Wolfe
has three packaging options for controversial title
Some retailers passed on film for word titty
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/14/2008
Wolfe’s title is available
in three different packaging options.
AUG. 14 | Some retailers don’t like a certain colloquialism
for the word breast. As a result, Wolfe Video is offering
three packaging options for its award-winning Itty Bitty
Titty Committee.
Retailers can order the DVD with
its original title intact, a tamer version stamped Itty
Bitty Ti**y Committee or a version that takes the word
out altogether with Itty Bitty Committee. The DVD streets
on Sept. 2.
Despite some retailer concerns—two
chains that are regular Wolfe customers are passing completely
on the film—label president Maria Lynn said the
originally titled box is the most popular version. “This
title will still do well, but it should have been everywhere,”
she said. “All of this over a word that is so innocuous.”
The film, which chronicles a group
of women advocating against implants, won the Jury Prize
at the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival and was an
official selection at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival.
All Itty Bitty versions are wrapped
in the same artwork, prominently featuring two girls kissing.
Lynn said she is perplexed over
the attitudes of the chains that won’t take the
title, because they’ve long been supporters of the
label’s signature lesbian product. These retailers,
one book specialist and one rental chain, had no problems
ordering Wolfe’s earlier releases When Night is
Falling or The Gymnast, among others, featuring similarly
provocative art.
It comes down to retailers polarized
over the connotations surrounding the word ‘titty,’
said Lynn, noting that as a woman, she personally finds
the term more humorous than hateful. She said she hears
worse language on popular TV series.
“You have [Saturday Night
Live sketch] ‘Dick in a Box’ win an Emmy last
year, and the word ‘titty’ is offensive,”
said Lynn.
Wolfe’s predicament somewhat
resembles First Look Home Entertainment’s recent
decision to offer both explicit and safe box art for horror
film Day of the Dead. The raunchier packaging art, featuring
a zombie throwing up eyeballs, wound up the bestseller.
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ITTY
BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE
NOMINATED
for GLAAD MEDIA AWARD
1-20-08
By
Gregg Kilday
LOS
ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) -
Julie Taymor's Beatles-tuned "Across the Universe,"
the Israeli film "The Bubble," and ABC's
"Brothers & Sisters" and "Desperate
Housewives" are among the gay-friendly films
and TV series nominated for the 19th annual GLAAD
Media Awards.
The
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced
its lineup of nominees -- recognizing works that
reflect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
communities -- during the Sundance Film Festival
in Park City, Utah, on Sunday.
The
awards will be handed out during a cross-country
series of fundraisers at New York's Marriott Marquis
on March 17; at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel &
Casino in Hollywood, Fla. (April 12); at
the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles (April 26);
and at the San Francisco Marriott (May 10).
Heading
the list of 25 English-language categories and 15
Spanish-language categories are the nominees for
outstanding film in wide release: "Across the
Universe," "The Jane Austen Book Club"
and "Stardust."
For
outstanding film, limited release, the nominees
are "The Bubble," "Dirty Laundry,"
"Itty Bitty Titty Committee,"
"Nina's Heavenly Delights" and "Whole
New Thing."
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ibot
presented by Rentrak Theatrical
by
Steve Ramos (October 1, 2007)
An out-of-this-world, two-day gross
of $134,938 from two New York locations made Wes
Anderson's sibling comedy "The Darjeeling Limited"
the top film on the iWBOT and the top two-day debut
of 2007. "Darjeeling Limited" was also
Fox Searchlight's best exclusive opening since its
2005 Woody Allen release "Melinda and Melinda."
Focus Features shattered the NC-17 Rating ceiling
with debut earnings of $63,918 at New York's Lincoln
Plaza Cinemas for Ang Lee's Shanghai- set drama
"Lust, Caution." With debut earnings just
behind "Darjeeling Limited," Ang Lee's
World War II era spy drama earned the number two
spot on the iWBOT, which ranks films by per-screen
average. Rounding out the iWBOT Top Five were holdovers
"Into the Wild," "Romance & Cigarettes"
and new release "Itty Bitty Titty Committee."
More successful was "Itty Bitty Titty
Committee," director Jamie Babbit's
female ensemble drama for POWER UP and Pocket Releasing.
"Itty Bitty Titty Committee" earned $11,505
at the Laemmle's Sunset 5 in Los Angeles. Boosted
by weekend-long appearances by Babbit and her cast,
"Itty Bitty Titty Committee" reached the
number four spot on the iWBOT.
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