Great_Masterful Films that were never shown in theaters

[ESOG]

After posting my recent topic about the film, There Will be Blood starring the great Daniel Day-Lewis, it got me thinking about the many films I have viewed over the years which were exceptionally good and IMO surpassed any film that was being shown on/for the big screen/theaters.

So, I query the opinions of the great many film buffs within the PH masses to reply listing as many, or as few of YOUR very own films which meet the criteria, that being very simply - films which you found to be exceptional, and yet were never shown in theaters and therefore never shown upon the big screen.

Maybe a word or two about the film and why you chose it.

Here is a very short list of mine to get things rolling a bit...

THERE WILL BE BLOOD starring you guessed it, Mr. Daniel Day-Lewis.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei and 1 or 2 other known actors.



- ESOG -

[AndrewEH1]

But 'There Will Be Blood' was in theatres?

[Lynchie999]

ESOG said:

After posting my recent topic about the film, There Will be Blood starring the great Daniel Day-Lewis, it got me thinking about the many films I have viewed over the years which were exceptionally good and IMO surpassed any film that was being shown on/for the big screen/theaters.

So, I query the opinions of the great many film buffs within the PH masses to reply listing as many, or as few of YOUR very own films which meet the criteria, that being very simply - films which you found to be exceptional, and yet were never shown in theaters and therefore never shown upon the big screen.

Maybe a word or two about the film and why you chose it.

Here is a very short list of mine to get things rolling a bit...

THERE WILL BE BLOOD starring you guessed it, Mr. Daniel Day-Lewis.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei and 1 or 2 other known actors.



- ESOG -

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD >> I watched this too in a "arthouse" theatre when it was first released...

[JohnStitch]

I'm pretty sure The Shawshank Redemption was a straight to VHS film in the UK - I remember renting it from the local Ritz video shop and they only had one copy there, so wasn't even a big hit when it first came out.

[P-Jay]

'Mr. Turner' springs to mind, nominated for 4 Oscars, 4 BAFTAS, Won twice at Cannes, outstanding reviews from critics. Opened to a small amount of Cinemas in the US and I think stright to DVD in the UK.

Not really mainstream though.

[Oakey]

JohnStitch said:

I'm pretty sure The Shawshank Redemption was a straight to VHS film in the UK - I remember renting it from the local Ritz video shop and they only had one copy there, so wasn't even a big hit when it first came out.

Nah, I'm sure I remember the poster on the side of the cinema.

[ESOG]

Lynchie999 said:

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD >> I watched this too in a "arthouse" theatre when it was first released...

What did you think of it?

[ESOG]

LOL fellas, lets not be so technical :roflmao: neither of these films were released in nationwide theaters, so that'll be the new criteria

[Oakey]

ESOG said:

LOL fellas, lets not be so technical :roflmao: neither of these films were released in nationwide theaters, so that'll be the new criteria

What are you talking about?

There Will Be Blood

£106,100 (UK) (30 March 2008) (112 Screens)
£141,804 (UK) (23 March 2008) (113 Screens)
£224,718 (UK) (16 March 2008) (179 Screens)
£400,190 (UK) (9 March 2008) (199 Screens)
£604,886 (UK) (2 March 2008) (193 Screens)
£506,971 (UK) (24 February 2008) (137 Screens)
£540,472 (UK) (17 February 2008) (121 Screens)
£215,490 (UK) (10 February 2008) (24 Screens)

[Halb]

AndrewEH1 said:

But 'There Will Be Blood' was in theatres?

Yes.
People miss films at the cinema, some films get long screenings, some get short, and the size of the release can differ. Shawshank was on general UK release.

I doubt there will be any films mentioned here that were not on general release.

There was a slew of direct to video 'mini-hits' in the 80s, like the Jack Deth series, and there are/were the Disney sequels started in the 90s, but popular direct to video 'hits' are very rare, there is normally a really good reason why a film is chosen to go straight to the home video market.

[Beati Dogu]

Oakey said:

ESOG said:

LOL fellas, lets not be so technical :roflmao: neither of these films were released in nationwide theaters, so that'll be the new criteria

What are you talking about?

There Will Be Blood

£106,100 (UK) (30 March 2008) (112 Screens)
£141,804 (UK) (23 March 2008) (113 Screens)
£224,718 (UK) (16 March 2008) (179 Screens)
£400,190 (UK) (9 March 2008) (199 Screens)
£604,886 (UK) (2 March 2008) (193 Screens)
£506,971 (UK) (24 February 2008) (137 Screens)
£540,472 (UK) (17 February 2008) (121 Screens)
£215,490 (UK) (10 February 2008) (24 Screens)

He's in the US.

[Lynchie999]

ESOG said:

Lynchie999 said:

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD >> I watched this too in a "arthouse" theatre when it was first released...

What did you think of it?

I can't remember much of it... i'll watch again, I have it on DVD...

[KaraK]

Battle Royale springs to mind.. controversies over it's rather extereme violence meant it never got a proper mass release in the west but it's a damn good film. JCVD is another, it's about as far from a "typical" Van Damme film as you can get but it's bloody good and who in the hell knew that the guy could actually act?

I don't think Primer got a wide release and while it's a masterpiece IMHO it actually wouldn't work at the cinema so that's probably for the best!

Edit: And of course - how can I forget Black Dynamite!

Edited by KaraK on Thursday 21st July 17:25

Edited by KaraK on Friday 22 July 09:03

[Oakey]

Beati Dogu said:

He's in the US.

Weekend Gross
$5,072 (USA) (27 April 2008) (9 Screens)
$11,594 (USA) (20 April 2008) (25 Screens)
$21,349 (USA) (13 April 2008) (40 Screens)
$69,687 (USA) (6 April 2008) (124 Screens)
$180,946 (USA) (30 March 2008) (263 Screens)
$211,636 (USA) (23 March 2008) (224 Screens)
$346,935 (USA) (16 March 2008) (339 Screens)
$649,414 (USA) (9 March 2008) (643 Screens)
$1,547,177 (USA) (2 March 2008) (1,248 Screens)
$2,687,229 (USA) (24 February 2008) (1,402 Screens)
$3,674,271 (USA) (17 February 2008) (1,410 Screens)
$3,978,322 (USA) (10 February 2008) (1,620 Screens)
$4,654,162 (USA) (3 February 2008) (1,507 Screens)
$4,869,383 (USA) (27 January 2008) (885 Screens)
$3,661,992 (USA) (20 January 2008) (389 Screens)
$1,860,333 (USA) (13 January 2008) (129 Screens)
$1,321,144 (USA) (6 January 2008) (51 Screens)

[ukaskew]

Duel is exceptional piece of filmmaking, I love it. Probably too 10 Spielberg for me, which is saying a lot (Jaws #1, obviously!)

Battle Royale is another good shout, don't remember that making it out of London a great deal.

Also much of the Studio Ghibli output pre Spirited Away never got released here (Mononoke did a few arthouses iirc), so that's two of my all time favourites on the list (Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro).

[KaraK]

ukaskew said:

Duel is exceptional piece of filmmaking, I love it. Probably too 10 Spielberg for me, which is saying a lot (Jaws #1, obviously!)

Battle Royale is another good shout, don't remember that making it out of London a great deal.

Also much of the Studio Ghibli output pre Spirited Away never got released here (Mononoke did a few arthouses iirc), so that's two of my all time favourites on the list (Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbour Totoro).

Love Ghibli stuff! Have you seen The Wind Rises?

[glazbagun]

KaraK said:

Battle Royale springs to mind.. controversies over it's rather extereme violence meant it never got a proper mass release in the west but it's a damn good film. JCVD is another, it's about as far from a "typical" Van Damme film as you can get but it's bloody good and who in the hell knew that the guy could actually act?

I don't think Primer got a wide release and while it's a masterpiece IMHO it actually wouldn't work at the cinema so that's probably for the best!

Edit: And of course - how can I forget Black Dynamite!

Is JCVD the one when he's stuck in a post office? That was a great film!

[ukaskew]

KaraK said:

Love Ghibli stuff! Have you seen The Wind Rises?

Yes, really nicely made but wasn't my favourite to be honest. I prefer the whimsical/weird stuff!

[bodhi]

glazbagun said:

KaraK said:

Battle Royale springs to mind.. controversies over it's rather extereme violence meant it never got a proper mass release in the west but it's a damn good film. JCVD is another, it's about as far from a "typical" Van Damme film as you can get but it's bloody good and who in the hell knew that the guy could actually act?

I don't think Primer got a wide release and while it's a masterpiece IMHO it actually wouldn't work at the cinema so that's probably for the best!

Edit: And of course - how can I forget Black Dynamite!

Is JCVD the one when he's stuck in a post office? That was a great film!

That's the one. iirc the line was long the lines of "Jean Claude Van Damme is robbing a bank, I think I'm going to need backup".

[Halb]

KaraK said:

Love Ghibli stuff! Have you seen The Wind Rises?

I love Ghibli. Film4 had a season of heir films on a while back. I watched the ones that had subs, not the dubbed ones, they really do fk up the feel. Though I do admit to liking the dubbed version of Castle in the Sky, since that's the version I watched when it was shown on C4 way back in 1992/?

Grave of the Fireflies, that's a ribtickler.