As spring has sprung, The Orchard has proven to be a truly ripe ground for growing the digital life of a wide array of film and video content. In the past two months, our releases have ranged from an award-winning documentary about the worst industrial disaster in history, Bhopali, to the adrenaline-fuelled wakeboarding extravaganza, Lipsmack.
From jam band lovers to Scandinavian-loving cinephiles, we released something for everyone. Our Orchard Sports team pushed out films for racecar aficionados: British Rally Championship Review 2011; snowmobilers: Slednecks 14; extreme skiiers: Action Jackson; off-road moto riders: What !s; mountain bikers: Trailnotes; and of course, those always enthusastic BMX-ers: Props BMX: Owned and Props BMX: Best of 2010, among many others.
For the cinephiles favoring fiction films, our releases were international — the dark Swedish thriller The Ape; the Danish-U.S. romantic comedy Love at First Hiccup; and U.S. festival darling Strings, a thought-provoking, twist-heavy thriller with echoes of Christopher Nolan’s early films.
For those who prefer a dose of reality, our documentary content was equally rich. Aside from the aforemented Bhopali, The Orchard released For Liberty: How the Ron Paul Revolution Watered the Tree of Liberty, the subject of which is self-explanatory, and the award-winning look at Jamaica’s rising underground reggae stars, RiseUp, was prominently featured on Hulu, joining the ranks of other Orchard-released docs like Special When Lit: A Pinball Documentary and — perfect for an election year – The Nine Lives of Marion Barry.
And of course, we wouldn’t be The Orchard if we didn’t offer music films. Not one, but six Widespread Panic concert films are now on iTunes, beginning with Widespread Panic: Wood Tour at Atlanta, GA’s The Tabernacle on January 27, 2012. Now that’s a mouthful.
You’d think we’d take a break after all this releasing, but with the quality of films choosing The Orchard for their digital distribution partner, we just can’t stop the momentum. Over the summer, expect everything from documentaries from Cannes-winning Israeli auteurs to coming-of-age Canadian comedies.
The Orchard’s rapidly growing action sports and lifestyle film distribution division, The Orchard Sports, continues to lure industry-leading producers from around the world. Since launching less than 6 months ago, word has spread fast about The Orchard Sports’ impressive value proposition for producers and content owners: sell your films on more online platforms, get free and unlimited delivery to stores, enjoy seamless daily sales analytics, see the benefits of our marketing and take comfort in our personalized support.
Recent signings include motor sports powerhouse Duke Video, BMX film producer Props Visual, snowmobile producer Slednecks, kiteboard & wakeboard pro Slingshot Sports and ski film leader Matchstick Productions. The Orchard Sports will continue to partner with the leading action sports and lifestyle brands, studios and producers this year to build the category at digital retailers like iTunes, Hulu, X-Box, Playstation, Amazon, VUDU and Google Play, using its relationships and merchandising expertise to convert a once specialized market into a mainstream category alongside Hollywood movies.
Lead by industry veteran Danny Grant, the effort has been well received by both content providers and digital retailers. On Hulu, for example, The Orchard Sports now represents 11 of the top 15 most popular action sports films of all time according to today’s rankings. Stay up to date with news related to The Orchard Sports by following @orchardsports on Twitter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook or by visiting our dedicated website TheOrchardSports.com.
