IFC Films Picks Up ‘Welcome To The Punch’ U.S. Rights

COMMENTS (12)

• Sounds terribly original.

  Comment by Roger C. — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 10:23am PDT  Reply to this post

• Originality is overrated. Give me well acted, well written and well executed in an elevated genre piece…and I’m in.

  Comment by mills — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 10:41am PDT  Reply to this post

• Great actors–James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Reisborough, David Morrissey; red hot new Brit director/writer Eran Creevy; stylish photography in London docks–hope ‘Welcome to the Punch’ shows up at Toronto.

  (Roger C.: There aren’t many ‘original’ plots when reduced to a couple of lines. Besides, as various productions of, say, ‘Hamlet’ prove–you can take the exact same plot and lines, add different director and actors–and voila! one is revelatory, another…not.)

  Comment by Finn — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 10:44am PDT  Reply to this post

• This film is almost certainly awful. IFC doesn’t acquire quality product. They practically define pump and dump. Their Sundance Selects imprint tends to offer better quality product but even that line has had a spotty track record over the last two years.

  I think the average IFC title tends to get less than 20% on Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic. They look for films with name actors that bombed with critics and festival audiences, or had market screenings and were rejected by all other studios.

  Comment by ian — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 12:31pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • hands down the WORST distributor with a miserable track record is

    ANCHOR BAY!

    the perfect name for them since every release gets dragged to the bottom of the bay like a giant anchor!

    Comment by oneyeopen — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 4:43pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • IFC and Anchor Bay have very similar business models. I agree with you though, Anchor Bay is somehow even worse. These companies are barely above straight-to-dvd.

      Comment by Ian — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 6:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Buzz in London is that it’s fantastic. Big release coming up in UK. Sold out worldwide. Sounds awesome to me. But go ahead, knock it before you see it.

  Comment by Jonny — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 1:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I remember all the “great buzz” surrounding On the Road when IFC picked that up. People said that it was going to be different than what IFC typically releases. It’s going to be a great movie!

  Two weeks later it bombed at Cannes and was one of the worst reviewed films in the main competition.

  IFC = Poor. Remember their films are released day and date on demand. So this is going to have a very small theatrical release. If it was such a great, commercial action film with a high profile cast…it would have went to a major studio.

  Comment by ian — Wednesday July 18, 2012 @ 2:57pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Saw this film 2 weeks ago. Very very good. London looks like it’s never been shot properly before, performances were top draw by a great cast, kickass action scenes. Evan Creevy has a big future. Looks like IFC might have finally found a good film to release.

  Comment by inkheart1 — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 12:44am PDT  Reply to this post

• I think what distributors are after is not a good film but films they think will sell best. Many times they get it wrong. I really appreciate McAvoy’s work and from what I’ve see so far about it, “Welcome to the Punch” will rock!!!

  Comment by Geoff — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 12:48am PDT  Reply to this post

• Glad to read some positive comments from someone who has actually SEEN the film instead of just assuming it’s going to be bad. I agree with others who’ve commented on here about James McAvoy and his amazing talent. He’s a brilliant actor and I can’t wait to see WttP!—one of five movies in McAvoy’s lineup, including the two movie Eleanor Rigby being filmed in New York right now. Those three along with Trance and Filth will keep McAvoy on the big screen where he belongs. Can’t wait!!

  Comment by Alicia — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 7:24pm PDT  Reply to this post

• First of all, I did a spot check of IFC and Sundance Selects films on Rotten Tomatoes and saw a range of scores. Looked to me like the average for IFC was around 50%. SS clearly averaged higher = around 70% would be my guess. So much for blanket generalizations.

  “They look for films with name actors that bombed with critics and festival audiences, or had market screenings and were rejected by all other studios.”

  Just for my edification: Why on earth would any distributor look for films they believe are bound to fail?

  I too have heard good things about WTTP. First-rate talent w/ McAvoy, Strong, et. al., 2010 Brit List script that started a bidding war, BAFTA-nominated up-and-coming writer/action director, a smart action thriller set against sleek, modern London vistas full of character. Add to that the film boasts worldwide sales.

  Personally, I think IFC/Sundance has a hot property on their hands.

  Comment by Chris — Thursday July 19, 2012 @ 9:43pm PDT  Reply to this post