Limited and VOD Releases: Getting Demolished
April 8, 2016
It's not a good week for limited releases. Not only is it a short list this week, but none of them look like they will be a hit at the box office. Demolition is the widest release of the week, but it is too wide for a limited release. The Invitation is earning amazing reviews, but it is also playing on Video on Demand. Neon Bull is earning even better reviews, but it is a foreign-language film, so that limits its chances. The rest of the films are not earning strong enough reviews to suggest they will do well in limited release.
Demolition - Reviews
The Invitation - Reviews
Louder Than Bombs - Reviews
Mr. Right - Reviews
Neon Bull - Reviews
One More Time - Reviews
At one point, this film was expected to open truly wide. That didn't happen. It is the widest limited release of the week with an opening theater count of over 800, but that's a liability. That's too many for a targeted ad campaign and too few for a national one. On the other hand, it might be enough to reach the top ten, which will help it with free publicity.
Video on Demand
An ex-husband gets invited to a dinner at his old home by his former wife and her new husband. However, during the course of the dinner, he begins to suspect they have plans for him. This film is earning amazing reviews, but it is the wrong genre for limited release and it is already playing on VOD. Hopefully it will become a hit on the home market.
A multinational production that did earn some major film festival buzz, but the overall reviews are merely good and not great. The impressive cast could help it thrive in limited release, for a little while.
A romantic black comedy about a woman, Anna Kendrick, meeting a man who she thinks might be the one, Sam Rockwell. However, he is a professional hitman. I love the two stars, but the film's reviews are only 43% positive. Maybe I'll rent it. Mr. Right opens tonight in 35 theaters, but that's likely as wide as it will get.
This is a Brazilian film about two rodeo cowboys. Foreign-Language films rarely do well enough to find mainstream success; however the film has 100% positive reviews so far, so it could do very well on the art house circuit.
Amber Heard stars as a wannabee rock star who has to move back home with her father when a career drought causes her to be evicted. The cast is good. The reviews are not. Maybe it will find an audience on the home market.
Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, Demolition, Louder Than Bombs, Mr. Right, The Invitation, Boi neon, One More Time, Amber Heard, Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken