Paramount Home Media Distribution has added a pair of independently
produced films to its DVD release line up.
Both films had recent domestic theatrical release runs.
The first of these, writer/director Olivier Assayas’ Clouds
of Sils Maria, arrives on July 21.
Domestic ticket sales were $1.8 million and the ARR for that mid-July
date works out to 95 days.
Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) has seen her acting career
come full circle and she’s not quite sure how to deal with it. Two decades ago she leaped to fame as the
star of both the play and the subsequent film adaptation of Swiss playwright Wilhelm
Melchior’s Maloja Snake.
She’s an international star; a diva … no more of those
hideous big-budget action films for her, please. She’s a star, S T A R in great big capital
letters.
As Clouds of Sils Maria opens bad news
arrives … Melchior has died. She was to
lend her grace and beauty to the acceptance of some sort of award on his
behalf, how ironic that he should pick such a day to die.
In his memory, she is offered a role in the remake of the
film. But of course she is too old to
play the young woman, so instead she is to play the role of the older woman —
the two protagonists are in a love/hate relationship that eventually leads to
the older woman’s suicide.
How hideous. Add to
this a divorce in progress, the return of an old lover and conflicts with her
always present assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart), and you can readily see that
these conflicts (and depression) are about to overwhelm our poor Maria.
Especially
with Valentine, where the parallels between the film world of Maloja
Snake take on an eerie resemblance to Maria’s own life.
The second film in the mix is the Aug. 4 DVD debut of
writer/director Jean-Claude La Marre’s Chocolate City.
A limited theatrical showcase generated ticket sales of
$202,696) and the ARR is a swift-to-market 74 days.
Homage is paid to
director Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike as the hero of our story,
Michael (Robert Ri’chard — The Vampire Diaries, A Beautiful Soul,
Pastor Shirley, etc.), takes to the same career path as Channing Tatum
did as stripper “Magic Mike,” when flipping burgers at the Cafetales Restaurant
doesn’t give him the cash to probably entertain his girlfriend.
Add to his stress is news from his mother (Vivica A. Fox) that
her hours have been cut and that she is suffering money woes as well. So when Princeton (Michael Jai White), the
owner of Princeton Males — a party club for women (wink wink) — offers him an
opportunity to strut his stuff, “Sexy Chocolate” is born!
He is an instant hit!
The status gained by having legions of screaming women demanding his
body does not come without a price. The
conflicts of competition and the jealousy of “star status” can be brutal!
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