Film4's blog

The festive film season on 4 this year features the premieres of the Oscar-winning Woody Allen comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona with Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Scarlet Johansson; and Bruno, the outrageous comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen as the Austrian fashionista who is let loose in the States.

Christmas treats include Elf, the beloved yuletide favourite with Will Ferrell; Fred Claus, which stars Vince Vaughn as Santa’s bitter older brother; and The Muppets Christmas Carol, in which Kermit and the gang return in their version of the Charles Dickens’ classic, with Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Other family treats include The Princess Diaries, starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews; animated feline fun in Garfield; and premiere of Penelope, starring Christina Ricci as a young girl looking for love, despite suffering family ‘curse’.

Film4oD, Film4′s online film-on-demand service, today announced the launch of a ‘download to rent’ service that will enable Film4oD viewers to watch films offline for the very first time.

The service, which saves the movie to the user’s computer, has been introduced to enable users either with low bandwidth or those who would like to watch a film when not connected to the internet, such as when travelling or abroad. The new functionality also allows users to begin watching their selection while the film is being downloaded.

With films available from between £0.99 to £3.99, the download to rent service launches with Film4′s Attack the Block and Arthur available to watch the same day as they are released on DVD. Film4oD, powered by VOD white-label specialists FilmFlex, offers more new releases* to rent online than anyone else, including iTunes, Lovefilm or Blinkbox with many available on the same day as their DVD release.

Film4oD, available at www.film4od.com, was launched in November 2010 and has more than 50,000 registered users. The introduction of the download to rent service complements the existing online streaming service.

Film4 Channel Manager, Julia Wrigley, said: “Video on demand continues to soar in popularity with viewers enjoying the freedom to watch their preferred content on their own terms. We’re excited to offer ‘download to rent’, further strengthening the viewer experience alongside the Film4oD online streaming and Film4 channel.”

All movie rentals on Film4oD offer unlimited viewing for up to 48 hours following the first play. Each film has a rental period of up to 30 days. All movies are protected by approved digital rights management technologies and the service is geo-blocked to the UK.

About Film4oD

Simple and easy-to-use, Film4oD is an online film-on-demand service which closely compliments the editorial tone and philosophy of the Film4 channel.

Two years of development and consumer research were carried out by VOD white-label specialists FilmFlex to deliver this market-leading movie service.

Almost 1,200 individual titles have been bought since Film4oD launched in November 2010, and the site has had more than 8.3 million page views and over 1.7m unique visitors. On average, there are in excess of 8,000 visits a day to the site, of which returning visitors make up nearly 30%.

* ‘New releases’ denotes films available post their theatrical and DVD release but ahead of the pay-TV window

About FilmFlex

FilmFlex is the UK’s leading on-demand movie service provider having managed the VOD movie service on Virgin Media since 2005, with over 65,000,000 buys to date.

FilmFlex is a joint venture between Sony Pictures Television (a Sony Pictures Entertainment company) and The Walt Disney Company EMEA, and has content deals with over 30 movie suppliers including all the Hollywood Studios.

FilmFlex has developed and built an online VOD platform after two years of research and development and is partnering with a number of leading technology companies. So far two services for major media brand clients have been launched, Virgin Media www.virginmedia.com/onlinemovies and Film4oD www.film4od.com. More announcements of partnerships with leading brands will follow later in 2011.

Film4 continued to enjoy a scorching summer for ratings, after it announced that August has become its best month ever for individuals with a 1.78% share.

Film4′ss popularity amongst young viewers has also skyrocketed; the monthly share of 16-34s exceeded 2% for the first time, while the channel reported its best week ever for 16-34s at the end of the month with a 2.40% share.

Bank Holiday Monday pulled in the best ever daily share for individuals with 3.20%, including over 1m viewers at 21.00 for Independence Day. Film4 also reported its best ever day for 16-34s with 4.70% in August, well ahead of the previous high of 3.69% in 2009.

August saw Film4′s highest monthly reach for younger viewers with an impressive 6.8m and 46.2% of all 16-34s tuning in to the channel at some time across August.

Film4 recently announced Q2 2011 its best ever quarter, attracting an audience share of 1.34% and moving it up to sixth position in the YTD digital channel ratings.

Film4 is in celebratory mood on learning that the two films that they had premiering in Venice last week have both received major prizes.

Michael Fassbender has won Best Actor for his courageous portrayal in Steve McQueen’s Shame and Robbie Ryan has received Best Cinematography for his exquisite work on Andrea Arnold’s re-imagining of the classic Wuthering Heights.

The jury, led by the Oscar-nominated American director Darren Aronofsky, announced the awards at the close of the 68th festival.

Both Shame and Wuthering Heights will receive their UK premieres at the 55th BFI London International Film Festival next month.

Tessa Ross, Controller of Film and Drama at C4, said: “It is absolutely wonderful to see Michael and Robbie’s talent recognised in this way – both have pushed their craft to the limits of excellence to produce work of truly outstanding quality.”

9:00pm Friday, May 13 on F4

Morgan Freeman reprises his role as forensic psychologist Alex Cross (first seen in Kiss the Girls). This time he teams up with Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter), who was responsible for the mistake that let a brilliant but deadly psychopath (Michael Wincott) kidnap a senator’s daughter. As the clock ticks away, the pair realise that this kidnapping is just the beginning of the terror in Lee Tamahori’s nail-biting adaptation of James Patterson’s outstanding thriller.

10:45pm Thursday, May 12 on F4

Ted Post’s sequel to the first in the successful series continues the story of Earth in a future where apes have traded places with humans. Charlton Heston and James Franciscus star as Taylor and Brent, the time-travelling astronauts caught up in the action, which sees militant apes pitted against renegade humans in the underground ruins of New York City. With Linda Harrison, Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall. Two further editions from the series are shown tonight after this film.

11:05pm Wednesday, May 11 on F4

Charlton Heston plays astronaut George Taylor, who is caught in a time warp and lands on a planet where apes rule, gorillas act as the army and humans are considered a sub-species. Taylor’s power of speech makes him the subject of curiosity and experimentation that could prove fatal, but he escapes with Nova (Linda Harrison) into the Forbidden Zone where, in one of cinema’s most iconic moments, he confronts the true nature of the Planet of the Apes. With Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans. Directed by Franklin Schaffner. And if men and women in monkey suits is your kind of thing, make sure to tune in tomorrow for a further triple-helping from the Planet of the Apes series.

9:00pm Tuesday, May 10 on F4

This comedy from The Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo stars Rainn Wilson as a man whose life has well and truly fallen apart. Twenty years previously, Robert “Fish” Fishman (Wilson) was heavy rock band Vesuvius’s drummer. But, when Vesuvius were offered a support slot for Whitesnake on the condition that they ditch their drummer, Fish soon found himself packing his sticks. Now, two decades on, he’s been sacked from his dead-end job, ditched by his girlfriend and forced to move into his sister’s attic. However, he unexpectedly – and unwittingly – gets another bite at stardom while preparing for a one-off gig with his 18-year-old nephew Josh’s (Matt Gadman) band. The only place Fish can find to rehearse in is very stuffy and humid, so – because he’s on his own – he chooses to play naked. But he doesn’t realise he’s being recorded. And when the film clip is posted on the web it goes viral…

11:15pm Monday, May 9 on F4

Bong Joon-ho’s monster-horror movie begins on the banks of the River Han in Seoul. Park Gang Du (Kang-Ho Song) works on his father’s food stand and witnesses a huge mutant suddenly rear up into the riverside park and make off with lunch in the shape of several citizens, including his daughter Hyun-seo (Ah-song Ko). But the monster keeps her alive. Using her mobile, she calls her father from its lair in the city’s sewers. As the Korean and US governments, try to deny the incident, it’s up to Park and his family to gather what weapons they can and kill the monster. Stunning special effects and a certain tongue-in-cheek tone make this one of the best horrors to come out of Korea in recent times. In Korean with English subtitles.

11:00pm Sunday, May 8 on F4

Neil Marshall followed up the success of Dog Soldiers with this compelling and equally scary horror story. Six women arrange a caving expedition to help one of them, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) overcome a personal tragedy. But once they are down in the dark, they realise not only are they not alone, but their ‘companions’ aren’t necessarily human… Unsettling, claustrophobic and nerve-jangling, this is not a film to be watched alone or in a small, dark room.