12 www. MediaPlayNews .com | MAY 2018 Still, indies o# en have to navi- “I miss video stores terribly and I refuse to let Shout! Factory specializes in collector’s edition Blu-rays of well-known and cult catalog fi lms licensed from stu- gate digital and physical rights and go of physical media,” he says, adding “there are a dios and released with new box art and bonus features. plan format distribution for small- group of collectors out there that I am convinced er titles on a case-by-case basis. are trying to build a video store in their basement.” While most everything Ran- MVD is an aggregator, distributing titles in dom Media acquires is intended the United States and North America from such for digital platforms, up until the companies as Arrow Video, VCI Entertainment, release of Trouble Is My Business Full Moon Entertainment, AGFA, Wild Eye — its " rst Blu-ray — the company Entertainment, FilmRise, Cleopatra Entertain- had preferred to release its titles ment, Lightyear Entertainment, Ocean Avenue physically only on DVD. Entertainment and Dreamscape Entertainment. “I just think narrative " lms that It makes sense for a company such as Light- aren’t heavily in$ uenced by special year, says its president and CEO Arnie Holland, e& ects or have a lot of action are who has signed MVD to handle physical dis- better suited to DVD,” says Eric tribution and e Orchard to handle the digi- Doctorow, Random Media CEO tal side. Lightyear releases about two theatrical Continued from Page 11 and founder. “DVD presents a terri" c viewing titles a year, but it has a big catalog that includes Well-known for its award-winning disc sets, experience.” some of the titles that started the video business, and attention to detail on bonus material and Trouble Is My Business , which came out in April, Jane Fonda’s workouts. Lightyear May 15 bowed artwork, Shout! Factory has expanded into dig- is a 1940s noir story. “ e look of the " lm” was its " rst big project with MVD, a high-def trans- ital distribution while still generating upwards what prompted Doctorow to release it on Blu-ray. fer of ! e Return of Swamp ! ing (1989), star- of 70% of its revenue from discs. Indeed, ma- “It’s beautifully shot. It’s got a lot of action,” ring Heather Locklear, on Blu-ray and DVD as jor studios are increasingly o oading movies he says. “Noir " lms as a genre have a very loyal part of the “Rewind” collection and loaded with and TV shows to Shout! and other distributors audience. ey are " lm lovers.” extras — some new — for collectors. while keeping the digital rights. Likewise, Doctorow is waiting for the right “Majors have their own digital strategies. ey " lm to bow on the newest format, 4K Ultra HD. MODifying Physical Distribution have their own teams doing that,” McIntosh says. “Films that rely heavily on special e& ects and Still, as consumer demand for discs wanes, so Shout!’s recent disc deals from Paramount high digital material are going to be a lot more too does the need for large-capacity production Pictures and MGM Studios include such titles successful on UHD than traditional narratives,” runs that o# en result in costly returns from re- as Poltergeist III, Road House, Halloween 2, he says. “Films where the visual and audio expe- tailers. us, manufacturing discs on-demand “ e Bob Newhart Show,” “Hill Street Blues,” rience are really important are going to be better (MOD) has increased in popularity among “T.J. Hooker” and “One Day at a Time.” Shout! some suppliers. scored a pop-culture coup earlier this year when candidates than story-driven narratives.” e majority of titles at Well Go USA Enter- “MOD is a terri" c solution to a problem,” says it (along with China’s Ace Film HK) acquired Random’s Doctorow. the " lm catalog of Roger Corman, patron saint tainment have both a physical and digital re- lease, with most titles coming out on Blu-ray to But MOD doesn’t work for every title. of American ‘B’-movies. RLJ’s Pears says subscribers of Acorn TV enjoy “Our physical goods business is still growing satisfy the retail pipeline, says Tony Vandeveer- donk, EVP of sales and marketing. collecting and gi# ing DVDs and premium boxed because as more players realize how hard it is in sets — content, he says, that o# en requires the that space, they think it’s a better idea to license “In the case of Best Buy, there’s almost no DVD,” he notes. quality of a traditional production run. those rights to us,” McIntosh says. “We have a typical unit production run for ev- RLJ Entertainment, which includes Image En- Also an advocate of Blu-ray, Dennis Doros is co-owner of the two-person company Mile- ery new release and the bulk of our catalog and tertainment, Agatha Christie Ltd., Urban Movie take advantage of [manufacturing on-demand] Channel and Acorn TV, got a shot in the arm af- stone Film & Video, which goes through anoth- er indie, Oscilloscope, for domestic disc releas- on a selective basis where necessary,” Pears says. ter AMC Networks became a majority stakehold- “Artwork has always been very important to us er (on paper) in the company. RLJ’s focus may es. Because Milestone’s titles are mostly restored appear to be on British-centric streaming service collectible classics from around the world, the Acorn TV and Urban Movie Channel, which company is even getting ready for 4K. “We are restoring up to 4K,” Doros says. “We MVD’s “Rewind have more than 750,000 combined subscribers, Collection” Blu- but packaged media hasn’t been forgotten. can see that in the future.” ray box art pays When acquiring " lms, Eric Wilkinson, direc- homage to the “RLJ Entertainment still views home entertain- heyday of video ment distribution as a core component of [its] tor of home video sales and acquisitions at MVD stores and VHS content acquisition and release strategy,” says Entertainment Group, says the company looks packaging. Mike Pears, president of U.S. distribution at RLJE. for all rights, but says on some titles, “It doesn’t “We continue to release nearly all of our titles on bother me as much if we don’t get digital.” both digital and DVD, Blu-ray or 4K UHD.” “Our physical business is very important, es- Ditto for Cinedigm, which generates about pecially with catalog,” he says. “ e collector’s 30% of revenue from packaged media, and market is super strong.” considers itself a “selective last consolidator” in For those collectors, Wilkinson has created a packaged media. nostalgic “MVD Rewind Collection” that he calls “It’s still a [viable] business,” says McGurk. “classics and more from the video store.” Box art “And we think we’re well-suited to pick selective harkens back to the heyday of video stores, with opportunities in that space.” faux “be kind rewind” stickers and tattered art. .