Limited and VOD Releases: The Happiest Week for Limited Releases

April 21, 2017

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki

Normally we only talk about films with ten or more reviews on this list, but this week there were just two such films: The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki and Slack Bay. Furthermore, only one of those is earning good reviews. There are also a couple of documentaries that are earning great reviews, but overall it is a slow week.

7 Witches - No Reviews
A wedding turns into a disaster, because one of the families was cursed by a coven of witches long, long ago and the witches try to get their revenge. There are no reviews and it hits the home market in a little more than two weeks. Hopefully there will be reviews by then.

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City - Reviews
A documentary about Jane Jacobs, who fought against land developers in the 1960s to preserve urban communities. This is one of two biographical documentaries on this week’s list and both of them are earning identical reviews. I’m not sure either of them will do particularly well at the box office.

Colossal - Reviews
This film already opened in the States two weeks ago and its box office is already over $600,000. We are mentioning it again, because it debuts in Canada this week. This is strange, because it is a Canadian co-production. I’m looking forward to seeing it, but it is not playing in any theaters near me.

Grow House - Reviews
A stoner comedy that opened on 4/20. ... I’m surprised it wasn’t also playing on VOD, as its target audience was probably too stoned to make it to theaters.

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki - Reviews
A biopic about Finnish boxer, Olli Maki, who was in contention for the world Featherweight title, but was also falling in love at the same time. The film is earning 100% positive reviews, so it could do well in limited release. On the other hand, a retro black and white movie about a boxer most people here have never heard of likely won’t do well enough to expand significantly.

Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent - Reviews
A documentary about the life and career of Jeremiah Tower, a cotroversial chef and restaurateur. There are not a lot of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but nearly all of them are positive. On the other hand, documentaries rarely have breakout success.

Slack Bay - Reviews
A French film about an inbred bourgeois family which goes on vacation in a spot where several tourists have gone missing. Meanwhile, one of their children begins a romance with a local boy. It’s a French-farce and that subgenre has a large enough target audience to do well in the art house circuit. However, its reviews are too weak to thrive.

Secondary VOD Releases:
There are no secondary VOD releases to talk about this week. That’s not that surprising, as there are almost no films to talk about this week.

Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, Colossal, Ma Loute, Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, Hymyilevä mies, Grow House, 7 Witches, Jeremiah Tower, Jarkko Lahti