Limited and VOD Releases: Climactic Change in Pace

March 1, 2019

Climax

After two weeks of almost no releases, there are nearly 30 limited releases coming out this week. However, it’s a case of quantity above quality, for the most part, as the majority of films have no or almost no reviews. That said, the majority of films with a substantial number of reviews are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. Some of these films, like Climax and Apollo 11, are even earning a combination of amazing reviews and loud buzz. Hopefully this means we will have some hits on this week’s list and the competition won’t sink everyone’s chances.

Apollo 11 - Reviews
 An IMAX documentary about the Apollo 11 mission. Its reviews are 100% positive and this film has the loudest buzz for any IMAX movie in, well, years. It is also playing in 120 IMAX theaters and it could still be playing in dozens of these theaters in a year or two. IMAX documentaries tend to have ridiculously long legs.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - Reviews
 Video on Demand
This movie is about a boy who has to drop out of school when his parents can no longer afford the fee. He then sneaks into his old school to the library to learn how to make a windmill to save his village from a famine. The reviews are excellent, like most films on this week’s list, but its box office chances are negligible, because it is playing on Netflix and most people will watch it there.

Climax - Reviews
 A dance troupe celebrates an amazing first performance of a new routine, but they realize too late that the drink they’ve been sharing has been spiked with LSD. This film has both great reviews and some of the loudest buzz of any film on this week’s list. It could be a big box office hit, at least compared to most limited releases.

Giant Little Ones - Reviews
 Franky and Ballas are best friends and the most popular boys in their high school. Then something happens between them and their lives are changed forever. Like so many films on this week’s list, this one is earning excellent reviews. That said, the competition will likely prove to be too much.

The Hole in the Ground - Reviews
 Video on Demand
A young boy is lost in the woods. When he returns, he seems unharmed, but he begins to act strangely, so much so that his mother begins to suspect the child is not her real son, but an imposter.

The Hours and Times - Reviews
This film’s reviews are right on the border between merely good and good enough for limited release. If it were a slow week, perhaps it would find an audience. However, with so much competition, there’s little hope of that happening.

Mapplethorpe - Reviews
 A biopic of artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The reviews are weak and there’s way too much competition for this film to thrive.

Sharkwater Extinction - Reviews
 Video on Demand
A documentary about the illegal shark fin trade. Like I’ve said before, you are more likely to die eating shark than die being eaten by a shark. This documentary shows that sharks have a lot more to fear about humans than humans have to fear about sharks. The reviews are 100% positive and it is certainly worth seeing. However, since it is playing on VOD, most people will see it there instead of in theaters.

The Sower - Reviews
 This film is set in a small village in the mid-1800s. All of the men of the village were arrested after a failed uprising and the women made a pact that if any man were to come to the village, they would share him as a lover. When a man does show up, this pact is put to the test.

Styx - Reviews
 Susanne Wolff plays an ER doctor taking her dream solo trip on the Atlantic Ocean. During this trip, a storm hits and she comes across a ship full of refugees that was hit hard and is about to sink. Like so many films on this week’s list, this one is earning amazing reviews, but it is a foreign-language film, so its chances of expanding significantly are very limited.

Transit - Reviews
 A man escapes the rise of fascism in Germany using the travel papers of a dead man. However, when he arrives at his destination, he falls in love with a woman, who just happens to be the wife of that dead man. This is another film with fantastic reviews, but likely won’t be able to expand beyond the art house circuit.

The Wedding Guest - Reviews
 Dev Patel stars as a man traveling to Pakistan for a wedding. However, he’s not there to celebrate, but to kidnap the bride-to-be. The film’s reviews are mixed, which usually proves fatal for a limited release. Furthermore, there’s lots of competition this week, most of which are earning amazing reviews.

Woman At War - Reviews
 An Icelandic film about a woman waging a one-person war against the local aluminum industry, but whose life changes when she learns her application to adopt a child has been approved. This film is earning some of the best reviews of the week, but it is a foreign-language film, so its chances of expanding beyond the art house circuit are very limited.

Secondary VOD Releases:
Beers of Joy - Reviews - Video on Demand
Level 16 - Reviews - Video on Demand
Pretty Broken - No Reviews - Video on Demand
Stray - Reviews - Video on Demand
We Die Young - Reviews - Video on Demand
Both Level 16 and Stray are earning good reviews, not great reviews, but certainly good enough for a VOD rental.

Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, Le Semeur, Climax, Transit, Mapplethorpe, Kona fer í stríð, The Wedding Guest, We Die Young, Sharkwater Extinction, The Hole in the Ground, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Styx, Giant Little Ones, Level 16, Apollo 11, Pretty Broken, Beers of Joy, The Hours and Times, Stray, Dev Patel, Susanne Wolff, Darrin Mann, Josh Wiggins, Seána Kerslake