Back to the current state of the market and we've been sat down and working our way through a bunch of fascinating reports into the vod market and in particular some of the recent spate of day and date releases. It's all supremely transparent, something that the online sector is not, it must be noted, famed for. Among the titles which come under scrutiny in the BFI reports are Curzon's What Maisie Knew and A Late Quartet, as well as 4DVD and other partners' A Field In England. So what does it reveal? Well, the most successful day and date release of these titles so far has been What Maisie Knew, which boasted more than 20,000 transactions. It does, perhaps, suggest that there's an upward trend in the concept, with more and more consumers being won over. What's not clear yet, particularly with What Maisie Knew, which outperformed on vod, but was at the lower end of expectations in terms of box office receipts, is whether or not vod consumers are cannibalising theatrical or home entertainment revenues – or if at all. What Maisie Knew is due in January. Commenting on its impending release, Curzon’s Steve Lewis said: “What Maisie Knew is the latest title from our burgeoning new distribution label, Curzon Film World. It's an affecting family drama, skilfully adapted from a Henry James novel and distinguished by great performances including Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan, Alexander Skarsgård and newcomer Onata Aprile. We're planning a high profile marketing campaign for the home entertainment release on January 6 2014, which will build on the fantastic awareness created by our successful theatrical release.You can see some of the research here.  Sticking with Lionsgate and the company enjoyed a sterling performance at this week's Screen Awards, where it picked up the Best DVD Marketing gong for its work on Magic Mike, as well as a highly commended nod for Keith Lemon: The Film. Commenting on its success, the company's Kaz Mills said: “We are absolutely delighted with our win at the Screen Awards this week. To win the DVD Marketing Campaign of the Year award for Magic Mike, and to receive a highly commended nod in the same category for Keith Lemon is a testament to the hard work across the Lionsgate and Elevation teams. We are constantly striving for best in class results – and have achieved market-leading conversion rates throughout the past year – it’s fantastic to get recognition from industry experts for our daring and innovative approach to marketing these films.  We also want to voice our appreciation for all the hard-working  agencies who helped us achieve our goals on these two titles – MEC, Premier PR, Name Creative, Market Me, Freeform, Hixville, Play 7, Penny Benison, and Riot Digital. We are also extremely pleased to have been commended within the Distributor of the Year category. We have such a passionate, creative and dedicated team across theatrical and home entertainment marketing, ops, digital and PR that it is wonderful to have everyone’s sheer hard work acknowledged. We look forward to continued success in 2014 with an amazing slate ahead." Talking of nights out, another big do held saw the return of HMV as the main backer of the fundraising Football Extravaganza event. The long-running charity evening, now in its 18th year, saw the event's chairman and former HMV head honcho Brian McLaughlin collaborating with the retailer's new team headed by Hilco chief Paul McGowan. The Football Extravaganza, which raises cash for music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins, traditionally honours one footballing legend, and they don't come much bigger than this year's recipient of the Legend Of Football award, Brazilian maestro Pele. Commenting on Pele and the event, McGowan said: "Surely given his amazing talent on the pitch and his dedication to the game off the pitch, no-one could be more deserving of the title Legend Of Football. We are proud to be able to be part of an event to honour Pele and to have such a good cause to benefit from the evening." Manga has long been one of the key supporters of the event, as well as banging the drum for MCM. Its head of marketing and acquisitions Jerome Mazandarani continued to try and persuade other home entertainment labels to sign up for the event. He said: "88,192 visitors! It's 10,000 more than the previous MCM London Comic Con in May, making it the most visited movie, comics and media pop-culture festival in Western Europe. And I wouldn't expect anything less. London is the home of Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes and countless other fan-friendly franchises not to mention the production base for the just released Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy and the upcoming Avengers: Age Of Ultron and the Disney/Lucas Arts upcoming Star Wars sequels. Other than Hollywood where else in the world is as happening right now for genre fans? The answer is NOWHERE. Whichever way you look at the epic attendance figures for MCM London Comic Con, that's a shedload of super-fans. The type of fans that spend big on Blu-ray, box sets, steelbooks, collector's editions, variants, collectables and other associated merchandise. We believe the average spend at Comic Con was between £150-£200 per fan. Manga's takings were up 30 per cent on the show compared to May. Arrow Films were there, Namco Bandai, Konami and Nintendo were there, Warner Bros was there promoting theatrical, home video and videogames too. So, where the hell where the rest of you? I do not believe you can call yourself a serious home video marketer and neglect to have a presence at the MCM London Comic Con. Home video is reverting back into a collector's market. If you don't start catering to the avid part of the consumer base you risk losing all credibility, and, even worse, losing money, Avoid Comic Con at your peril. I'm tired of telling you all how good it is and never bloody seeing any of you here." The big news in the distribution sector sees the launch of what looks set to be a major player in the UK market. Altitude Film Distribution is the latest addition to the expanding Altitude Film Entertainment stable, which already has production and film sales units under its wing. Altitude has announced the first titles due for release in 2014. These include an untitled documentary about doomed singer Amy Winehouse, a doc about backing singers called 20 Feet From Stardom and horror thriller The Loch. Altitude founder and chairman Will Clarke said: “When we set up Altitude a year ago we were looking to set up a British business that could evolve and expand.  As a producer we wanted to create a home for the most talented filmmakers in the world and are proud to have moved four films into production, developed partnerships with British and international filmmakers and brought 18 films to the market for international sales.  The time is now right for us to take the next step and move into distribution. We are going to the international marketplace to source a substantial number of films for UK distribution announcing our first two acquired titles today, as well as films from our own production slate.” Altitude Film Distribution will be headed up by former Momentum staffer Hamish Moseley, he said: "I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Altitude team. Altitude has made a major impact on the industry in an incredibly short space of time by working with exciting film talent to launch a distinctive production slate and an international sales company which is securing distribution for a variety of films with strong commercial potential. I believe there are significant opportunities across the film landscape at present and Altitude has the appetite and vision to attract large audiences to our releases across all platforms. The first Altitude distribution titles reflect our aim to bring brilliant films and filmmakers to UK audiences, from Morgan Neville’s captivating 20 Feet From Stardom, to Asif Kapadia's guaranteed must see film about the irreplaceable Amy Winehouse and Altitude’s own co-production with James Watkins, The Loch.” Altitude told The Raygun that it was currently firming up its plans for the home entertainment market, more on this in the coming weeks.  A major video release has crossed over from the standard video reviews coverage in the national newspapers and gone to a far bigger audience via the features pages this week, as FremantleMedia marked the 40th anniversary of the landmark World At War series. The anniversary gave Fremantle the chance to re-promote and give a renewed push to the bestselling series, which has been a perennial favourite from the VHS era through to the high definition world of Blu-ray. And this time around was no exception, as the title benefited from a double page spread in the Daily Mail, further feature coverage in The Guardian and interviews with Sir Jeremy Isaacs on ITV's Alan Titchmarsh Show and BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright Show. Commenting on its longevity and success, Fremantle's Grahame Davidson said "The World At War is the greatest documentary ever made, it has set the benchmark for documentary makers for the last 40 years and will continue to do so. To mark the anniversary we have embarked on an extensive media and PR campaign to bring this milestone documentary to a whole new audience. We're delighted with the positive response we've received across press, TV and radio and would like to thank Sir Jeremy Isaacs and David Elstein for their continued support." Plenty going on in the world of anti-piracy, with the City Of London police's specialist anti-piracy unit, the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, aka PIPCU. Officers swooped on an address in Reading and arrested a 33-year-old man believed to have been selling pirate copies of films and music through a website. Detective Inspector Rob Stirling said: ““Today’s arrest forms part of just one of the many investigations PIPCU is currently pursuing. Since the launch of PIPCU we have seen a wide range of businesses come forward with referrals for the unit and today’s operation shows how this information can swiftly be turned into live investigations and arrests. We urge any UK organisation who believes they may be victim to intellectual property crime in the UK or overseas, to get in touch and submit evidence to the unit so we can get right to work.” “The positive user feedback on UltraViolet is critically important, not only for the obvious reason that the service needs to be competitive with other options for digital home video, but also because the research pointed out that UV needs more evangelists.”

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