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Battle Royale as a One-Film Franchise: Charting a Commercial Phenomenon Through Cult DVD and Blu-ray Releases

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Abstract

The term cult has regularly been attached to Battle Royale (dir. Kinji Fukasaku, 2000) ever since it was first released in the UK. Tartan Video first used the term, and Arrow Video have gone on to do the same recently, but via a variety of its sub-labels. Charting the UK DVD releases of Battle Royale also tracks differing uses of the term cult; presents the significance of DVD releases and re-releases within film research; and considers the impact that film distributors have on cult and its various meanings. The film itself charts cult’s various meanings and definitions, as do its home media releases. In particular, the DVD distributors use cult in several ways, instead of using it as a fixed category to characterise and market films.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Jonathan Wroot

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  1. Jonathan Wroot
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  1. University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom

    Jonathan Wroot

  2. University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom

    Andy Willis

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Wroot, J. (2017). Battle Royale as a One-Film Franchise: Charting a Commercial Phenomenon Through Cult DVD and Blu-ray Releases. In: Wroot, J., Willis, A. (eds) Cult Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63679-5_2

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