Limited and VOD Releases: Will Emma Make Audiences Fall in Love?
February 21, 2020
There are plenty of well-reviewed limited releases on this week’s list, including Emma, which is also earning the loudest buzz. I’m personally most interested in seeing Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll, but True Fiction, Vitalina Varela, and some others are also intriguing.
Emma - Reviews
Goldie - Reviews
The Last Thing He Wanted - Reviews
The Night Clerk - Reviews
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band - Reviews
Premature - Reviews
Ride Your Wave - Reviews
Seberg - Reviews
True Fiction - Reviews
Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll - Reviews
Vitalina Varela - Reviews
Young Ahmed - Reviews
Secondary VOD Releases:
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This film was supposed to open in limited release this week and then expand wide next week; however, that plan has changed and it is only expanding into less than 100 theaters next week. It might do well enough to justify further expansion, but I’m not sure. The subject matter is certainly something that art house aficionados enjoy, as it is a period drama, but its average review score is just under 7 out of 10 and I don’t think that’s enough to generate the word-of-mouth needed to thrive.
Video on Demand
Goldie wants to become a dancer, but she also has to fight to keep her and her two younger sisters together after their mother is arrested. The reviews are great, but it is playing on VOD, so I don’t have much hope for its box office chances.
This film has more star power than most limited releases could dream of… It also has the worst reviews of any film on this week’s list by a large margin. Moving on.
Video on Demand
Tye Sheridan stars as the titular night clerk at a hotel. He is on the autism spectrum and decides to secretly record the guests in order to observe them and practice social interactions. When one of his customers is killed, he becomes the prime suspect, but he can’t show his footage to the cops to prove he’s innocent. It is the wrong genre for limited release, the reviews are mixed, and it is playing on VOD. That’s three strikes.
This rockumentary doesn’t have the reviews needed to survive limited release and even fans of the band, called The Band, will likely not be satisfied.
Video on Demand
Zora Howard stars as Ayanna, a 17-year old who falls in love the summer before heading off to college. The reviews are fantastic, but it is playing on VOD, so it will likely go nowhere in theaters.
The latest anime release from GKIDS, who recently had their best box office success with Weathering With You. This film won’t do as well, but it did earn nearly $300,000 during its Wednesday special engagement, which isn’t a bad debut.
Kristen Stewart is earning a lot of praise for her central performance, but most critics agree she is the only truly good thing about this movie. That’s too bad, because I would like to see her get some bigger roles in some better movies.
Video on Demand
A Canadian horror movie about a writer’s assistant who thinks her boss might be a serial killer, and that she might be his next victim. There are not enough reviews on Rotten Tomatoes to normally make the list and it is a horror movie playing on VOD, so its box office chances are zero. That said, all seven reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, so that’s a good sign.
Violet Evergarden is from my favorite anime studio, Kyoto Animation, which suffered a tragic attack last year. It is one of their best shows and while the movie isn’t as good as the show was, it still deserves a much wider audience here. Also, Kyoto Animation deserves a lot of support.
This is one of the best-reviewed films of the year so far. It is a Portuguese film about a widow traveling days after her husband’s funeral. The film should do well on the art house circuit, but I don’t think it will expand significantly, as foreign-language films rarely do.
A coming of age / culture clash film that has more reviews than most other films on this week’s list, but its reviews are mixed and that will kill its box office chances.
There are several films debuting on VOD this week, but all but one of them earned enough reviews to be featured on the main list and that film is earning 100% positive reviews, so I included it above anyway.
Filed under: Limited Releases, VOD Releases, Home Market Releases, Seberg, The Night Clerk, The Last Thing He Wanted, Goldie, Emma., Le jeune Ahmed, Kimi to, nami ni noretara, Weathering with You (天気の子), Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou, Vitalina Varela, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, Premature, True Fiction, Kristen Stewart, Tye Sheridan, Slick Woods, Zora Howard