News

Munich-based Koch Films has struck a deal with Studiocanal Germany to take over the distributor’s entire sales and logistics activities for all physical home entertainment activities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Studiocanal’s extensive portfolio comprises new releases, series and classic catalog titles such as Francis Ford Coppola’s newly restored 1983 teen drama “The Outsiders” and David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” as well as works by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Margarethe von Trotta.

The agreement pools Studiocanal and Koch Films’ strengths and bolsters their market position in the home entertainment sector over the long term, the companies said.

Studiocanal’s Arthaus label includes such recently restored films as Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”; Ousmane Sembène’s 1968 Senegalese classic “Mandabi”; and Richard Kelly’s “Donnie Darko” as well as German titles like Reinhard Hauff’s 1975 drama “The Brutalization of Franz Blum,” featuring Jürgen Prochnow...

Exclusive: Ed Harris has set Robert Duvall and Garret Hedlund to star in The Ploughmen. This will be the third film that Harris directs, after Pollock and Appaloosa. Harris wrote the screenplay, adapted from Kim Zupan’s 2014 debut novel. Amy Madigan and newcomer Lily Harris are also set for the film.

Pic is slated to begin filming in early May on location in the Missouri Breaks area of Montana, and in New Mexico.

Ginger Sledge of Zenzero Pictures is set to produce, as is Robert Knott who produced Appaloosa together with Sledge and Harris.

The Ploughmen is the story of the strange friendship that develops between a haunted young deputy sheriff and a notorious old murderer that turns both their worlds upside down. The men sit across from each other in the dark, talking through the bars of a county jail cell.

Now that October is officially underway, that means we have a big week of Blu-ray and DVD releases to get excited for, and there are some great genre-related titles coming out on Tuesday. Universal Studios Home Entertainment is unleashing both Tales from the Hood 2 and The First Purge on multiple formats, and for fans of action cinema, Death Race: Beyond Anarchy races home this week, too. Kino Lorber is giving both The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler the limited edition treatment, and for those who enjoy indie horror, Feral, Housewife,and Blood Fest are certainly all worth your time.

Other notable releases for October 2nd include Extremity, Molly, The Legend of Halloween Jack, The Evil Dead in 4K, Sleep No More, and West of Hell, with Rob Zombie’s Halloween getting a Steelbook release as well.

The First Purge

Blumhouse Productions welcomes you to the movement that began as...

Before the influential Kolchak: The Night Stalker series aired on ABC in the mid-’70s, Darren McGavin brought the titular investigative reporter to life for the first time in the 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker, which is getting a 4K restoration Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber this October, along with its 1973 sequel, The Night Strangler.

Announced on Facebook and Twitter, The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler Blu-rays will be released on October 2nd in the Us. Each release will come with a new 4K restoration, a new audio commentary with film historian Tim Lucas, and other new special features.

Below, we have the announcements from Kino Lorber, as well as a look at the new cover art by Sean Phillips. Let us know if you'll be adding these releases to your home media collection, and in case you missed it, read Scott Drebit's It Came From the Tube column...

Germany's Explosive Media company has a serious itch for American westerns, and they have a trio of new releases. One is a minor Hollywood classic with major graces, from the late 1950s. A second sees an American producer based in England filming in Italy with a rising international star, and for the third an established American star goes European  to stay in the game. The best thing for Yankee buyers? The discs are Region-free.

Gunman's Walk, Land Raiders, A Man Called Sledge Three Westerns from Explosive Media Blu-ray Separate Releases 1958-1970 / Color Starring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter; George Maharis, Telly Savalas; James Garner

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The majority of American studios now choose not to market their libraries for digital disc, and license them out instead. Collectors unwilling to settle for whatever's on Netflix or concerned about the permanence of Cloud Cinema, find themselves increasingly tempted by discs from Europe,...