Limited and VOD Releases: Can I Interest You in Some Limited Releases?

January 27, 2017

The Salesman

This is usually a terrible time of year to release a limited release. There are some exceptions to this rule, including releasing a foreign-language film that just picked up an Oscar nomination. That’s the case with The Salesman, which is arguably the best release on this week’s list.

Behemoth - Reviews
 A Chinese documentary about a mining town and the environmental, medical, and sociological effects the mines have on the workers and the surrounding people. The reviews are unanimously positive, but documentaries never have an easy time at the box office.

Buddies in India - No Reviews
 A Chinese film about a man who travels to India with the son of a late CEO to find his hidden will. This is one of two Chinese films on this week’s list that are set at least partially in India. This one has no reviews and less star power, at least less star power to the average moviegoer here, so its box office chances are weak.

The Daughter - Reviews
 A man returns to his childhood home and soon accidentally digs up some secrets of the past that could tear his family apart. The reviews are just below the level normally associated with success in limited release. That said, the film does have better star power than most limited releases, so that could be a deciding factor in its favor.

I Am Michael - Reviews
Video on Demand
A gay rights activist, whose father died young from a heart attack, suffers a health scare and gives up being gay, marries a woman, and becomes a Christian pastor. The film was made in 2014, but is only getting a release this year. Furthermore, it is playing on VOD as well, so its box office chances are close to zero.

Kaabil - Reviews
 One of two Bollywood films on this week’s list. In this film, a blind man goes out to get revenge after his girlfriend is murdered. This film doesn’t have many reviews and none of the reviews are good, so it likely won’t do well at the box office.

Kung Fu Yoga - Reviews
 The latest Jackie Chan movie is set partially in India and has a substantial Indian cast. China and India are the two largest non-Hollywood film markets, so if they can team up, it will be huge for the worldwide box office. However, the reviews are only mixed, so I don’t know if that will happen.

Un Padre No Tan Padre - Reviews
 When the patriarch of a family is kicked out of his retirement home, he has to live with the youngest of his five children. However, his son had been lying to his father about his life and he isn’t a successful business man living in the big city, but a landscape artist living in an artsy town in a big house with eight other people, including his wife and teenage son. It was a midlevel hit in its native Mexico and it might find an audience among Hispanics here.

Raees - Reviews
 A Bollywood film starring Shah Rukh Khan. Even if you only pay very little attention to Bollywood, you probably know that name. Here he plays a criminal in the 1980s, a bootlegger in the only state in India that still had prohibition. The film’s Tomatometer Score is only 60% positive, but it is very rare for Bollywood films to even have enough reviews for a Tomatometer Score in the first place, so this is a positive sign.

The Salesman - Reviews
This film was recently nominated for an Oscar and with 97% positive reviews, it is hard to argue with that. The release couldn’t be better timed. That said, it is never easy for a foreign-language film.

Secondary VOD Releases:
Get the Girl - Reviews - Video on Demand
Massacre on Aisle 12 - Reviews - Video on Demand
Neither of these films have reviews good enough to thrive on VOD, never mind limited release.

Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, The Daughter, I Am Michael, Forushande, Un Padre No Tan Padre, Get the Girl, Massacre on Aisle 12, Raees, Buddies in India, Bei xi mo shou, Kaabil, Gong fu yu jia, Jackie Chan, Shah Rukh Khan