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Sundance champ 'Birth of a Nation' chose Fox over Netflix
This weekend Nate Parker's film The Birth of a Nation won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury and Audience prizes for a drama, just days after signing a record $17.5 million distribution deal with Fox Searchlight. That was in contrast to a number of other flicks that ended up signing with Netflix or Amazon, and there's a reason. While reports from The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter claim Netflix offered as much as $20 million during an all night bidding war, Parker wanted a large theatrical release for the movie. While Netflix movies are open for theatrical releases, so far they've had extremely limited showings because the company insists on offering them for streaming on the same day -- most theater owners don't want the competition.
Fox's journey into virtual reality begins with 'Wild'
Virtual reality is going to the movies and Hollywood's excited about it. Or, at the very least, the execs at 20th Century Fox's specialty division Fox Searchlight are cautiously and thoughtfully wading into the deep end of this new medium. For its film Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, the studio has crafted what it's calling a companion VR piece with the help of Montreal-based VR artists/directors Paul Raphaël and Félix Lajeunesse, and it was demoed at CES in Las Vegas this week for select press.
DirecTV, Comcast, Vudu could start offering 'premium VOD' $30 movie rentals in April
Despite the questionable appeal of watching movies two months after they come out in theaters for $30 a pop, The Hollywood Reporter reports Warner Bros., Sony, Fox and Universal are going ahead with their premium video on-demand scheme. According to the always helpful unnamed insiders, DirecTV will be launching the service nationally at the end of April, with Walmart-backed Vudu and a regional launch by Comcast soon after. Company Town mentions movies like The Adjustment Bureau, Paul, or Just Go With It could be among launch titles. There's no word on DRM although apparently Paramount has taken a pass specifically due to piracy concerns -- theater owners aren't happy either -- so we'll just wait and see if the quality of scene rips suddenly make a jump by this time next month. Either way, expect some new variation of Gregor and his lap giraffe to make an appearance soon.
