Another week, another round of quick-to-market “helper” DVD and Blu-ray selections and another week of the new theatrical release arena showing continued improvement.
On the new theatrical front there were two new entries reaching the $25 million mark — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and The Haunted Mansion — giving us 18 “hit” films currently in the pipeline. That is the highest number since the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Have we fully recovered? No.
But, a year-end projection of 564 new theatrical releases for 2023 is the best we’ve seen in over three-years … the top two boxes ($25 million plus; $100 million plus) now show a potential of 70 hit films having shown at your local multiplex by the end of the year (again, a new recovery high).
It doesn’t help things — the state of both theatrical and physical media — that Netflix continues to squander theatrical release opportunities in favor of its direct-to-streaming obsession (hint: you can walk, rub your belly and scratch your head all at the same time).
Netflix left $72.5 million in stockholder profits on the table when they elected to bypass both theatrical and home entertainment packaged media release opportunities for director Sam Hargrave’s Extraction 2, starring Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani and Adam Bessa, by going direct to the streaming dance.
Our analysis can be found here: https://dvdandblu-rayreleasereport.blogspot.com/2023/06/did-netflix-burn-over-70-million-in.html No one has yet disputed our findings.
It stands to reason that they’ve done the exact same thing with director Tom Harper’s mega-budget direct-to-streaming release of Heart of Stone, starring Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot.
Another $70 million in stockholder’s profits down the drain, another missing “hit film” in the hard-pressed theatrical marketplace and the only ones left to fill the physical media void are the “helpers” with at least one day/date (Aug. 11 debut on Netflix) Blu-ray release.
Netflix has a hard-won tradition of not supplying 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray or DVD editions of their hit films (that is left to others).
As for Heart of Stone, the packaging is slick and professional. It looks legit and consumers might suspect that it is pirated, but they’ve bought at this site before and what they got met their demand. Yes sir, may I have another!
Not to pick on Netflix exclusively, Disney presented a golden opportunity to helpers with the Aug. 29 multi-platform VOD release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny before physical media — is the studio actually inviting “helpers” to pirate their big summer action flick?
Ditto for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s future packaged media release of director Patrick Wilson’s Insidious: The Red Door. By slotting in a VOD window 27 days after the successful theatrical launch ($80.6 million in domestic box office receipts) they presented “helpers” with a pristine master … and sure enough, a Blu-ray edition is now available for consumers to purchase.
Also pirated this past week — and this is just the tip of the iceberg — were DVD editions of Keke Palmer’s Alice, writer/director Scott Z. Burns’ The Report, starring Adam Driver, director Simon Stone’s The Dig, teaming Lily Jameson with Ralph Finnes, and director Stephen Williams’ Chevalier, starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. found a home on DVD (Disney wouldn’t do it, so someone else did).
We could go on, but you get the “picture” … studio asset management is a bit on the sloppy side these days since they all seem to be acolytes of the new religion known as streaming.
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