Limited and VOD Releases: Missing these Limited Releases is Unforgivable
October 19, 2018
It’s an excellent week for limited releases with a trio of amazing films that have great star power as well. Can You Ever Forgive Me?, What They Had, and Wildlife all have a shot at box office success. Not to mention several documentaries, like On Her Shoulders, Sharkwater Extinction, Transformer, that could do well in limited release.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? - Reviews
Caniba - Reviews
An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn - Reviews
Galveston - Reviews
The Guilty - Reviews
Mid90s - Reviews
On Her Shoulders - Reviews
The Price of Everything - Reviews
Sharkwater Extinction - Reviews
Transformer - Reviews
What They Had - Reviews
Wildlife - Reviews
Secondary VOD Releases:
Melissa McCarthy stars as a biographer, who was in high demand in the 1970s and 1980s, but has since fallen out of favor with the marketplace. She then uses her talents to create forged letters and sells them. The reviews are currently 100% positive and it could earn some Awards Season success. It will need to be seen be get nominated, so a big opening weekend will help its chances.
A documentary about a Japanese man, who as a college student killed and ate his roommate, and instead of going to jail, became a celebrity in his home nation. The reviews are mixed and I really don’t feel like saying anything more about it.
Video on Demand
This film has a great cast, but its reviews are mixed and it is playing on VOD. As a result, the film has almost no chance at being a box office hit.
Video on Demand
Ben Foster stars as a hitman whose boss double-crossed him and Elle Fanning stars as a woman he rescues. The reviews are good, but not good enough to thrive in limited release. On the other hand, it is playing on VOD and a Tomatometer Score of 68% is just fine for a VOD rental.
A Danish movie about a police officer who is confined to desk duty as an emergency dispatcher. He gets a call from a kidnapped woman, but is cut off suddenly. Now he has to use his training and whatever resources he has to rescue the woman, all while not leaving his desk. The reviews are 98% positive, but foreign-language imports almost never expand beyond the art house circuit.
A coming of age story set in Los Angeles during the mid-1990s. It’s being released by A24, which has had more than its share of limited release box office success stories. That said, this film’s reviews are right on the border between merely good and good enough to thrive in limited release, so it likely won’t be one of the studio’s bigger hits.
A documentary about Nadia Murad, a women who survived a genocide attempt and became an advocate for refugees. It has been a great year for documentaries and this film is earning 100% positive reviews. Granted, there are a lot of documentaries on this week’s list, but I have high hopes for this film’s chances.
A documentary about the art world and how money has changed it and how it could crash. I hope it does. The reviews are great and it has been a fantastic year for documentaries at the box office; however, there’s a lot of competition for documentaries this week.
A documentary about the illegal sharkfin harvesting industry. As I’ve mentioned nearly every time there’s a movie about a killer shark, you are more likely to die eating shark than being eaten by a shark, so I applaud any movie that portrays the sharks as the victims and not killers. Additionally, while the movie only has six reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, all of them are positive.
A documentary about former US Marine and world record holding weightlifter, who was outed as transgender. The film looks at the aftermath, which included her family disowning her and her sponsors dropping her. There are only seven reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, which would normally not be enough to make it on this list; however, all seven reviews are positive, so it is worth checking out.
Hilary Swank stars as a woman who has to return home when her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and she needs to help her brother convince their father that he needs to send her to a home. The reviews are excellent and there’s a lot of star power here, but there is competition that could overshadow it.
One of the best-reviewed films on this week’s list. It also includes a lot of star power on both sides of the screen. It is the first film directed by Paul Dano and if this is any indication, he could have an award-winning career as a director. Additionally, with Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal in front of the camera, this film has a shot at being the biggest limited release hit of the week.
Brampton’s Own - Reviews - Video on Demand
High Voltage - Reviews - Video on Demand
Longing - Reviews - Video on Demand
Malicious - Reviews - Video on Demand
Of the four secondary VOD releases this week, only Longing is earning good reviews.
Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, What They Had, An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn, Wildlife, Caniba, Den Skyldige, On Her Shoulders, Mid90s, Galveston, Malicious, Brampton’s Own, Transformer, The Price of Everything, Ga’agua, High Voltage, Sharkwater Extinction, Blythe Danner, Paul Dano, Elle Fanning, Robert Forster, Ben Foster, Jake Gyllenhaal, Melissa McCarthy, Carey Mulligan, Hilary Swank