Entertainment One Being Selective with What Hits BD in Canada

[Rhylliam]

I've been rather busy since the start of October, as I have moved to Calgary from Winnipeg. Now that I'm settled into a new home, I have been able to buy and watch some movies finally. There were a couple of movies that I missed in theatres, and figured I would blind buy or rent them as I do not have VOD. One such film was 'Calvary' starring Brendan Gleeson. On the day of release, I was in a Wal-Mart and the DVD was prominently displayed on their new release shelf and beside it was an empty slot. Naturally, I assumed they either sold out of or didn't receive their Blu-ray copies. A quick search on HMV.ca and amazon.ca indicates that no such Canadian Blu-ray exists. Being that it was a newer film, I found that rather strange. A day or two later I was in my local rental store (Casablanca on McLeod Trail) and noticed they only had a DVD copy for 'Wish I Was Here'. Did another search online, and sure enough it is yet another film that did not receive a Blu-ray release here in Canada. E-One also released a feature-less DVD for 'The Immigrant' and no BD, while the US has neither (glad I got the France BD, but it has flaws..).

Looking at future releases, 'The Trip to Italy', 'Swearnet: The Movie' and 'Dr. Cabbie' are getting DVD only releases on Dec. 23rd. 'Before I Go to Sleep' hits DVD only here on Jan. 6th. Both 'Swearnet' and 'Trip to Italy' I was going to blind buy, now I'm going to import/wait I guess.

At first I thought that this was just a rights issue of some kind. But as you can see by the list below, the titles aren't all released by a sole studio in the US, its a bunch of 'em.

So I suppose importing will now become more popular among Canadians on the boards. Those who don't frequent Bluray forums may end up buying DVD copies since its all that's available in stores. Amazon.ca does at least have a lot of these titles as imports, but the prices can be a little steep and stay that high for some time.

Anyways, this list is definitely not complete. A lot of the major/minor titles from 2013 to Jan. 2015 that were given DVD releases only in Canada, but have US Blu-rays are on the list.

-13 Sins (6/17/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-14 Blades (9/2/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-20 Feet from Stardom (1/14/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-Afflicted (7/1/14) - Released by Sony in USA
-All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (12/3/13) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-Anger Management Season 1 (1/8/13) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-Anger Management Season 2 (10/15/13) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-Anger Management Season 3 (4/15/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-The Art of the Steal (5/6/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in the USA
-Before I Go to Sleep (1/6/15) - Released by Fox in USA
-Blue Ruin (7/22/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-Calvary (12/9/14) - Released by Fox in USA
-Chinese Puzzle (10/14/14) - Released by Cohen Media Group in USA
-Cuban Fury (6/9/14) - Released by E-One in USA
-Date and Switch (4/15/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-Diana (2/11/14) - Released by EOne in USA
-Dr. Cabbie (12/23/14)
-Fed Up (9/9/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-Fruitvale Station (1/14/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-Gambit (5/27/14) - Released by Sony in USA
-Haunter (2/11/14) - Released by IFC in USA
-Hellbenders (2/18/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-How I Live Now (2/11/14) - Released by Magnolia in USA
-I'll Follow You Down (8/5/14) - Released by Well Go USA in USA
-The Immigrant (12/16/14) - Released in France
-Justin Bieber's Believe (4/7/14) - Released by Universal in USA
-Kill Your Darlings (3/18/14) - Released by Sony in USA
-The One I Love (11/4/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-Orange is the New Black (5/13/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-Railway Man (8/12/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-The Right Kind of Wrong (5/20/14) - Released by Magnolia in USA
-Rosemary's Baby: Miniseries (8/19/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-The Rover (9/23/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-See No Evil 2 (10/21/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-The Signal (9/23/14) - Released by Universal in USA
-Stage Fright (7/8/14) - Released by Magnolia in USA
-Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (10/7/14) - Released by Anchor Bay in USA
-Swearnet: The Movie (12/23/14)
-They Came Together (9/2/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-The To Do List (11/19/13) - Released by Sony in USA
-The Trip to Italy (12/23/14) - Released by IFC in USA
-Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (11/25/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-Tyler Perry's Single Moms Club (7/22/14) - Released by Lionsgate in USA
-Walk of Shame (6/17/14) - Released by Universal in USA
-Wish I Was Here (10/28/14) - Released by Focus/Universal in USA
-Wolf Creek 2 (6/24/14) - Released by Image in USA

Both VVS and Mongrel have gotten much better with issuing films on both DVD and Blu-ray. I'm hoping that will continue.