about forthcoming feature films is disseminated. Any titbit or morsel of news is seized upon by websites, twitter… the whole world. This week, release dates for James Bond's next outing, and that for The Hobbit sent the world into a tizzy… The former, still only known as James Bond 23, will arrive on October 26 2012. And The Hobbit? Well, make a date for December 14 2012, for the first outing, subtitled An Unexpected Journey, and a year later, December 13 2013, sees the release of There And Back…
A busy week for Steve Coogan. Not only are rumours of a return as his perennial favourite character Alan Partridge rife, but he's also said to be lined up to play adult entertainment (read p*rn for that, but we have to worry about assorted filters) king Paul Raymond in the forthcoming biopic Paul Raymond's Wonderful World Of Erotica, directed by Michael Winterbottom…
SITE OF THE WEEK
Well, more a viral of the week, and we know it's basically a glorified trailer, but we loved this from Metrodome. It is, it says here, a trailer for the forthcoming, Twilight film, the second Breaking Dawn outing… Although it may, or may not, relate to June 17 theatrical and September DVD release Stake Land. Take a look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6hrlNtZIr0&feature=channel_video_title
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Excellent cast, including the very now Joseph Gordon Levitt and an unusual trailer (or at least the start), we liked: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/summit/5050/
More monkey business:
High Fliers has this for UK release, it's grim, but excellent fare:
Actually, this is a lot better than you might have expected:
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