|
GUNNING FOR NUMBER ONE
MINIONS ARE WORTH PAYING FOR
MANIA RETURNS TO STORES
BOMBING IN
NUCLEUS HAS SOMETHING UNDERNEATH
SIMEONI EXITS ARROW…
…AS COMPANY PAYS TRIBUTE…
…AND UNVEILS FUTURE TITLES…
…WHILE ADDING TO QC
EUREKA GOES ULTRA…
WITH A TRIO OF STORIES
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
AT THE MOVIES
TWEET OF THE WEEK
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
With the long-time-coming Top Gun sequel Maverick finally landing in cinemas this week – given great support by a raft of reviews mostly saying it's a near-perfect blockbuster experience – it's good to see Paramount's drafting activity giving the original Tom Cruise actioner a new lease of life. The first film, originally released in 1986, has flown up to number one in the Official Film Chart, making it the oldest title to top the listings since it launched. As BASE noted in its regular chart commentary: "Leading with 70 per cent of its total made up of digital downloads, Top Gun’s success this week reflects the UK’s enduring love of the digital format, where ease and convenience are perfectly suited for their home entertainment needs. The growing wealth and breadth of content available on home entertainment allow classic films such as Top Gun to enjoy a resurgence with new generations decades after their initial release." Meanwhile, the film is Tom Cruise’s biggest ever opening title, taking more than $100 million at US cinemas and a mammoth total overseas. It’s also one of Paramount’s biggest ever openings for a title and continues the studio’s return to form in 2022. More next week…
The Industry Trust is returning to cinemas with its excellent Moments Worth Paying For campaign, the initiative aimed at encouraging consumers to view films legally and in cinemas. It’s viewed as being particularly important now audiences are beginning to head back to theatres, encouraging them both to see films at the cinema and to teach younger viewers about the importance of the creative industry before illegally downloading and copyright infringement becomes ingrained. In keeping with previous campaigns, the newest, which features the latest Despicable Me film, Minions: The Rise Of Gru, also directs cinema-goers to findanyfilm.com to see where they can view films legally. Rob Huber, md, Universal Pictures International UK + Eire Limited, said: "We are proud to partner with the Industry Trust again in 2022 on this newest evolution of their Moments Worth Paying For Campaign. Gru and the Minions are loved by audiences young and old, so this is a perfect title to connect with those who understand the value of choosing a legal route to watch their favourite characters on the big screen.” Liz Bales, chief executive, The Industry Trust for IP Awareness, said: "Minions: The Rise of Gru is the perfect title for our next Moments Worth Paying For collaboration, which celebrates the unique magic of the movie-going experience as the best place to watch films first. We're delighted to partner with Universal Pictures UK + EIRE once again on the next instalment of such an iconic and successful family franchise.” You can see the ad here.
New releases for Monday May 30 see a real breadth and diversity and celebrate more than just special effects and computer generated superhero trickery. First up is the latest from the WWE via Fremantle with the release of the latest title taking in the annual event that is always the biggest on grappling fans’ calendars – Wrestlemania. Commenting on the newest, Wrestlemania XXVIII, WWE label manager and wrestling expert at Fremantle Ken Law said: “WrestleMania is our biggest WWE release of the year and we’ve turned it around and got it out to fans earlier than ever before. The event was universally acclaimed by fans and wrestling critics alike and as a result our pre-orders are noticeably up on last year. It’s shaping up to be the best performing WrestleMania in quite a while.”
Another biggie that we’ve mentioned here before is from Altitude, which follows its hit title Spitfire with another documentary charting the history of another key plank in the Second World War, Lancaster. The title, of course, celebrates the bomber that helped turn the tide inthe Allies’ favour and the company marked the release – the film was at cinemas from Friday ahead of physical home entertainment formats on Monday – with a premiere at the Curzon in Mayfair attended by military and aviation enthusiasts as well as RAF servicemen. As Altitude’s Mark Jones told The Raygun: "We were honoured to have a number of veteran crew members and serving RAF join the film-makers at the World Premiere of LANCASTER at Curzon Mayfair on Wednesday night. With longstanding excitement amongst our core aviation and military audience and positive national reviews, the film opened in cinemas across the UK and Ireland and on Altitude.film and other digital platforms on Friday.”
Also out on Monday is the latest from specialist imprint Second Run, which comes in the shape of Luminous Procuress, a queer cinema classic, with the company’s Chris Barwich explaining the thinking behind the release, noting: “We’re thrilled to be releasing Steven Arnold’s legendary, groundbreaking, head-spinning celebration of hedonism and pan-sexuality, the indefinable LUMINOUS PROCURESS. Little seen since the early 70s this pioneering underground feature was a sensation – and a scandal – upon release. Exploding out 1960s San Francisco’s vibrant counter-culture scene, LUMINOUS PROCURESS is a Queer cinema landmark, and is genuinely unlike anything you’ve seen before. Never previously released on any home video format, we hope this new 2K restoration - and world premiere on Blu-ray - will introduce new generations to this remarkable sensual odyssey.”
Busy times at Nucleus Films, which has been prepping a clutch of titles now hitting the market in May and into June. The genre specialist, run by horror experts Marc Morris and Jake West, has been quiet of late, working on a trio of releases which kicked off with the May 16 bow of Too Beautiful To Die, a mix of giallo cinema and eighties MTV aesthetics, about a group of supermodels who pose as high-class hookers to trap a brutal killer. As the company noted: “This Nucleus Films presentation of Too Beautiful To Die – aka Nothing Underneath II - is newly restored in 4K from the original 35mm negatives, looking more stunning than ever before and is complete with extensive special features.” It’s followed on Monday May 30 with the release of its predecessor Nothing Underneath. another model-based movie, which further blends giallo themes with an 1980s erotic thriller style, as a man heads to Milan in search of his twin sister only to uncover all sorts of beautiful people, nefarious goings on and, but of course, a scissor-wielding kjiller. It also stars Donald Pleasence and, as Nucleus noted, “Nothing Underneath is one of the great unsung films of the late giallo era, and comes fully loaded with extras”. And two weeks later, on June 13, there’s a release for Blood Of The Vampire, a Transylvanian thriller that sees a a sadistic governor taking simple blood transfusions a bit far to keep himself alive and stars a wealth of British talent, including Dad’s Army’s John Le Mesurier and Carry On star Bernard Bresslaw. As Nucleus said: “This long-awaited UK Blu-ray premiere has been remastered from original vault elements and is packed with bonus features.”
So farewell then Francesco Simeoni, who has worked at Arrow Films for some 12 years and been one of the driving forces behind its Arrow Video imprint of genre fare as well as a slew of arthouse and world cinema releases, as well as newer titles too. He helped give the label its distinctive voice and vision, and, working alongside the likes of ceo Alex Agran and the team at the company’s HQ, set the template for other boutique labels to follow, with pristine remastered films, new and original artwork (with the original imagery on reversible sleeves) and extensive booklets featuring new writing and relevant information. Simeoni is now moving on to “a new challenge” and will be launching his own label with a focus on titles he is passionate about. Simeoni said; "It is with sadness that I write to tell you that I am leaving Arrow Films after a wonderful run of 12 years. I’ve enjoyed working with many of you either directly or with the Arrow team over the years but have decided that after achieving everything I set out to do that it was time for a new challenge.” More on the new imprint, Radiance Films, in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Arrow boss Alex Agran paid tribute to his former colleague, as well as looking ahead to the future at the company and promising what he said was its finest ever release slate going forward. Agran said: “Fran’s contribution to Arrow has been really significant and has helped us to grow to the position that we enjoy today – I wish him nothing but success for the future. He leaves the business in a fantastic position as we develop our home entertainment and digital propositions to new audiences and new markets. With the slate that Arrow has lined up for the rest of 2022 and 2023, this promises to be our finest release slate ever for physical. Our SVOD business ARROW continues apace and has undergone a re-branding and re-positioning focussing on our twin pillars of Premium and Curated in order to develop our proposition in both the UK and the USA on both new release and catalogue where we have uniquely positioned ourselves as ‘ The Art of Cult’. We have seen incredible engagement in the service in 2022 and have an enviable slate of product for the rest of the year. The Arrow business is excited to be trading so well in both the physical and digital spaces in multiple territories.”
And, as ever, the last Friday of the month saw another Arrow announcement, with just one title announced for August, but it’s a real goodie, as the company’s Kevin Lambert, who also paid tribute to Fran Simeoni on his departure, saying: “A bit of a slimmed down release announcement this month while we adjust some procedures internally, but we’re so excited to be announcing Flatliners on both Blu-ray and UHD for release in August. Packed with brand new extras, and presented in a beautiful new 4K restoration Flatliners has never looked better. Directed by Joel Schumacher and featuring a cast including Kevin Bacon and Julia Roberts, the film tackles the existential question that, at one time or another, haunts us all: what awaits us after we die? We’ll have slightly slimmed down schedule in September too, but will be back up to full quota for our October announcements which will be a treat for everyone! In other news this month, we wave goodbye to a legend within the company, Francesco Simeoni. Fran has been a pillar of the label and team, but is moving on to a new adventure, we wish him all the best and all know he’s going to smash it on his new journey. More news will definitely follow directly from him, but the Arrow team would like to say, thanks Fran, it’s been an amazing journey and we all wish you the very best for the next chapter in your career.”
More on those aforementioned adjustments to its internal procedures hinted at above, and Arrow is offering up a slightly slimmed down schedule for August and September to toughen up its quality control process, making it fit for the ultra high definition future. For after a few mishaps on recent releases, which have meant offering up replacement disc programmes for consumers, a frustrating and time-consuming process for all concerned, the company is reorganising its quality control procedures. This ties in with a restructure to try and prevent this kind of problem happening again. And the company’s James Flower revealed on Twitter, it will be “even more rigorous”. He noted: “We've decided to only release two titles each in August and September, in order to discuss and implement an even more rigorous QC process, as well as giving us the space to finish work on some especially demanding projects.” This includes its second mammoth volume of Shaw Brothers martial arts titles and means taking on more QC controllers on a freelance basis and Flower concluded: “We hope this goes some way to repairing any damage to our reputation and customer goodwill. We care very deeply about our releases providing the best experience from top to bottom, and take it seriously when we fall short of this aim. We'll be back to our usual size schedule in October, which work is already well underway on. The coming year should be our most exciting yet, with something to please everyone, including some of our most-requested titles.”
Eureka always traditionally announces around the same time as Arrow and it too talked about its late summer titles, announcing its first evert 4k ultra HD title due on Seotenber 26. And what a release too – it’s the “the most action-packed trilogy of all time” in the shape of The Police Story Trilogy, making an Ultra HD Blu-ray first after being given the full 4k restoration treatment. Commenting on the new development, the company’s md Ruth Schofield stated: “Over the years via our Masters of Cinema Series and Eureka! Classics range we have always sought to maintain the highest standards in home video presentation, using the finest materials available. So, it was always only going to be a matter of time before we embraced this state of the art, high-end format; enabling us to continue to present the finest in cult and world cinema to the highest possible standard. We are very proud to present the series of films that revitalised the Hong Kong action genre and established Jackie Chan as a worldwide superstar, as our very first UHD release, and look forward to bringing you more UHD releases in the future, including our first UHD Masters of Cinema release.”
Continuing with Eureka’s Police Story release, the company’s national accounts manager, Marcus Garwood, added: "The three-disc Ultra HD set itself is a thing of beauty, housed in a Limited-edition hardbound case featuring new artwork by R.P. ‘Kung Fu Bob’ O’Brien. There are also reversible sleeve designs for each film, featuring limited edition individual sleeve designs by the same artist. All three discs contain sumptuous extras (some of which are brand new to this release). The set comes complete with a 100 page perfect bound collector’s book featuring essays by James Oliver on each film, as well as archival materials, imagery, and ephemera. Accompanying this release (also released on September 26) is a separate special Blu-ray Edition of Police Story 3: Supercop. Representing the pinnacle of Jackie Chan’s unique style of Hong Kong action filmmaking Police Story 3: Supercop is a dazzling blend of gritty action cop drama, impeccably choreographed martial-arts sequences, and bone-crunching stuntwork. Its the first time ever this film has appeared on Blu-ray in the UK and we have pulled out all the stops on this superbly collectable release. Housed in a limited edition slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling it also features reversible sleeve artwork featuring new and original poster artwork as well as a limited edition set of facsimile lobby cards. Disc extras are vast and include a brand new interview with stunt coordinator and action film historian John Kreng; a new featurette on rarely seen Jackie Chan video games, Kung Fu Master & Fists of Fire by Arne Venema; a new featurette on the filming locations of the Police Story trilogy, among many others. The set is rounded off nicely with a limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver, as well as archival materials, imagery, and ephemera.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I truly wanted to make somewhere special that people get excited by. I was a huge fan of video stores and my favourite bars are those that immerse you in a secret or provide a bit of an escape. I thought what better homage to an iconic part of our history than to create a parody of Blockbuster, one where you can drink, and the only returns here are for another hit of fun and nostalgia.”
Stewart Dean, who’s behind Blockbuster NQ, a new video rental store-themed bar opening in Manchester… You can see it here.
AT THE MOVIES
Loads of Star Wars news this weekend as the huge celebration of the franchise took place in Anaheim, California, with Lucasfilm and parent Disney putting their full weight behind showing off forthcoming titles from the SW universe. This included two new Disney+ animated series, Tales Of The Jedi, an anthology series set before the prequels following the adventures of assorted Jedi Knights due to debut later this year, and Young Jedi Adventures, due next year, which loos at trainee younglings. The major also teased footage and more information from the third series of The Mandalorian, on Disney+ in February 2023, and Rosario Dawson in Ahsoka, a new series due to debut later next year.
Meanwhile the ever-expanding Fast and Furious universe took on a new recruit this week, adding to an increasingly vast and stellar line-up for the next, 10th, title in the ongoing franchise. And it’s a goodie too – as Oscar and multi=award-winning veteran Rita Moreno is joining as Vin Diesel’s nan for the next outing. She picked up a gong at the Academy Awards for her role in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake after also starring in the original, giving added clout to Diesel and co…
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Follow us on www.twitter.com/theraygun.co.uk
TRAILERS OF THE WEEK
Tom. At cinemas now, and back soon…
Because he’s smashing…
Elvis is due in the building…
Space viking returns…
Not in black and white…
More Star Wars…
Beast of a film…
THE OBLIGATORY GDPR BIT
You're on The Raygun newsletter mailing list, which has been running for eight years, because you requested it, have been recommended to us or sent us emails. You can unsubscribe at any time, if you're daft, using the link elsewhere or by emailing as below. But of course, you don't want to do that, do you? We don't share your information with anyone else, we don't like cookies and we're the good guys. We care because you do…
To subscribe to The Raygun newsletter, please email info@theraygun.co.uk
with subscribe in the subject matter
To unsubscribe, email info@theraygun.co.uk with unsubscribe in the subject
line
For editorial or advertising queries, contact tim@theraygun.co.uk
The Raygun
7 Lightcliffe Road
London N13 5HD
|
 | Powered by YMLP.com | |
| | ||