Limited and Virtual Releases: Relics of the Past

July 2, 2020

Relic

While there are few films on this week’s list of new releases in theaters (both physical and virtual), most of them are earning stellar reviews. At least one of them, Relic, as a real shot at box office success.

Highlights

John Lewis: Good Trouble
A documentary that chronicles John Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, among many, many other issues. The film’s reviews are nearly universally positive and normally an election year would be a good one to release a political documentary. However, the pandemic will all but guarantee this film won’t do well in theaters.

The Outpost
Having a patriotic war movie come out on July 4th weekend makes sense. However, if you look at the list of theaters playing this movie on the official site, you will see a lot from Texas and other states hit hard by the coronavirus resurgence. I’m not sure audiences will want to go to theaters. It is also playing on Video-on-Demand, and it should find an audience there.

Relic
When Edna, the elderly and widowed matriarch of the family, goes missing, her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam travel to their remote family home to find her. Soon after her return, they start to discover a sinister presence haunting the house and taking control of Edna. This film’s reviews are excellent and it is the right genre to thrive in drive-ins, so perhaps it will do well at the box office.

Suzi Q
This documentary about the pioneer bass player, Suzi Quatro, who changed the way women were viewed in rock ‘n’ roll. The reviews for this film are unanimously positive, but it is only getting a Virtual Release, so I doubt it will do anything at the box office. Fortunately for the movie, it is also coming out on VOD this week.

The Truth
The latest release from Hirokazu Kore-eda, but it is not earning among the best reviews the writer / director has earned in the past. That said, even a second-tier film from Kore-eda is better than most films out there, so hopefully it will find an audience. I am not optimistic, as it is the wrong genre for limited release in the days of COVID-19, but it could do well when it reaches the home market.

Other Releases

Denise Ho—Becoming the Song
Elliott Erwitt: Silence Sounds Good

Both of the smaller releases are getting virtual releases, and will most likely not report numbers.

Filed under: Limited Releases, The Outpost, Relic, John Lewis: Good Trouble, La vérité, Suzi Q, Denise Ho — Becoming the Song, Elliott Erwitt: Silence Sounds Good, Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Bella Heathcote, John Lewis, Suzi Quatro