Sony Pictures’ A Man Called Otto took over the No. 1 spot on the Redbox disc rental chart the week ended March 19.
The drama, based on the best-seller A Man Called Ove, stars Tom Hanks as a man who no longer sees purpose in life after the death of his wife. He is ready to end it until he meets an unlikely friend. It was No. 2 on the Redbox On Demand chart, which tracks digital VOD and sellthrough transactions.
The No. 1 Redbox On Demand title was A24’s Oscar-winning drama The Whale, which stars Brendan Fraser as a reclusive overweight English teacher who attempts to reconnect with his daughter. The film won two Oscars — Best Actor for Fraser, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. It was No. 3 on the disc rental chart, which tracks DVD and Blu-ray Disc rentals at Redbox’s thousands of red kiosks. The film is distributed on disc by Lionsgate.
The top disc rental the previous two weeks, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, dropped to No. 2 on the Redbox disc rental chart. The sequel from DreamWorks Animation finds the feline swashbuckler seeking a magical wishing star in order to restore his nine lives.
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No. 4 on both charts was Screen Media’s The Ritual Killer, a thriller starring Cole Hauser as a detective who seeks advice from a professor (Morgan Freeman) to decode the ritualistic killings of a murderer.
The No. 5 disc rental was Lionsgate’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, coming off an Oscar win for Best Picture.
The No. 3 digital title was Universal’s Cocaine Bear, the comedic thriller about a bear in the 1980s that comes across a stash of cocaine in the woods, gets addicted and goes on a rampage. It is now available for PVOD viewing.
No. 5 on the Redbox On Demand chart was Lionsgate’s Mindcage, a thriller about two detectives who seek the help of an incarcerated serial killer to catch a copycat.
Top DVD and Blu-ray Disc Rentals, Redbox Kiosks, Week Ended March 19:
- A Man Called Otto — Sony Pictures
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish — Universal/DreamWorks
- The Whale — Lionsgate
- The Ritual Killer — Screen Media
- Everything Everywhere All at Once — Lionsgate
- Devotion — Paramount
- The Old Way — Lionsgate
- Legacy Peak — Sony Pictures
- Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody — Sony Pictures
- Black Adam — Warner
Top Digital (VOD + Sellthrough), Redbox On Demand, Week Ended March 19:
- The Whale — A24
- A Man Called Otto — Sony Pictures
- Cocaine Bear — Universal
- The Ritual Killer — Screen Media
- Mindcage — Lionsgate
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Disney/Marvel
- Scream (2022) — Paramount
- The Old Way — Lionsgate
- Supercell — Sony Pictures
- Missing — Sony Pictures
The A24 drama The Whale arrives on Blu-ray (plus digital) and DVD March 14 from Lionsgate. The film won two Oscars — Best Actor for Brendan Fraser, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, mother!), and based on the play by Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale follows the story of a reclusive English teacher (Fraser) who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. The Whale also stars Academy Award nominee Samantha Morton (2003, Best Actress, In America), Sadie Sink (TV’s “Stranger Things”) and Ty Simpkins (Jurassic World, Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man 3, TV’s “The Guiding Light”). It earned $17 million at the domestic box office.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases A Man Called Otto on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on March 14. The film stars Tom Hanks as Otto, a grump who no longer sees purpose in his life following the loss of his wife. Otto is ready to end it all, but his plans are interrupted when a lively young family moves in next door, and he meets his match in quick-witted Marisol. She challenges him to see life differently, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world around. Based on the New York Times best-seller A Man Called Ove, A Man Called Otto earned nearly $63.9 million at the domestic box office.
The dramatic thriller Alice, Darling arrives March 14 on Blu-ray (plus digital) and DVD from Lionsgate. Anna Kendrick plays Alice in this psychological thriller about a woman pushed to the breaking point by her psychologically abusive boyfriend Simon. While on vacation with two close girlfriends, Alice rediscovers the essence of herself and gains some much-needed perspective. Slowly, she starts to fray the cords of codependency that bind her. But Simon’s vengeance is as inevitable as it is shattering — and, once unleashed, it tests Alice’s strength, her courage, and the bonds of her deep-rooted friendships. From first-time director Mary Nighy, the film also stars Kaniehtiio Horn, Wunmi Mosaku and Charlie Carrick.
Season 11 of “The Walking Dead” arrives on Blu-ray Disc and DVD March 14 from Lionsgate. In this final season of “The Walking Dead,” Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie (Melissa McBride) embark on a risky mission with Negan to root out the shadowy Reapers while Eugene and Ezekiel make contact with the sprawling Commonwealth. To secure aid for Alexandria — their goal — they must assimilate, a tough ask for people who’ve seen no end of deceit, betrayal and loss. Stunned by the Commonwealth’s resources, the group slowly adjusts to their new home, but they can’t ignore what lurks beneath its seemingly civilized surface. Soon, threats abound, loyalties are tested, and shocking fates await. The series also stars Lauren Cohan, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Josh McDermitt and Seth Gilliam.
The sixth and final season of the CBS series “The Good Fight” will be released on DVD March 14 from Paramount Home Entertainment. Created by Emmy nominees Michelle and Robert King (“The Good Wife”), “The Good Fight” bows its final season in a the three-disc collection that includes all 10 episodes plus deleted scenes, a gag reel and “The Good Fight: A Farewell Featurette.” In the sixth and final season of “The Good Fight,” Diane (Emmy Award winner Christine Baranski) feels like she’s going crazy struggling with an uneasy sense of déjà vu, with everything from Roe v. Wade to voting rights, to Cold War aggressions returning. Meanwhile, the lawyers of Reddick & Associates wonder if the violence that they see all around them points to an impending civil war. The series also stars Tony Award winner Audra McDonald (Beauty and the Beast), Nyambi Nyambi (“Mike and Molly”), Sarah Steele (“The Good Wife”), Andre Braughar (“Brooklyn 99”), Charmaine Bingwa (“Emancipation”) and Michael Boatman (“Madam Secretary”). Guest stars include Emmy nominees Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”), Gary Cole (“Veep”), Phylicia Rashad (“The Cosby Show”), John Slattery (“Mad Men”) and Emmy Winner Carrie Preston (“The Good Wife”).
Season one of Paramount+’s adult animation series “Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head” arrives on DVD March 14 in a three-disc collection that includes all 12 episodes and the Paramount+ original movie Beavis & Butt-Head Do the Universe. In the series brought back by creator Mike Judge nearing their 30th anniversary, America’s favorite culture critics now have more than just music videos to make fun of. Reality TV, the internet, and mixed martial arts cross their TV screen. In the movie Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, Beavis and Butt-Head go on a Space Shuttle mission in 1998, fall into a black hole, and reemerge on Earth in 2022, where they are pursued by the NSA, the Governor of Texas, and a highly-intelligent version of themselves from a parallel universe. The series features the voices of creator Mike Judge (“King of the Hill”), Piotr Michael (Lightyear), as well as Chris Diamantopoulos (The Three Stooges), Kosha Patel (“The Newsroom”), Jayden Libran (“The Happytime Murders”), Mary Birdsong (“Succession”), Brian Huskey (“Veep”), Tru Valentino (“The Rookie”), Ally Maki (“Wrecked”) and Toks Olagundoye (“Castle”).
Shout! Factory and Eleven Arts March 14 will release Blue Thermal, the highly anticipated movie adaptation of the acclaimed manga of the same name. The film will make its North American debut on Blu-ray Disc and through digital retailers. Produced by Telecom Animation Film, Blue Thermal is the long-awaited feature film adaptation of author and creator Kana Ozawa’s popular manga series, which ran in Shinchosha’s Monthly Comic @Bunch Magazine for many years before being published in five book volumes. The coming-of-age movie captures the tension and excitement of a young college student who joins the school’s aviation club flying for the first time, as well as the beauty and exhilaration of the aerial scenery as seen from the pilot’s seat. The film’s theme song “Blue Thermal” and the song “Beautiful Bird” are performed by the popular Japanese piano rock band SHE’S. 
The Israeli drama All Eyes Off Me, in which a trio of young Israelis explore intimacy and the boundaries of their sexuality, will be released on digital and DVD March 14 from Film Movement. In the film (released in Hebrew with English subtitles), in Tel Aviv at a party, an anxious girl named Danny is looking for Max, a recent casual fling, to share that she’s pregnant with his child. Through the haze of drugs and promiscuity of the partygoers, Danny doesn’t get far in her search. Meanwhile, Max is busy with his new girlfriend Avishag. He attempts to realize her rough sexual fantasies, but Avishag instead turns her attention to another burgeoning relationship with Dror, an older man for whom she dog-sits. In these three, loosely connected vignettes, director Hadas Ben Aroya’s second feature film proves to be an atmospheric exploration of a self-possessed generation of young Israelis. All Eyes Off Me, winner of several awards at the 2021 Jerusalem Film Festival including Best Israeli Feature, addresses the physical limits of intimacy, questioning just how liberated these youths really are. The film was also an Official Selection at the Berlinale and Karlovy Vary International Film Festivals.
The 1991 sci-fi action-adventure The Grand Tour will be released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc (sporting a new 4K scan from the negative) from Unearthed Classics and MVD Entertainment Group. Directed by David Twohy (Pitch Black, The Arrival), the film follows a widowed innkeeper (Jeff Daniels ) who battles a band of disaster-groupies from the future with explosive results. Ben Wilson (Daniels) and his daughter (Ariana Richards) buy an old Victorian mansion and begin renovations with plans to open up an inn. Their first guests are a strange and mysterious covey of tourists led by the eccentric Madame Lovine (Marilyn Lightstone). In a race against time, Ben must battle the seductive time bandits as well as his own personal demons in an attempt to save his daughter and the town from total destruction.
In Who’ll Stop the Rain, from the bloody battlefields of Vietnam, Ray Hicks (Nick Nolte, The Deep, 48 Hrs., The Prince of Tides) does his friend Converse (Michael Moriarty, Courage Under Fire, Pale Rider, Q, The Stuff) a favor, smuggling a stash of heroin back to the States. But when Ray goes to deliver the drugs, he and Converse’s wife, Marge (Tuesday Weld, Pretty Poison, Thief, Falling Down), are ambushed and barely escape with their lives. Suddenly on the run from two ruthless thugs and a murderous cop, the unlikely pair must find a way to get along and survive a perilous double-cross. The film also stars Anthony Zerbe (The Omega Man, Opposing Force, License to Kill), Richard Masur (The Thing, Risky Business, Scavenger Hunt, Fallen Angel), Ray Sharkey (The Idolmaker, Wiseguy, Hellhole), Charles Haid (Altered States, “Hill Street Blues”) and Gail Strickland (The Drowning Pool, Protocol) and features music by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Special features include audio commentary with film historians Daniel Kremer and Scout Tafoya and interviews with actor Richard Masur, associate producer Roger Spottiswoode and screenwriter Judith Rascoe.
Body and Soul is based on the 1947 classic of the same name. It’s rags-to-riches tale about a vivacious young fighter from Chicago that pulls no punches in its portrayal of boxing’s dark side. Featuring Muhammad Ali as himself, Body and Soul follows Golden Gloves champ Leon, played by Leon Isaac Kennedy (Lone Wolf McQuade, Too Scared to Scream), who has no interest in becoming a pro boxer. Instead, he wants to be a doctor. But when his little sister requires immediate and expensive medical treatments, he decides to go for the title and all the money it will bring. On his way to the top, however, Leon succumbs to the temptations that come with success. As a result, he begins to lose everyone and everything he used to care about. The film also stars Jayne Kennedy, Peter Lawford (Salt and Pepper, One More Time), Perry Lang (The Hearse, Spring Break) and Academy Award nominee Michael V. Gazzo (The Godfather: Part II, Alligator). Special features include an interview with star Leon Isaac Kennedy.
The mystery thriller Last Rites stars Tom Berenger (The Dogs of War, The Big Chill, Platoon, Major League) and Daphne Zuniga (The Sure Thing, Modern Girls, The Fly II, TV’s “Melrose Place”) in a controversial tale of a love affair between a priest and a woman. With a shocking final twist, Last Rites features a Mafia hit, a vulnerable witness and a man of the cloth with a secret past. In the film, when Father Michael Pace (Berenger) finds himself drawn to the mistress (Zuniga) of a brutally murdered mobster, he risks his life, his standing and even his faith to protect her. Shot on location in New York by legendary cinematographer David Watkins (Catch-22, Out of Africa, Chariots of Fire, Moonstruck) and featuring a supporting cast that includes Chick Vennera (The Milagro Beanfield War, Yanks), Anne Twomey (Deadly Friend, The Image Maker), Dane Clark (Moonrise, Skidoo), Paul Dooley (Breaking Away, Sixteen Candles), Tony Lip (Goodfellas) and Adrian Paul (Duncan MacLeod of TV’s “Highlander”). Special features include interview with Director Donald Belissario and the theatrical trailer.
The mystery thriller Wild Orchid 2: Blue Movie Blue is from the director of the erotic titles Wild Orchid and “Red Shoe Diaries.” It follows a beautiful young woman caught between passion and innocence — and two shades of the truth. The film stars Tom Skerritt (Top Gun, Alien, Opposing Force), Robert Davi (License to Kill, Showgirls, Die Hard, The Taking of Beverly Hills), Wendy Hughes (Paradise Road, My Brilliant Career, Happy New Year), Nina Siemaszko (License to Drive, Lost Angels, Airheads), Joe Dallesandro (The Limey, Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein, Seeds of Evil) and Liane Curtis (Sixteen Candles, Critters 2: The Main Course). In the film, after her father (Skerritt) dies, Blue (Siemaszko) is forced to grow up fast. Taken in by Elle (Hughes), a high-class brothel madam, she discovers a beguiling world of power and pleasure — but also the tightening grip of Elle’s control. To make matters worse, she is falling for Josh (Brent Fraser, Dark Side of Genius, Wild at Heart), a regular guy who doesn’t know about her double life. Special features include scenes deleted from the theatrical cut and the theatrical trailer.
The limited edition Jet Li double feature includes two martial arts action films directed by Corey Yuen (The Transporter): The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1 and, for the first time on Blu-ray in the United States, The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 2. In The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1 (aka The Legend), Li stars as a carefree young martial arts expert who gets involved with a government official’s daughter just as he discovers his family is part of a rebel resistance movement. While his fighting ability and charm made him a local champion, his epic battle for freedom would make him a legendary hero. It includes a sequence fought entirely atop the heads of stunned onlookers. The Legend was the winner of Best Action Choreography at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 2 (aka The Legend 2), Li kicks back into action as the heroic Fong Sai Yuk. In the film, having fought to save his father from the wrath of the Chinese government, Fong Sai Yuk joins his father’s underground revolutionary organization, the Red Flower Society. But in the camp of rebels, a traitor lurks. At a time when few can be trusted, Fong Sai Yuk must utilize his every skill in the fight to overthrow his nation’s brutally powerful empire. Special features include a custom slipcover; theatrical trailers; “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword,” an exclusive interview with writer Jeff Lau; “Hit Hard & Fly High,” an exclusive interview with Yuen; and new audio commentary from the author of These Fists Break Bricks, Chris Poggiali (The Legend only).
