Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 6

[Sandman]

If on Amazon you search under "[title] criterion blu", the listings appear in the results, but in the lower "Results for...." section of the page. No artwork, of course.

And then sort by release date.

[Noiradelic]

If on Amazon you search under "[title] criterion blu", the listings appear in the results, but in the lower "Results for...." section of the page. No artwork, of course.

And then sort by release date.

What I meant was search the title of each individual release separately, but whatever worked.

[criterion10]

Does anyone else it find it somewhat counter-productive for Criterion to continue releasing Blu-Ray upgrades instead of Dual-Format upgrades? That is assuming that films like Life Aquatic and Overlord do receive a Dual-Format upgrade eventually...

[Shrew]

I'm guessing Life Aquatic is something to do with Buena Vista/right issues.

Overlord's probably such a low seller that they're not worried about clearing their DVD stock or that of the new Bluray.

[HistoryProf]

what a horribly bland month. Ecstatic for Red River finally, but otherwise just blah. Not sure i'll even bother upgrading Overlord or Ace in the Hole - it's not like there's anything wrong with the DVDs.

[Sandman]

I use two bookmarks for Amazon, one for Criterion blu ray and the other for opera blu ray, each sorted by release date, latest release at the top. That way I don't have to go tinkering around looking for individual titles.

[Glowingwabbit]

I noticed that The Virgin Spring and Through a Glass Darkly are on itunes in HD now. I hope this will lead to blu upgrades of Virgin Spring and the Trilogy of Faith in 2014.

[albucat]

The Trilogy of Faith have been in HD on hulu for ages now, so I don't know that this is necessarily a good barometer for when a release will be imminent.

[arthousecowboy]

Glad that Red River is finally coming, and that I can have all of Anderson's movies on Blu-ray now.

[BillWatkins]

what a horribly bland month. Ecstatic for Red River finally, but otherwise just blah. Not sure i'll even bother upgrading Overlord or Ace in the Hole - it's not like there's anything wrong with the DVDs.

The Ace in the Hole DVD is windowboxed.

[bergelson]

I'm not sure it's the right place to ask but what happened to the Eclipse series? Is it dead?

[jindianajonz]

I'm not sure it's the right place to ask but what happened to the Eclipse series? Is it dead?

Officially, no, though releases have certainly slowed over the last year. Some have speculated that Pierre Etaix and Zatoichi took up some of the resources usually allocated to Eclipse. We did just get Early Ray a couple of months ago, though, so they are still coming out, just very slowly.

[Cinephrenic]

The problem is that the main line has slowed. The upgrades and double format seems to slow the rate of new films coming out. Seriously, we got only two new titles on blu from Criterion announced this month.

[Perkins Cobb]

what a horribly bland month. Ecstatic for Red River finally, but otherwise just blah. Not sure i'll even bother upgrading Overlord or Ace in the Hole - it's not like there's anything wrong with the DVDs.

Well, one thing that's wrong with the DVDs is that they're not Blu-rays.

I mean, I agree, I've always clamored for new entries to the collection over upgrades, so the last few batches of announcements have been frustrating. Although, silver lining, I still haven't gotten around to Overlord, so I'll get to see that for the first time on Blu.

[Professor Wagstaff]

The problem is that the main line has slowed. The upgrades and double format seems to slow the rate of new films coming out. Seriously, we got only two new titles on blu from Criterion announced this month.

How has the main line slowed down? By the end of April, Criterion will have released 17 new titles for the year, all individual releases that don't include upgrades. Each of the last two years saw around 50 new spine numbers enter the collection, a rise from 2011 when that number was closer to 40. We also had some stacked sets this past year with Pierre Etaix and the Zatoichi box sets. I feel like a low output month comes along about once a year (remember in July 2012 when the only new release was "La Havre"), but even a traditionally dry month like December gave way to a bounty of 8 new titles in 2013. Unless I'm looking at this the wrong way, I don't understand how this indicated a decrease in production.

[jindianajonz]

Like Prof said, the last couple months only seem light compared to the absolute barrage of new titles that had preceeded them. I mean, getting Hitchcock, Polanski, Soderbergh, Morris, Anderson, and Bergman all in a row (not to mention BitWC preceeding and Great Beauty/The Freshman following) may be the most prestigious string of titles since the great run between Rebecca and Bob le Flambeur.

I'd be curious to see the total running time of all materials released in a given month has changed lately, because despite some noticeably sparse releases, we've had a lot of jam-packed sets lately.

[Drucker]

because despite some noticeably sparse releases, we've had a lot of jam-packed sets lately.

Agreed. And surely the ratio will never be even, but at the tail end of last year we got Zatochi, Investigation Of A Citizen and the World Cinema Foundation Set. It's going to go with the territory that release months like that will be offset with months like this.

Of course, I'm still ecstatic on almost three of the four April releases. When's the last time Criterion were releasing silent films two months in a row?

[Cinephrenic]

Good point, probably have to look at the output as a year, but I'm sure the upgrades are taking some of Criterion's production time in getting new material out.

[swo17]

They upgraded/reissued 25 spines last year and that's more or less what they're on pace for this year as well.

[FrauBlucher]

I think most years the upgrades, box sets and new releases even out to their averages, relatively speaking. CC probably tries to be consistent if they can.

I'm curios as to why and how they choose titles to upgrade. For instance George Washington and Overlord get upgrades while Fellinis, Sirks and Sturges amongst other giants have been neglected. Perhaps element issues for some. I wish CC would answer questions like they once did. Even this past Wexner talks was sparse with info on specific titles and filmmakers, and what could be coming down the pipe.

As far as what takes up the bulk of CC's production I would think it was some of the big box sets they put out last year. From Sept to Dec there were box sets. Rosselini, Cassavetes, Zatoichi, and World Cinema, plus back in April was Etaix. That looks like a lot of work to me.

[zedz]

I'm curios as to why and how they choose titles to upgrade. For instance George Washington and Overlord get upgrades while Fellinis, Sirks and Sturges amongst other giants have been neglected. Perhaps element issues for some. I wish CC would answer questions like they once did. Even this past Wexner talks was sparse with info on specific titles and filmmakers, and what could be coming down the pipe.

My guess is that a lot of it has to do with available elements and ancillary usage. If any of their films is getting turned into a DCP, or getting an updated digital transfer for release in another home video market, I'm sure Criterion pricks up their ears. Similarly, I'm sure that when they're coming to the end of a DVD printing and looking to press more, they'll explore the feasibility of an upgrade, and may find the rightsholder amenable to helping out.

For the big canonical arthouse and studio titles, the chances of these getting a full photochemical restoration sooner or later is good, so I'd expect Criterion to be reluctant to issue an upgrade if there's a strong chance it will be gazumped in a year or two. I mean, this has already happened to them more than once and people on this forum (and elsewhere) give them a lot of grief about it.

[swo17]

And some of these things are years in the making. For instance, Overlord was supposed to be coming in "the near future" two whole years ago.

[MongooseCmr]

I think its safe to say that was intentionally delayed for the 60th anniversary of D-Day

[Bando]

I think its safe to say that was intentionally delayed for the 60th anniversary of D-Day

It's the 70th, but yes, this is probably correct.

[ianungstad]

No real surprise but Warner via the WAC Facebook page confirmed that they no longer have the rights to Rosen's Watership Down. Almost certain this is the animated film that Becker was referring to at the Wexner chat.