Brilliant name, I love it.

Indie films from the '90s are right in the zone for me. I'd just gone to film school in the early '90s and made a point of seeing anything of even remote interest in the theater. Many of them were buzzworthy for about a minute but have vanished into obscurity in the meantime, despite some of them having pretty big stars, like Michelle Pfieffer (Love Field) or Jeremy Irons (Waterland).

Well...there must be some kind of money in physical releases despite the biggies abandoning it.

I think what it's come to is that the money is so small that the big studios aren't finding it worth their time or investment anymore. That's not to say there's no money in it, just that this is turning into a niche market where smaller players will take over.

And that niche is often suckered into blind buying a lot of deservedly forgotten films for exceedingly premium prices, and praising whatever 'good' they've been conditioned into finding -- more often in the disc presentations than the films themselves -- to justify the wallet pain. I'm not necessarily thinking of films like LOVE FIELD or WATERLAND here, both of which I recall having at least some studio affiliation, even if just on their multiple DVD releases. I'm thinking further down the old and new indie food chain, which part of me suspects is where a company like Whole Grain might be sourcing their product. And these smaller boutiques have to work overtime convince us that the films they "rescued from obscurity" really deserved to be rescued from obscurity, and that we need to pay $25 to $50 a pop to keep funding those rescues. For example, I think a LOT of the titles on the Vinegar Syndrome / OCN partner labels do not deserve the attention, and aren't worth the price. Granted, they do go on sale, which helps. I've bought many that way, in the 10/$10 sales for example, but the vast majority end up relisted for sale. They're not all bad films, per se, but just kinda . . . meh, nice to see but I would've been fine watching an old DVD. The Criterion-grade disc treatments are frequently impressive, but they're too often in service of films by people who never went on to stellar careers, if at all. Or, they're 'new' indie films by filmmakers who haven't really proven themselves worthy of lavish blu-ray treatments yet, like they're jumping the gun a bit.

I'm curious to see what items yet another boutique label can scrape up, because as you folks note, there must be money in it, and I'm sure that profitable 'sweet spot' niche-collector pricing is well established by now. There's probably still plenty of 'obscurities' out there from the DVD era, too. I'm just not certain how much of it I'll fork over the inevitable big bucks to buy. Time will tell, I guess.

I wish them luck but it's a strange time to start up a new label unless this is a passion project.

They’re targeting 4-5 titles for 2024. Because MediaOCD is so entrenched in nearly every other phase of producing Blu-ray releases, including working closely with licensors, I get the appeal on their end of starting up their own label too.

https://www.wholegrainpictures.com/p...-on-may-7-2024

Too Much Sleep - trailer

Jack is stuck in neutral. He lives with his mom in suburban New Jersey, works as a security guard, and can barely get out of bed in the morning. All that changes when he sees a cute girl on the bus - and then realizes seconds later that his gun is missing. Desperate to find it, he enlists the help of a fast-talking middle-aged maybe-gangster named Eddie, who sends Jack on an epic quest to explore the darkest, strangest corners of American suburbia. Will Jack ever find his gun? Or better yet, maybe that cute girl from the bus?

A hilarious deadpan comedy that speaks directly to lost and adrift young people, this film made history as the first by a Filipino American director to get a theatrical release. Lost for 23 years after its original distributor's bankruptcy, this new 4K restoration from the original camera negative marks the film's long-delayed home video debut.

Out on region-free Blu-ray and video-on-demand May 7, 2024! Pre-order links coming soon.
www.wholegrainpictures.com

Exciting and surprising news:

The MediaOCD Store, a unified storefront that will stock all AnimEigo and Whole Grain Pictures titles (w/ store exclusive slip covers), will launch on April Fools’ Day. Still working on getting some other cool stuff to carry. This will be the BEST WAY to support new licenses.

WGP titles will have store exclusive slip covers at launch. AnimEigo Blu-rays will relaunch with new packaging once existing inventories run out.

As always, extra AE Kickstarter inventory will be sold directly by Robert and Natsumi until they’re gone.

Too Much Sleep - Blu-ray w/ exclusive slip cover https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...ive-slip-cover

We’re delighted by all of the orders placed for Too Much Sleep so far!
For those not ready to buy it on disc, it will be available to watch Tubi TV (free, w/ ads), and for rental/purchase on Amazon, Google and YouTube.

X - Formerly Twitter

https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...-cd-soundtrack

https://wholegrainpictures.com/post/...-for-pre-order

For this release, we have digitally restored the best remaining HD video elements. It looks incredible. Additionally, the subtitles have been freshly revised, and a huge number of bonus features have been unearthed. These include:

• English, English SDH and Spanish subtitles
• Original Vietnamese/English DTS Master Audio lossless 5.1 and Stereo mix
• Castilian Spanish dub in DTS-MA 5.1
• Making-of featurette
• B-roll footage
• Cast & crew interviews
• A feature-length, annotated visual commentary featuring the cast and crew
• Original release promo materials
• Copious liner notes

As a special bonus, we are also including composer Christopher Wong's incredible symphonic score as an included audio CD.

The disc is region-free and ships to US/Canada/UK/Ireland/Australia/NZ. Order direct from the MediaOCD store and get a free exclusive artwork slip cover while supplies last.

MediaOCD Shop Black Friday Sale - 40% off all in-stock items with coupon code: KUROFRIDAY (11/28 to 12/2 • free S/H on orders over $70) https://www.mediaocd.com/category/onsale

- Journey From The Fall BD + CD w/exclusive slip cover: $17.99 (after 40% off coupon) https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...-cd-soundtrack
- Too Much Sleep BD w/exclusive slip cover: $14.99 (after 40% off coupon) https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...ive-slip-cover
- Sword of Desperation BD: $5.99 (after 40% off coupon) https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...ration-blu-ray

Expect AnimEigo to keep focus primarily on anime releases. The two Whole Grain Pictures titles aren't exactly doing great. I think the words of "may takes years to break even" was said in one of the AnimEigo town hall YouTube streams. Sword of Desperation was reclassified to Whole Grain Pictures when MediaOCD acquired AnimEigo.

***

The titles have coupons on Amazon (may be user targeted?):

Journey From The Fall: $15.37 (after 30% off coupon)

Too Much Sleep: $15.37 (after 30% off coupon)

Sword of Desperation: $16.19 (after 10% off coupon)

I mentioned this in the bargains thread, but it’s worth noting here that the free shipping is for orders over $70 after the discount is applied – which I discovered last night when trying to place an order for five discs at $90 and was hit with a $13.50 shipping charge after entering the code – and with such a slim catalog you can’t just pick the good stuff (MEGAZONE, RIDING BEAN, and OTAKU NO VIDEO) and be done with it. They don’t seem to have an aggressive release strategy outside of the Animego acquisitions, and those three indie pictures aren’t titles anyone was asking for, so I’m not surprised they’ll take years to break even on them. Can’t be easy for boutique start-ups these days.

25 Cats from Qatar | August 12

BD (MediaOCD Store Exclusive! Free collectable cardboard slipcover with purchase!) https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...-qatar-blu-ray
DVD https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...from-qatar-dvd

Announced at Otakon:

Big Boobs Buster!

Mars

Big Boobs Buster | February 10

Bonus Features:
- Hilarious behind-the-scenes bonus video
- Punched-up English dubbed audio
- Original US release trailer

Sales Points:
- A PG-13 Porky's from the female point of view!
- A ludicrous body positivity teen movie that takes a turn into pro-wrestling!
- Taps into nostalgia for 80s/90s Japan

https://customers.mvdb2b.com/s/BigBoobsBuster/WGP4


EDIT: https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...buster-blu-ray

Includes MediaOCD.com Store Exclusive Slipcover! Subject to availability.

https://www.mediaocd.com/product-pag...-u-know-s-mars

Whitest Kids U Know's MARS

Free MediaOCD Store Exclusive Slipcover! While supplies last!

BONUS FEATURES
- Commentary track with Whitest Kids and director Sevan Najarian
- Deleted Scenes
- Behind-the-scenes interviews
- Production diary livestream archives
- Original trailers

From the latest blog post:

Red Sorghum - On Blu-ray July 14, 2026 from Whole Grain Pictures - Trailer

Preorders for Red Sorghum are live now.