VOD Overdose is Movie Buzzers’ coverage of video-on-demand developments and upcoming films premiering on video-on-demand. With an increasing number of studios embracing VOD as a way to premiere and distribute films, this column covers movies that might be worth a look even though they aren’t playing at your local multiplex.
Sundance 2012 movies like Arbitrage and Bachelorette proved that indie releases can make major money on VOD, so it’s no surprise that the VOD distribution rights for movies at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival are being snapped up quickly. In this week’s special edition of VOD Overdose, I’ve summed up the biggest VOD news coming out of this year’s festival.
Gravitas Ventures has been showing its VOD muscle at Sundance. Not only did it make a pre-festival grab of the VOD rights to Dave Grohl‘s documentary Sound City, but has also acquired the VOD rights to three films from Sundance’s sister festival Slamdance: The Bitter Buddha, He’s Way More Famous Than You, and Wild in the Streets.
The Bitter Buddha is a documentary about comedian Eddie Pepitone, who might not be a household name but is a comedian that most big-name comedians respect, including Patton Oswalt and Zach Galifianakis, who are featured in the documentary. The Bitter Buddha will be in select theaters on February 15 and on VOD on February 19.
Wild in the Streets, which debuts on VOD on April 23, is adocumentary about a violent football game that takes place in Ashbourne, England every year. The game takes place throughout the town with thousands of players — that sounds amazing. Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones star Sean Bean narrates.
He’s Way More Famous Than You, directed by Michael Urie (star of TV’s Ugly Betty), is about indie actress Halley Feiffer (played by Halley Feiffer herself, naturally) who is willing to do just about anything to become an even bigger star. The comedy will debut on VOD on April 8 and will be followed by a limited theatrical run staring May 10.
Lots of other distributors are acquiring films, though few have made announcements on platform release strategies. Some that are likely to have a wide VOD release include:
- Magnolia, the master of the multi-platform release, acquired Prince Avalance, directed by David Gordon Green and starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch
- The Weinstein Company’s VOD distributor Radius-TWC has acquired Lovelace, the biopic of Deep Throat porn star Linda Lovelace starring Amanda Seyfried
- Radius-TWC also acquired the documentary Twenty Feet From Stardom, which is about backup singers
I’ll have more details relating to VOD in next week’s VOD Overdose!
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