Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.3

[Gary Gnu]

World on a Wire has been teased by my local MFA in their new film calender for a 4th quarter '11 engagement, so it isn't going away just yet. Janus usually lets stuff tour for 8-12 months before the DVDs drop. Ergo, both W.o.a.W and The Soft Skin are solid locks for Criterion 2012 (and will probably be featured alongside Tiny Furniture in that year's cartoon, since we already know about them).

Thanks. I had checked the list of screenings a couple of weeks ago, so I only saw the screenings confirmed for September.

[g.schweet]

I got the impression that their next Clouzot would be L'Assassin habite au 21, though I don't remember where I heard that.

Also La Verité is a Warner so no joy there probably.

How do you know this? It only says Kingsley-International Pictures on IMDB and Wikipedia (yeah I know those are lousy sources), and I've found a good transfer of it from the net that has a Columbia logo at the start.

[nolanoe]

Did my own research and found this: Warner Bros acquires French rights to La Verite

Hurm... I hope they don't have the rights anymore - if they ever had them! A Criterion Blu for this would just be insane.

[ianungstad]

La Verite is with Columbia/Sony in the US.

[nolanoe]

La Verite is with Columbia/Sony in the US.

[-o< This and La Prisonnière on BD = decade saved!! \:D/

[Tribe]

It seems that a while back, either in a newsletter clue or through an All Tomorrow's Parties ad, Criterion had strongly intimated that it would be releasing Costa's Ne Change Rien. But on Amazon it appears it will be a Cinema Guild release in August. Did I miss something or misinterpret the info?

EDIT: Actually, I was correct about the All Tomorrow's Parties Criterion clue.

[Cinephrenic]

Yes, coming from Cinema Guild. I removed it from the list a while ago.

[felipe]

December is certainly a light month though.

Last December wasn't really light, was it? It had Cronos, Videodrome update, and the BBS dvd set (which included 8 dvds), so it wasn't really much lighter than other months.

[Tom Hagen]

They generally average two new titles in December. Sure the last two years the Kurosawa and BBS dvd sets came out, but the former was substantially comprised out of existing transfers, and the later had seen a Blu release the month prior (and was a lot of Sony's work to begin with).

[swo17]

If you read my whole post, the point I was trying to make was that the perception is generally that December is a light month (and it typically is as far as releasing new titles in the mainline) but that there is often a lot of product that gets released in December that people forget about (i.e. gift sets, AK100, BBS on DVD).

[rrenault]

Can we expect a revamp of Taste of Cherry sometime soon? It seems due.

[Gary Gnu]

Can we expect a revamp of Taste of Cherry sometime soon? It seems due.

I'm all for it. Maybe when they get around to releasing Certified Copy. (I think it's coming!)

[rrenault]

Just out curiosity, has a Criterion release ever gone out of print, simply because CC decided to discontinue it, or is that against CC's ethics?

[dwk]

Pygmalion, kind of. They still own it, but they took the bare bones Criterion OOP. However, the Essential Arthouse version is still in print.

[Gary Gnu]

Can we expect a revamp of Taste of Cherry sometime soon? It seems due.

Actually, it might come sooner than I expected. Criterion may re-release it with the Koker Trilogy next year. (It looks as though Criterion has that trilogy prepared for release!) \:D/

[matrixschmatrix]

Pygmalion, kind of. They still own it, but they took the bare bones Criterion OOP. However, the Essential Arthouse version is still in print.

Ditto Variety Lights. In both cases, I'm assuming that Criterion recognized that once the EAH version was available at a much lower price point, there was absolutely no reason to buy the original Criterion.

They let Mona Lisa, The Long Good Friday, and Withnail and I go out of print with no such replacement, and I believe Image still has in-print editions of all three (implying that Criterion still has access.)

[Tribe]

They let Mona Lisa, The Long Good Friday, and Withnail and I go out of print with no such replacement, and I believe Image still has in-print editions of all three (implying that Criterion still has access.)

I think Image also has the two OOP Paul Morrissey titles in print. I wonder whether the relationship between Criterion and Image is as cosy as it might have been...I think there is only a contractual relationship (and Image's distribution network) that keeps them together these days.

[dwk]

Forgot about Variety Lights, which they now no longer have the rights to, but still have the EAH version for sale on their site. I'm pretty sure Criterion confirmed your assumption about the cheaper EAH version being the reason they took the Criterion OOP.

[ianungstad]

Criterion licensed all the Handmade titles from Anchor Bay. Image only picked up the rights to these titles last fall. They said early this year that they had no problems letting Criterion keep the rights to these films. These titles are out of print because Criterion's deal with Anchor Bay has expired. I totally expect that all of these titles will be back in new editions. I think the only reason they are out of print is because they are all pretty much barebone early spine numbers and they're ripe for new revamped editions.

[matrixschmatrix]

Odd that Life of Brian is still in print, isn't it? Was that part of a different deal?

[ianungstad]

Yes. Sony has the rights to the Python films. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have their own release of Life of Brian.

[rrenault]

How much would people anticipate a CC blu ray set of the Three Colors Trilogy costing if they only release them as a set? The Costa set has an MSRP of $80, and it was given that price before they started charging less for DVD releases than for blu ray releases of films. At the same time, $80 would seem a bit outrageous, since Carlos has a $50 MSRP, and is longer than the three Kieslowski films combined, so, who knows?

[matrixschmatrix]

How much would people anticipate a CC blu ray set of the Three Colors Trilogy costing if they only release them as a set? The Costa set has an MSRP of $80, and it was given that price before they started charging less for DVD releases than for blu ray releases of films. At the same time, $80 would seem a bit outrageous, since Carlos has a $50 MSRP, and is longer than the three Kieslowski films combined, so, who knows?

I would assume an $80 price point- that's pretty consistently what they charge for three film sets. The length of the movies really doesn't have much to do with it, unless it's really extreme in one direction or the other- the whole Von Sternberg set is only about 240 minutes.

[Gary Gnu]

How much would people anticipate a CC blu ray set of the Three Colors Trilogy costing if they only release them as a set? The Costa set has an MSRP of $80, and it was given that price before they started charging less for DVD releases than for blu ray releases of films. At the same time, $80 would seem a bit outrageous, since Carlos has a $50 MSRP, and is longer than the three Kieslowski films combined, so, who knows?

Right now, I'm guestimating $40. (4 Disks for both Standard and Blu.) That seems fair, unless they just go balls-to-the-wall with supplements. I'm expecting a lot, but if they go above and beyond what I'm expecting, I'd put it at $50, as well.

EDIT: $80 seems a little high for 3 films that total about 285 minutes. If they include, like, two documentaries and a 120-page booklet; now that warrants $80. (I'm starting to think they might do that...)

[matrixschmatrix]

Remember than an $80 price point generally means $50 if you buy it from Amazon and as low as $30 if you work the deals correctly. $40 is what Criterion charges for one Blu, $50 for one movie special edition (like Seven Samurai or Night of the Hunter.) They're certainly not going to charge that little for three big-name movies.