New Theatrical Inventory Update • New Piracy Attacks On Avatar: The Way Of Water And 80 For Brady • Theatrical Catalog Release Activity On Steroids

We are beginning to see enough New Theatrical release activity (after three miserable years) to once again run the analysis on a regular basis.  

There are currently five films with a box office gross in excess of $25 million with street dates assigned (in the pipeline) and another nine matching that profile currently in theatres (with the exception of writer/director Zach Cregger’s Barbarian, which Disney has passed over).

The big news this past week was Disney announcing a Mar. 28 “Digital” window for filmmaker James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.   And, as predicated, pre-orders for both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD editions sprung up immediately for delivery on the same date.  

The other new pirate focus this past week was director Kyle Marvin’s 80 for Brady, which got both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings released.

Disney Media and Entertainment made no provisions for DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD buying options for Avatar: The Way of Water, which leaves a vacuum to be filled … and it will.   It begs the question, but why not return to a workable business (meaning profitable) model where the age-old rules of Best, Better and Promo apply.

Under such a scheme, a film would open theatrically (Best), and after a reasonable runout (88 to 95 days), it would then be offered for sale as physical media (Better) … this would then be followed, say 30 to 45 days later, by streaming and digital viewing options (Promo). 

Instead, and not just Disney, the studios seem content to turn a profitable business model on its head.   The argument seems to be, theatrical isn’t what it once was and home entertainment packaged media is yesterday’s viewing platform.   This mindset resulted in roughly $800 million in collective studios loses each and every month during 2022.   That simply cannot be sustained.

Hand-in-hand with the “home entertainment packaged media is yesterday’s viewing platform” argument is a shunning of Theatrical Catalog (1930 thru 1996, the launch year of DVD).   With the exception of the occasional new-to-Blu-ray release and 4K Ultra HD catalog upgrades, entire segments of these vast film libraries are being ignored.

It appears that the main triggering event for a studio-wide loss of Theatrical Catalog involvement was the April Fool’s Day of 2021 “forced retirement” of key personnel by Warner Bros. and the discontinuation of the Warner Archive Store and its transfer to Amazon.com.   It was, as it appears to have turned out, a pennywise and pound-foolish move.

Here’s what quickly happened.   In 2020 there were 1,447 Theatrical Catalog releases on DVD, which was a fairly typical number of new SKUs to enter the market from all sources during any given year.  

 

With the “signal” that the focus would be elsewhere (streaming), the marketplace quickly reacted and interpreted the Amazon move as an abandonment of copyright considerations.   Of course, they did no such thing, but that’s how the “market” saw it and that meant every film from the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s … etc., was now fair game. 

The number of new Theatrical Catalog releases doubled, yes doubled, in 2021 to 2,947 new SKUs.   That was a new record.   But records are meant to be broken and in 2022 the number of new SKUs in that category doubled again to 5,893.

What were the studios doing during this rapid rise in film output on DVD?   In 2020 they, collectively, contributed 157 of the 1,447 new arrivals, or 10.85% of the total.   In 2021, the count fell to 94 (3.19%) … as the overall output doubled, the studios all but abandoned the market (the signal was clear).

Oh, but it got worse.   Last year, the SKU total ballooned to 5,893 new releases, but the studios put out just 29 (less than one-half of one percent) new Theatrical Catalog titles.   29!

The point being, when you leave a void; a vacuum, the marketplace will respond.

And what about 2023?   We are nine weeks in and already 2,299 new Theatrical Catalog titles have arrived on DVD.   That is a trend, if left unchecked, that will see the overall output more than double again (way more than double).   The studio count to date?  Eight (all of those have been from Paramount — MOD replacements of previously released films).  

The “Hollywood” studios collectively spent 100 years building vast film libraries and now they’ve literally left the vault doors open for the Visigoths and Vandals to sack.  Is there anyone watching the store?

Mill Creek Entertainment Readies DVD Releases Of Heaven Sent (May 09) And County Line: No Fear (Apr. 11)

Mill Creek Entertainment announced this past week that the director Joanne Hock’s Dove-approved, faith-based romantic comedy, Heaven Sent, starring and scripted by Karen Abercrombie, will be making its DVD debut on May 09.

Elise (Abercrombie — War Room, Hope Lives, Found and Lifted) is a private person.  Once, when she was a much younger woman, she had a promising singing career, but walked away from the fame and fortune to raise her son as a single mom.   He exceled, but sadly, was killed on duty in Afghanistan.

Now, running a small “earth store” called Moxie, she has rededicated her life to raising her grandson Derek (Jemarcus Kilgore — Discarded Things).   Elise endures; she has faith … but it is on a solitary path.

In a meet-cute moment, she finds Pastor Patrick Briggs (Leon Pridgen — The First Noel, Discard Things) taking refuge in her store (think: fish out of water) to avoid having to deal with Nadine (Vedra Grant), the sister of his deceased wife — she has it firmly fixed in her mind that he is the living connection to her sister.

Things work out between Patrick and Elise, and before you know it these two lonely people — who have both suffered major loses in their lives — find comfort in each other’s company.   Heaven Sent, being a romantic comedy, will not make it easy for Elise and Patrick to find the happiness they deserve without raising a few complications … all well-meaning of course.

In other release news this past week from Mill Creek Entertainment, Apr. 11 will be the DVD debut date for director Brent Christy’s County Line: No Fear, the third film in the County Line series starring Tom Wopat as Sheriff Alden Rockwell, who is always trying to retire but there is always — ALWAYS — something that gets in the way of that plan!

If you’ll recall, County Line premiered in 2018 on the INSP network (on DVD in 2022) and proved to be so well received that two sequels were announced for future production.   You can believe all the hype you want about such annoucements, but producers Doug Butts and Dale S. Ardizzone were true to their word with Wopat reprising his Sheriff Rockwell role in County Line: All In (also on DVD in 2022) and now the third film in the series, County Line: No Fear, is set for an Apr. 11 DVD debut.

Back for the third film in the series is four-time Emmy nominee Patricia Richardson (Best Actress, Comedy Series — as Jill Taylor on Home Improvement) as Maddie, the owner of the local café and Rockwell’s love interest.  Plus, both Kelsey Crane (Breaking Through, Cardinal Matter) as Sheriff Porter, of neighboring York County, and Denim Richards (perhaps best known as Colby Mayfield in the Yellowstone television series) as Dante Hall, the new sheriff of Maksville County, are both back … it truly is old home week with lots of familiar faces.

Over in York County, Zed Dalton (played by Casper Van Dien), has decided to consolidate power — a ruthless criminal — and thus sets in motion a series of “hits” (professional killers) to accomplish his goal.   Standing in the way is Sheriff Porter and so she is next on the “hit” list … Rockwell and Hall are simply not going to let that happen without an all-in fight.  

Out-manned and out-gunned, these “local yokels” have a few tricks up their sleeves.  Check it out on Apr. 11 with the debut of County Line: No Fear on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment.

 

 

 

Director Andy Cheng's Redline Obtains Marquee Collection Status For Blu-ray And DVD Distribution On May 30

MVD Entertainment Group has a new Blu-ray debut as part of its popular MVD Marquee Collection series — “too new to be cult; not old enough to be catalog” — set for May 30.   A DVD purchasing option will also be available on that date.

This would be director Andy Cheng’s 2007 all-action film, Redline, starring Nadia Bjorlin (Jack Rio, Alone, Nothing is Impossible … and as Lara Miller in the Venice television series) as Natasha, a stunning beauty who knows her way around cars … especially fast, high-end cars.

Redline opened theatrically in April of 2007 and then had a DVD release in August from the now defunct Genius Products.   Gone.   Out of print.

The film is also noted for Quick Loan Funding’s Daniel Sadek using some very creative financing to produce the film just before the sub-prime market collapse … that’s just a curiosity.

Besides the alure of Bjorlin, Sadek was savvy enough to recruit award-winning stunt choreographer Andy Cheng to handle the direction; the high-octane mayhem, and none other than cinematographer Bill Butler (Oscar-nominated for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; two-time Emmy-winner for A Streetcar Named Desire and Raid on Entebbe … plus such films as Grease, Jaws, Demon Seed, Anaconda, Rocky II and Rocky IV, Stripes, etc.) to get it all down on film.   Production values and stunts are top-of-the-line.

Natasha is from a racing family, it’s in her blood.   Her father was a daredevil racer (now deceased, doing what he loved on the NASCAR circuit) and she now runs her own high-end auto repair shop.   She knows the ins-and-outs of these super-charged beauties, which is how she ends up racing them — street-racing at that — for the action and the money.  

As the story unfolds, Natasha services the cars, including his prized Ford GT, of the rapper Infamous (played by Eddie Griffin) and through that connection gets hooked up with his crazy betting on the illicit street-racing of high-end cars (McLarens, Lamborghinis and the like).  

He jets her up to Las Vegas (private jet, of course) to show his appreciation and before you can say “Zoom Zoom” she finds herself behind the wheel in a one-on-one big money street race.  It does not go well (and all of it is caught on camera by Butler).

It gets a little complicated — and we won’t get into all of the details — but Natasha survives the car-racing inferno, awakes to find herself the “property” of mob boss Michael D'Orazio (Angus Macfadyen), and is soon rescued by D’Orazio’s Iraq veteran nephew, Carlo (Nathan Phillips), who was actually on the way to his uncle’s place to kill him.

Now a couple, Carlo and Natasha, have to evade the “crazy” uncle (who has some serious mob problems of his own) and she has to win the next big race or her mother, who has been kidnapped, will be killed.   Win?  Lose?   The finale is certainly explosive!!

Redline, as the latest member of the MVD Marquee Collection, returns to the home entertainment marketplace after a long absence.   On Blu-ray for the first time on May 30!

Bonus features include two featurettes — “Under the Hood: The Making of Redline” and “Redline at the LA Auto Show.”

 

 

Writer/Director Rocko Zevenbergen's I Need You Dead Gets Apr. 25 Blu-ray Release Date From Bayview Entertainment

Drugs are bad.  That’s the lesson that a wannabe punker named Dood (Estevan Muñoz — Marty in Transit, Zombie Cats from Mars, Este Does Not Make a Movie), who is more than a little insecure, learns one evening at an off-the-hook party when he wolfs-down a mega dose of dummy gummies.   His life will soon be a living hell.

Bayview Entertainment has tabbed Apr. 25 as the Blu-ray debut date for the Mutiny Pictures production of writer/director Rocko Zevenbergen’s I Need You Dead.   It’s a psychedelic trip that is well worth taking.

It seems that these delightful little gummies were laced with some sort of mystical concoction of drugs and like a bolt of lightning smacking the user head-on they kick in and poor Dood is suddenly on an E-ticket horror thrill ride.  

Being a shy guy, he immediately starts hitting on fellow punker Pal (Sidra Morgan-Montoya in her film debut), works his way out of getting hauled in by the cops (drugs are bad … and they hate punks) and then he suddenly finds himself on the roof top of the building, alone.   Suicide, maybe … just jump and get it over with.

But no, his mind has either completely snapped or the creature that is now confronting him, and soon to be his “best buddy,” is real.   Maybe a product of his id set free by those scrumptious gummies.  

In any case, this toothy creature is like a bad stand-up comic, whose life mission seems to be either berating poor Dood with unwanted advice, or giving him one mind-blowing horror show after another.   Good lord, drugs are bad, really bad!!

All the while Dood is going down one rabbit hole after another, things take a twisted turn and we find ourselves in the middle of documentary on the making of Dood’s horror tale.   Are we?   Or is this just a drug-fueled surreal trip, conjured-up by an addled drug-fueled mind … wake up Dood, for the love of God wake up!!

Apr. 25 for I Need You Dead on Blu-ray.   It’s a mind trip that will leave your head spinning!   Just ask Dood.

 

 

 

Wild Eye Releasing Set To Distribution Director Dustin Ferguson's Hell Of The Screaming Undead On DVD This Coming May 30

Wild Eye Releasing, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has picked up writer/director Dustin Ferguson’s 2021 zombie-plague thriller, Hell of the Screaming Undead, for DVD distribution.  It is now slated for release on May 30,

The knee-jerk is, “dear lord, help us” when you first hear of a genre title such as Hell of the Screaming Undead.   That sounds micro budget … something cooked up in someone’s garage over the weekend.

However, when you take a closer look — after the initial shock wears off — you begin to take notice of some tell-tale signs that this might be a zombie plague movie worth your evening’s viewing enjoyment.

First, the filmmaker, Dustin Ferguson.  He has provided us with such delights over the years as Arachnado 2: Flaming Spiders, Moon of the Blood Beast, Nemesis 5: The New Model, Apex Predators and Amityville in the Hood.   And of course, Ebola Rex and Ebola Rex vs Murder Hornets.

He knows his audience and he certainly delivers exactly what they want … Hell of the Screaming Undead is no exception.

And then take a look at who is in it — a small cast to be sure (except for the zombie hoard) — but there are two damsels in distress.   Zombie plague, of course they are in distress, but to compound their problems, they are also taken captive by two escape cons.

The first is Mary, played by none other than Jennifer Nagel, star of the web series Malvolia: The Queen of Screams and such genre gems as director Shawn C. Phillips’ Amityville Karen, the aforementioned Amityville in the Hood and Ebola Rex and many, many more … she “is” literally Malvolia the Scream Queen.

The second is Heather, played by Traci Burr, another Ferguson alumni, who played Veronica in Ebola Rex Versus Murder Hornets and Katrina in his 2022 haunted house thriller, Beyond the Gates of Hell, plus she was Micatto in director James Balsamo’s 14 Ghosts.   And an up-and-coming Scream Queen in her own right.  

You have to be sold by now.   More?   OK, the two escaped cons are Warren (Robert Allen Mukes — as Rufus in House of 1000 Corpses) and Trapper (Ken May — another Ferguson regular — Apex Predators, Ebola Rex Versus Murder Hornets and more).

And, as a bonus, this presentation of Hell of the Screaming Undead on DVD from Wild Eye Releasing on May 30 is the unseen director’s cut (not available as a streaming item).   So, come enjoy the zombie plague that has struck Los Angeles … the director and his cast say it all, a genre film to be enjoyed.

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment Preps Blu-ray Edition Of Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 For Delivery On Apr. 18

Last week it was the release news from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment about Superman heading to the 4K Ultra HD marketplace on Apr. 18 in the form of the Christopher Reeve as Superman series.  Titled Superman I-IV: 5-Film Collection, the box set includes the four films starring Reeve as the Man of Steel (Superman: The Movie (1978), Superman II (1979), Superman III (1983) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)), plus the 2006 rework, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut.

The theme continues this week release news about the remastering of the entire Max Fleischer animated Superman series of theatrical shorts from their original 35mm source elements.

Titled Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943, all 17 adventures in the series will be available on May 16 as a Blu-ray buying option.

Bonus features include a trio of featurettes — “Superman: Speeding Toward Tomorrow,” “First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series” and “The Man, the Myth, Superman: Exploring the Tradition of Superman Heroes on the Page and Screen.”

 

Director Neil Jordan's Marlowe Arrives In The Home Entertainment Packaged Media Marketplace On Apr. 18

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has selected Apr. 18 as the street date for both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of director Neil Jordan’s latest take on the iconic Raymond Chandler detective, Phillip Marlowe, made legend by a series of pulp fiction novels in the 1930s.

And all the more so by equally legendary films — Murder, My Sweet (1944, with Dick Powell as Marlowe), The Big Sleep (1946, Bogart), Lady in the Lake (1947, Robert Montgomery), The Brasher Doubloon (same year, 1947, with George Montgomery as Marlowe), Marlowe (1969, James Garner), Robert Altman’s 1973 take on Marlowe with The Long Goodbye (Elliott Gould) and back-to-back Robert Mitchum Marlowe film productions, Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and The Big Sleep (1978).

The latest, simply title Marlowe, stars Liam Neeson as detective Phillip Marlowe.   In a return to Los Angeles of 1939 (the scene of the crime, so to speak), a complicated mystery is at hand … a dead body, wrongfully identified, leaves the “dead man” free to get into other “mischief.”   But why?   Marlowe is on the case … dames, guns and murder most foul!

The ARR is a lightning-quick-to-market 60 days and box office receipts were a disappointing $4 million.