Essie Davis and Nathan Page.
From today Australia’s Phryne Fisher fans can download copies of Every Cloud Productions’ Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears on iTunes, Google Play and other digital platforms for $24.99.
The Tony Tilse-directed murder mystery/romance is among a bunch of Roadshow and Warner Bros. titles that are getting expedited sell-through releases.
The usual 90-day window is being relaxed temporarily in exceptional circumstances: The COVID-19 pandemic and closure of cinemas.
Owen Trevor’s GO! (which has been screening on Netflix outside Australia and China under the original title Go Karts since February 27) and Warner Bros. titles Midway, Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn and Just Mercy were released digitally in the past few days.
This week The Gentlemen, Richard Jewell and Motherless Brooklyn will go out, followed on April 15 by The Way Back.
“These are some of our most popular releases of the year and we are pleased to be able to bring them in to Australian homes, express from the cinemas, in these extraordinary times,” said Roadshow Films CEO Joel Pearlman.
Universal Pictures was the first studio to release films on-demand earlier this month in the US while they were still in cinemas with The Invisible Man, Emma and The Hunt.
Earlier this month the Walt Disney Company decided to make Frozen 2 available three months ahead of schedule on Disney+ in Australia from March 17.
Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing Emma, which played theatrically for six weeks before cinemas went dark, and The Invisible Man on Premium VoD (PVoD) on April 1.
The distributor is making Bloodshot, which grossed $1.1 million in two weeks, available on early sell-through on April 1.
The Essie Davis- Nathan Page starrer grossed $3 million before the closure. The Gentlemen had raked in $15.1 million, Birds of Prey $10.9 million, The Invisible Man $7.9 million and The Way Back a lousy $612,000.
More expedited releases are being planned as cinemas look likely to be closed for six months or more. For example, Roadshow has just dated Patty Jenkins’ WB superhero pic Wonder Woman 1984 for August 13, the day before the US.