Catch Up #2: Distribution

During the shoot I like to edit all the action sequences on location, it's become a force of habit since MERANTAU as it helps us see if the choreography is working and the shots are connecting properly.

Proof of editing on set: I'm only 98% of the time full of shit.

As a result of this, we ended up with 2 fully edited scenes by the time Todd Brown paid us a visit on set. It was after that visit that he suggested we prep these two scenes and any other rough cuts we had from the shoot to present at the Cannes Film Market back in May.

Initially, our plan was to prepare a promo reel - but shooting the film out of sequence and still having a lot of unfinished scenes meant we would instead send 5 sequences from the film that we had completed by that time. These were the major fight scenes in the film that could give buyers a sense of what they would be getting, and how different our approach would be this time round.

We hoped at best that the scenes would whet the appetite for the buyers leading to potential sales later in the year once the film was complete. However, interest started to mount amongst those that viewed the footage and soon a number of distributors started pre-buying the rights to the film in a number of different territories among them SONY PICTURES for the US, ALLIANCE for CANADA and MOMENTUM PICTURES for the UK.

We have been genuinely humbled by the response and are proud to be able to announce that THE RAID sold to the following territories so far.

Following taken from Twitch.

US (Sony), Canada (Alliance), the UK (Momentum), Australia (Madman), France (SND), Germany (Koch), Japan (Kadokawa), China (HGC) and Turkey (Calinos) with further deals currently being finalized that will cover the Benelux, East Asia and other territories. I'm not going to hit you with the full press release but here's the reaction from Scott Shooman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions:

In a Cannes market filled with serious award-caliber dramas, it was so refreshing to see someone get throat punched!  We knew right away that we needed to get involved.

So there you go, if your country is listed above THE RAID should be coming your way in the near future. If not, I will keep updating any other territories sold as and when that happens. Fingers crossed we can announce more sales in the coming months.

AND FINALLY THE Q&A...

Q.  Will be in Jakarta and Bali from october 17 to oct 31 and was wondering if there is any early viewing schedule for the movie? (Ben)

A. First up, huge thanks for the incredibly kind words in your comment can't begin to explain how amazing it feels to know a film I made connects with a viewer. Your support goes a long way.
To answer your question, unfortunately we don't have a screening in Indonesia during those dates but we do have a sneak screening lined up in Jakarta sometime mid-November. Where are you based? We are touring the film at festivals starting September so who knows, it may play nearby.

Q. When can we expect a trailer? (Kmiller)

A. Our plan is to release a REDBAND trailer sometime this month. It's pretty brutal and action packed, really hope you guys like it. As soon as it's ready for release I'll be posting it on here and I'm sure it will end up on a bunch of other sites also. 

As a sidenote the trailer is pretty violent, so please bear that in mind. I got a lot of complaints locally from people about MERANTAU being too violent for kids, and my response is "absolutely it is too violent for kids - I made it for adults". THE RAID... it's 100% made for adults. I've never been one to dwell on violence in an explicit way but the violence here is like a gut punch, it's fast and brutal but it has a lasting effect.

And Alex thanks for your comment also, hope these updates make up for such a ridiculously long absence!

Next blog will cover the announcement of our World Premiere. 

Until then, thanks for reading!