Despite generating ticket
sales of $49.1 million during its late summer multiplex theatrical run,
director R.J. Cutler’s successful film adaptation of Gayle Forman’s 2009
best-seller, If I Stay, it would appear that MGM Home Entertainment will not
be putting forth much of an effort in terms of the marketing, advertising or
publicity for its home entertainment launch.
Nov. 18 is when If I
Stay makes the transition to the DVD and Blu-ray market place and the culprit
behind this little-effort strategy is 20th Century-Fox Home
Entertainment, which currently handles the sales and distribution of MGM-owned
and produced film and television products.
It is a bit sad (and with
a certain level of irony) that the once venerable Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio
has fallen in line with Fox’s recently adopted policy of not supporting current
theatrical hits that are in the process of making the move to home
entertainment arena. The reasoning
behind this counter-intuitive move remains a mystery.
This lack of sales
support does raise one interesting question: Whatever happened to spirit of Ars Gratia Artis that so marked the
glory days of MGM, or for that matter, United Artists? It has come to this … a former competitor is
now dictating MGM’s marketing, advertising and publicity decisions! Shame!
The ARR is a
swift-to-market 88 days.
Bonus features include
commentary by filmmaker R.J. Cutler, who is joined by producer Alison Greenspan
(The
Lucky One, Nights in Rodanthe, etc.), plus there are deleted scenes and
the music video “Never Coming Down.”
Exclusive to the Blu-ray
SKU is a three-part interview session featuring novelist/producer Gayle Forman
and members of the cast and crew.
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