Tag: Searchlight Pictures

‘Testament of Ann Lee’ Available Digitally March 10

Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures will release The Testament of Ann Lee through digital retail platforms March 10.

From director Mona Fastvold, The Testament of Ann Lee depicts the story of the founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers. Amanda Seyfried stars as the Shaker’s revered, irrepressible leader who preaches gender and social equality. With reimagined Shaker hymns, the film captures Lee’s ecstasy and agony in her quest to build a utopia.

Calling Lee a “wild feminist religious leader in late 1700s America,” Fastvold said she was inspired to make the film because she believed Lee had been completely overlooked by history. “This film is offered as a tribute to her dream — and the silence that now surrounds it,” Fastvold said in a statement.

The film was written by Fastvold and Brady Corbet, and also stars Thomasin Mckenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson and Christopher Abbott. It earned $2.5 million at the domestic box office and earned Seyfried a best actress nomination at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards.

The home entertainment release with select retailers includes the bonus featurette “The Testament of Ann Lee: A Special Look,” in which the filmmakers and cast members delve into the making of the film.

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Searchlight’s ‘Is This Thing On?’ Available Digitally Feb. 10, on Disc March 17

Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures’ Is This Thing On? will be available for digital purchase and rental starting Feb. 10, followed by a release on DVD and as a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc combo March 17.

The film stars Will Arnett and Laura Dern as a couple who have reached the end of their marriage and are dealing with an impending divorce. He seeks new purpose in New York’s comedy clubs, where his stand-up act serves as a form of therapy, while she confronts the sacrifices she made for their family, forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.

Is This Thing On? was directed by Bradley Cooper, who also appears in the film, and was co-written by Cooper, Arnett and Mark Chappell, based on the life of English comedian John Bishop, who shares a story credit. The cast also includes Andra Day, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle.

The film earned $6.1 million at the domestic box office, $10.9 million worldwide.

The home entertainment release includes the behind-the-scenes featurette “Mic Drop: Making Is This Thing On?”

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‘Rental Family’ Available Digitally Jan. 13, on Blu-ray Disc Feb. 17

Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures will release the comedic drama Rental Family for digital purchase and rental Jan. 13, followed by a Blu-ray Disc release Feb. 17.

Directed by Hikari (“Tokyo Vice,” “Beef”), the film stars Brendan Fraser as a has-been American actor living in Tokyo, where he is searching for purpose and a sense of belonging in a society where he feels increasingly adrift. An unexpected acting call leads him to a “rental family” agency, where he is hired to play stand-in roles for strangers seeking connection. As performance begins to blur with reality, the immersive role-playing awakens his humanity and compassion, drawing him deeply into his clients’ lives and pushing him off-script whenever his empathetic heart takes over.

The film earned $10.7 million at the global box office.

Home entertainment bonus material includes the behind-the-scenes featurette “Rental Family Revealed” and nine deleted/extended scenes.

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Searchlight’s Oscar-Nominated ‘A Complete Unknown’ Due Digitally Feb. 25, on Disc April 1

Searchlight Pictures’ Academy Award-nominated Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown will be released through digital retailers Feb. 25, and on Blu-ray Disc and 4K Ultra HD disc April 1.

The film has earned $96.9 million at the global box office.

Directed by Academy Award nominee James Mangold and starring Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown offers an intimate portrayal of Bob Dylan’s transformative years in the early 1960s. Chalamet stars and sings as Dylan, capturing his evolution from a burgeoning folk artist to a cultural icon. The film delves into Dylan’s relationships with contemporaries such as Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), and Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), whose influence shaped his early sound and whose reaction to Dylan’s electric set at Newport became the stuff of legend. The film also stars Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash.

Set in New York in 1961 against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, the film follows an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota who arrives with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. He forges intimate relationships with music icons of Greenwich Village on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking and controversial performance that reverberates worldwide.

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Featuring live renditions of Dylan’s most celebrated songs, A Complete Unknown has been nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Mangold) and Best Actor (Chalamet) as well as six BAFTA Awards including Best Actor (Chalamet), Best Supporting Actor (Norton) and Best Picture, and three Golden Globe Awards nominations including Best Actor (Chalamet), Best Supporting Actor (Norton) and Best Drama Picture.  The film also received four SAG Awards nominations including for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, and a PGA and WGA Awards nomination. Mangold was nominated for the DGA Awards, his first DGA nod.

Bonus features on digital include “The Making of A Complete Unknown” and audio commentary by James Mangold. 

 

Golden Globe-Lauded ‘A Real Pain’ to Stream on Hulu Starting Jan. 16

Searchlight Pictures’ comedy-drama A Real Pain, which earned star Kieran Culkin a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe, will start streaming on Hulu Jan. 16.

The film — which picked up a total of four Globe nominations including for Best Picture, Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Best Screenplay — follows mismatched cousins David and Benji, who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

The film also won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and was named one of AFI’s Top 10 Movies of 2024.

A Real Pain has earned $9.7 million at the global box office.

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Searchlight’s ‘Kinds of Kindness’ Due Digitally Aug. 27, on Disc Oct. 8

Searchlight Pictures’ Kinds of Kindness will be released on digital retail platforms on Aug. 27 and on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on Oct. 8.

Kinds of Kindness is a triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life, a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person, and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

From Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos, the dark comedy features a cast led by Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Willem Dafoe.

Kinds of Kindness won the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award for Jesse Plemons.

The home release includes exclusive behind-the-scenes bonus features and deleted scenes. The featurette “It Takes All Kinds: The Vision of Kinds of Kindness” takes a behind-the-scenes look at the sets, costumes, cinematography and music.

Oscar-Nominated ‘Poor Things’ Available Digitally Feb. 27, Blu-ray and DVD March 12

Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things will be available from all major digital retailers Feb. 27 and will be available on Blu-ray and DVD March 12, with exclusive bonus content.

Winner of Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actress (Motion Picture Musical or Comedy) for Emma Stone at this year’s Golden Globe Awards, Poor Things has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards and 11 BAFTA Awards. The film was also named one of the 10 best films of 2023 by both the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review. It won the Golden Lion prize at Venice.

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes a tale about the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

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The film also stars Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott and Jerrod Carmichael.

Extras include a making-of featurette and deleted scenes.

 

‘All of Us Strangers’ Headed for Digital Purchase, Hulu Streaming Debut on Feb. 22

 Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has announced a Feb. 22 home release date for Searchlight Pictures’ All of Us Strangers, with the film from English director Andrew Haigh becoming available to buy from major digital retailers such as Vudu and Prime Video and stream on Hulu.

Hailed as best film of the year by both the Los Angeles Times and USA Today, All of Us Strangers begins one night in a near-empty tower block in contemporary London, where Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal). As a relationship develops between them, Adam is preoccupied with memories of the past and finds himself drawn back to the suburban town where he grew up, and the childhood home where his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) appear to be living, just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before.

The digital release comes with exclusive behind-the-scenes bonus content. 

Searchlight’s Historical Drama ‘Chevalier’ Due Digitally June 16

Searchlight Pictures’ historical drama Chevalier will be available via digital retailers June 16.

The film is inspired by the true story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) rises to improbable heights in French society as a celebrated violinist-composer and fencer, complete with an ill-fated love affair and a falling out with Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton) and her court.

Extras include the behind-the-scenes featurette “Chevalier: Note By Note,” exploring the untold story of Bologne.

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Golden Globe-Lauded Satire ‘The Menu’ Due on Digital Jan. 3, Disc Jan. 17

Disney will serve up the Searchlight Pictures dark satire The Menu on digital Jan. 3 and on Blu-ray and DVD Jan. 17.

Directed by Mark Mylod (“Succession”), the outrageous tale of fine dining has earned Golden Globe nods for Best Actor for Ralph Fiennes and for Best Actress for Anya Taylor-Joy.

In the film, a young couple (Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travels to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. 

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The film also stars Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Reed Birney, Judith Light and John Leguizamo.

Extras include a making-of featurette and deleted scenes.

 

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