Criterion Blu-ray

[aox]

Traffic on blu is more than welcome and would be a great source of revenue

[Jeff]

Last Days of Disco was a Focus title.

I'm not so sure that it falls under the Focus aegis. Last Days of Disco was actually a Castle Rock film that was only distributed by Polygram. When Polygram was bought by Seagram, it's post-1996 library was merged with the Universal library. Some of the operations of Polygram/Grammercy eventually became Focus, but I'm not sure that the same necessarily applied to all of the catalog titles from the acquisition, especially those not self-produced. You'll notice that there is no attribution to Focus, or Focus logo on the package, unlike Monsoon Wedding.

I think the only ones that are actually in the Focus library are the ones produced after the Grammercy/October merger that resulted in USA Films. So, that would only include titles from 1999 on. The good news is that this would include Traffic and In the Mood For Love, which were distributed by USA Films, so maybe Criterion will get a shot at doing Blus of those..

[ianungstad]

I have The Last Days of Disco dvd. The Focus Features logo plays before the film starts along with the Criterion and Universal logos.

[Jeff]

I have The Last Days of Disco dvd. The Focus Features logo plays before the film starts along with the Criterion and Universal logos.

Ah. Well that answers that question. How odd that they weren't credited on the packaging.

[HistoryProf]

Regarding StudioCanal and their releases in the UK, I suspect we should see a bunch of Criterion titles go out of print this year.

I'm sure this has been asked and I apologize in advance, but i've tried searching to no avail...SO, is there a list of Studio Canal titles that might be susceptible to 3rd Man/Contempt treatment?

[knives]

Here you go.

[HistoryProf]

Thanks Knives....that's a lot of good stuff...and i've always personally hoped Le Cercle Rouge would get a blu rediscovery eventually...guess i can cease holding my breath for that.

[Magic Hate Ball]

Since Canal just announced a few of those for Blu-Ray release in the UK, how likely is it that they'll be released here on Criterion as well?

[Finch]

The good news is that this would include Traffic and In the Mood For Love, which were distributed by USA Films, so maybe Criterion will get a shot at doing Blus of those..

I'd be estatic if CC went back to In The Mood For Love.. it's an all-timer for me but when I asked about it on FB a while back I got no response. That said, with it regularly appearing on most critics' Best of 2000's lists and Wong Kar Wai's international reputation, I'd imagine it'd be a decent seller for Criterion on Blu. [-o<

[fdm]

Since Canal just announced a few of those for Blu-Ray release in the UK, how likely is it that they'll be released here on Criterion as well?

If a title comes out as Region A enabled, good chance Criterion does not have the rights to offer a blu-ray version. Usually can't be sure until they've come out somewhere. (Unless somebody knows somebody who knows somebody who knows.)

[James]

I've been holding off on the Europa DVD because I have a feeling there will be a von Trier month (or two) coming up including a Blu-ray release of that, The Idiots on DVD, Breaking the Waves on Blu-ray and DVD and Antichrist on Blu-ray and DVD.

[mfunk9786]

Criterion isn't releasing Antichrist.

[Flike]

Criterion isn't releasing Antichrist.

Is this a certainty? I thought the Facebook responses have been generally positive, if veiled.

[domino harvey]

One of the first IFC announcements was Antichrist is not coming on Criterion. It wouldn't need to, the other region releases have plenty of extras that will just get ported over fine in R1 without the bigger pricetag the Wacky C brings

[ianungstad]

I think Criterion are releasing Antichrist as well as Afterschool. MPI solicts 4 months in advance and have been pretty good with keeping up to date on the new releases from IFC. Based off the Amazon solicits the only three titles that debuted in the fall that don't have dvd and blu's solicted yet is Antichrist, Afterschool, and Still Walking (which was named in the Criterion/IFC press release). It's telling to say the least that these have been skipped over. Criteron's Facebook responses indeed have been positive, yet veiled in regards to Antichrist.

The "no" to Antichrist, I've only heard from that playlist interview that I think Antoine did. That was two months before the film even debuted in theaters and just around the time the IFC deal was even announced. Was probably too early to tell at that point.

I think these two films are highly likely to be Criterion's. I'm more excited for Afterschool between the two but they are both welcome. Could be reading too much into this. (Which is likely hah)

[mfunk9786]

I hope you're right. I haven't seen Afterschool but it looks fantastic, and I don't know if any other film of the '00s is more of a fit for a stacked CC release than Antichrist.

[James]

I hope you're right. I haven't seen Afterschool but it looks fantastic, and I don't know if any other film of the '00s is more of a fit for a stacked CC release than Antichrist.

Not only that, but it's just about the most profitable arthouse release I can think of from the last few years (barring nothing, except for maybe the upcoming IFC-owned Enter the Void, which I haven't seen).

[knives]

I hope you're right. I haven't seen Afterschool but it looks fantastic, and I don't know if any other film of the '00s is more of a fit for a stacked CC release than Antichrist.

It kind of looks silly to me. Has anyone on the board actually seen it?

[Jeff]

Glenn Kenny mentions that Paramount had "right of first refusal" to use Criterion's transfer of Days of Heaven for Blu-ray, but chose to let Criterion handle it themselves. I'm really hoping for Blu-ray versions of other Paramount titles, with Ace in the Hole, The Naked Prey, and If... topping my wish list. Fox is also clearly letting Criterion have a go at some of their titles on Blu-ray, including Kagemusha, Bigger Than Life, and The Leopard. As has been mentioned previously, it seems like Universal is going to be the stingy one. Their upcoming release of Spartacus further confirms this.

[jedgeco]

it seems like Universal is going to be the stingy one. Their upcoming release of Spartacus further confirms this

Well, Uni did give itself 3 years to exploit Spartacus on DVD letting Criterion do the SE, and even longer for Do the Right Thing, if memory serves me correct. So there still could be a CC Spartacus down the line at some point. (Although given the inevitable change in corporate management, there's certainly no guarantee that whoever's in charge now will follow the same strategy.)

In the long run, I'm actually pretty optimistic about studios licensing BDs to Criterion. Given the resources involved in bringing out a quality BD, there has to be a number of titles that have a small audience that don't make financial sense to release in house, but might be worth it to license to a partner like CC who can do the work and charge a premium.

[Matt]

It seems like we have to go through this with every new format. Studios were happy to license to Criterion for laserdisc then got stingy when DVD came along. Eventually, studios opened up and Criterion was once again able to license from almost all the majors. Now that Blu-ray is making commercial inroads, studios are getting selfish again. It's probably just a matter of time before they loosen up again. This will probably be hastened by studios putting out Blu-rays that are inferior to the existing Criterion DVD release in every way but the number of lines of resolution.

[denti alligator]

What are the chances of The Double Life of Veronika getting a Blu release? Or should I go for the AE release?

[fdm]

What are the chances of The Double Life of Veronika getting a Blu release? Or should I go for the AE release?

I just went ahead and ordered it the other day. So, any time now... This puppy's not even going near my kevyip, it's going straight into the player.

Edit: OBTW, it's a gorgeous transfer, most of the supplements on the Criterion DVD are also on it, and they all play on your basic region-A locked, NTSC only machine.

[Fortisquince]

How certain are we that Criterion will be re-releasing Seven Samurai on Blu this year? I'm about to send in a large group of trade-in DVDs to Amazon and was thinking of including my copies of Criterion's last two releases of the film.

[swo17]

Fairly certain. They had originally hoped to put it out on Kurosawa's centenary in March but realized it wasn't going to be ready in time. I believe they said at that time that they planned to get it out closer to the end of the year. Then again, they also said Cronos was coming last fall...

EDIT: The official word was "later in 2010."