Wendy (2020) - Benh Zeitlin

[CelestialAgent]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wendy-Blu-r...dp/B09JLDJYRK/

WENDY [Official UK Trailer / Elysian] - YouTube

Wendy is an unfortunately forgotten recent film - Benh Zeitlin's follow up feature to Beasts of the Southern Wild was released at the end of February 2020 in the US on the eve of the pandemic by Searchlight Pictures/Disney, and one of the last Fox titles to be financed by TSG, taking in a mere $143,518 against a $6 million budget. The critical response was mixed and on Letterboxd, only 6200 people have logged it (I'm not sure if it's on HBO Max or other platforms).

Like other recent Searchlight and 20th Century Studios titles, it's been bereft of a physical release, which has been the case for titles like A Hidden Life, Downhill, Underwater in the majority of territories, Lucy in the Sky, The Empty Man, Summer of Soul in all territories and The Personal History of David Copperfield domestically.

However, the belated international rollout has begun, with Disney selling the film to local distributors (the Searchlight logo and the copyright to 20th Century Fox Film Corporation remain in the credits and in the trailer). A French Blu-ray from Condor is already planned. Back in August, Elysian released the film to 13 UK screens where it played a week, covering the Picturehouse chain but I'm not sure any others. Elysian have already released a few Blu-rays like Earwig and the Witch and Prisoners of the Ghostland.

Lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, Wendy must fight to save her family, her freedom, and the joyous spirit of youth from the deadly peril of growing up. The classic story of Peter Pan is wildly reimagined in this ragtag epic starring a stunning cast of young actors, headlined by Devin France in the title role of Wendy.

Extras:

Behind The Scenes: The Making of WENDY
Deleted Scenes
UK Theatrical Trailer

It's worth noting that there are two films produced during Wendy's production that were initially screened during the experimental online film festival Prismatic Ground during lockdown. One is the short film Dadli, which doesn't have much in common with the feature film besides being shot on the same island of Antigua by the film's 2nd unit.

https://vimeo.com/293621559

However, Bill and Turner Ross produced the similarly poetic and visual feature length documentary Second Star To The Right And Straight On 'Til Morning chronicling production, which Fox rejected for not being typical EPK material, which is available on Vimeo as a rental.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/secondstar

[StLouisRibs]

Slight correction: The Empty Man did recieve a physical release in Australia, but only a DVD.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by StLouisRibs

Slight correction: The Empty Man did recieve a physical release in Australia, but only a DVD.

Yeah I couldn't imagine watching it in 480 pixels when it's available digitally in 4K.

[Aunt Peg]

Wendy went straight to streaming last year in Australia and got a DVD only release through Madman.

Downhill & Underwater also received DVD only releases in Australia. I recall Downhill opening in cinemas just prior to the 20 March lockdown.

There are a big group of films which I refer to as 'COVID films'. Basically anything that's release was derailed by the pandemic. It is depressingly long list of films and in many cases has had terrible implications for the physical media release of many of the films.

[samdaman94]

This is a beautiful, underrated film. The score is one of the best of the year.