Limited and VOD Releases: Animal Magnetism
June 1, 2018
It is a slow week, so slow that I’m bending the rules when it comes to what films appear on this list. If I used the ten review limit, there would only be a handful of films. Of these films, only American Animals and Breath are earning reviews that are good enough for limited release. That said, there are also a few that should be worth a VOD rental, like Discreet and Social Animals.
All Summers End - Reviews
American Animals - Reviews
Breath - Reviews
Cold Skin - Reviews
Discreet - Reviews
A Kid Like Jake - Reviews
Nossa Chape - Reviews
One Sings, the Other Doesn’t - Reviews
Rodin - Reviews
Social Animals - Reviews
Veere Di Wedding - Reviews
Secondary VOD Releases:
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Video on Demand
Conrad has a crush on Grace, but when a prank goes wrong, he has to try and help Grace and her family recover without letting them know the truth. There are only two reviews and only one of them is positive. Normally this would be in the secondary VOD releases section, but it’s a slow week and I needed to pad out the story with smaller releases.
The biggest and best-reviewed limited release of the week. It’s a real life story about a group of childhood friends who plan a daring heist to steal ... books. They are going after rare books, but even so, books are not what you think of when you think of heists. On the other hand, that probably makes them easier targets.
This is one of the few films on this week’s list that has a large number of reviews. They are right on the border between merely good and good enough to thrive in limited release. It’s the feature-length directorial debut for Simon Baker and the results suggest he could have a career behind the camera.
A meteorologist travels to a remote weather station for a year-long stint. His only companion is a grumpy lighthouse keeper, or so he thinks. This film’s reviews are just below the overall positive level, so it likely won’t find an audience in limited release. However, it should do better on the home market.
Video on Demand
Alex is a drifter dealing with trauma due to childhood abuse. When he returns home, he learns his abuser is still alive. The reviews are good, but likely not good enough for limited release. On the other hand, it is worth renting on VOD.
Alex and Greg have a four-year old son who likes to dress like a girl. They are perfectly accepting of this, but things get complicated when they try to sign up for kindergarten. If their child is transgender, then they would be able to skip a lot of the waiting lists for some of the more prestigious schools. The film’s reviews are just under the overall positive level, which will likely kill its box office chances.
A documentary about the Chapecoense football club in Brazil, which suffered a tragic plane crash that resulted in the death of all but three members. The film’s reviews are good, but there are not a lot of reviews, which suggests not enough buzz to find an audience.
This is a re-release of the 1977 French film. It’s a feminist film about the pro-choice movement in France and with Ireland’s recent referendum on the subject, it is a timely re-release.
A biopoic of famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. This is the kind of movie that attracts the attention of art house aficionados, but the reviews will scare away most of its potential audience.
Video on Demand
Noël Wells stars as Zoe, a woman whose life hasn’t turned out as she had hoped. She’s about to be evicted, her business is failing, and when she finally meets the man of her dreams, he’s married. The film’s reviews are good, but not good enough for limited release. That said, it is worth a VOD rental.
A Bollywood film about four friends who reunite after ten years. There are only three reviews on Rotten Tomatoes; however, a lot of Bollywood films open with no reviews, because mainstream critics ignore them. Additionally, all three reviews are positive.
Anything that would normally be a secondary VOD release I talked about above, because otherwise there would have been just four films.
Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, All Summers End, A Kid Like Jake, Rodin, La Piel Fria, Breath, American Animals, Social Animals, Discreet, Nossa Chape, L’une chante, l’autre pas, Veere Di Wedding, Simon Baker, Claire Danes, Vincent Lindon, Ray Stevenson, Kaitlyn Dever, Jim Parsons, Tye Sheridan, Jonny Mars, Noël Wells, David Oakes