Limited and VOD Releases: Stories from the City

July 7, 2017

City of Ghosts

There are only eight announced limited release films this week, and only two of them have more than ten reviews: City of Ghosts and A Ghost Story. Another film, Swim Team, only has seven reviews, but all seven are positive. However, two of those three films are documentaries, which leaves A Ghost Story as the only film with a real shot at box office success.

Austin Found - Reviews
 Video on Demand
A woman wants to make her family famous, so she fakes her 11-year old daughter’s kidnapping. The cast is great, but the reviews are terrible. It is not even worth a VOD rental.

City of Ghosts - Reviews
 A documentary about the ongoing civil war in Syria and the crimes against humanity committed by ISIS. This film is earning amazing reviews. In fact, it is earning award-worthy reviews and I would not be surprised to see it on the Oscar shortlist for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the end of the year. On the other hand, documentaries rarely have breakout success, so it likely won’t be the biggest hit on this week’s list.

The Confessions - Reviews
A death at an economic conference leads to a murder mystery as one of the participants had reason to kill to keep the truth from coming out. There are not many reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and most of them negative, so its box office chances are very slim.

Do You Take This Man - Reviews
 Two men are preparing to get married, but they both get cold feet and their friends need to convince them that all relationships are like this. There are only two reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and only one of them is positive. I don’t think this will translate into a strong performance at the box office.

A Ghost Story - Reviews
 Casey Affleck stars as a recently-deceased man who returns to his home as a ghost. This is one of only two films with more than ten reviews and it has the most star power, so it should be the biggest limited release hit of the week.

Hickok - Reviews
 Video On Demand
A western about Wild Bill Hickok starring Luke Hemsworth in the titular role. The reviews are mixed, so it will likely bomb in theaters. However, $7 for a VOD rental isn’t a bad deal.

Swim Team - Reviews
 A documentary about a group of autistic teens who form a high school swim team. There are only seven reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but all seven are positive. It could do well, for a documentary, but it likely won’t have breakout success.

Undercover Grandpa - Reviews
 Video on Demand
Jake has a crush on Angie. When she’s kidnapped, he turns to his Grandpa, and his Grandpa’s World War II army buddies, to rescue her. There’s only one review on Rotten Tomatoes and it is negative.

Secondary VOD Releases:
There are no secondary VOD releases this week. To be more accurate, there were three, but if we treated films like we normally do, this list would have been too short, so all three are talked about above.

Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, Le Confessioni, A Ghost Story, City of Ghosts, Hickok, Undercover Grandpa, Swim Team, Austin Found, Do You Take This Man, Casey Affleck, James Caan, Linda Cardellini, Ursula Parker, Luke Hemsworth, Greta Onieogou, Dylan Everett