Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 6

[captveg]

Did I miss the news of the Road Trilogy release being officially canceled or something?

[zedz]

I don't think anybody has any idea what happened with the rumoured Wenders set. When Criterion only released Le Havre in July 2012, somebody on the forum explained that, according to his sources, this was because the Wenders box was supposed to be released that month but was delayed for some reason. It seemed plausible at the time but has obviously become less and less tenable as a theory with every passing month!

[captveg]

Aside from Y tu mama tambien, is the Road Trilogy the only remaining New Years drawing clue left prior to the 2013 and 2104 ones?

[Cinephrenic]

My money is on a Oshima set or Apu Trilogy next month.

[sir_luke]

I don't want to hear any predictions that aren't "the Tati box is coming next."

[Buttery Jeb]

Aside from Y tu mama tambien, is the Road Trilogy the only remaining New Years drawing clue left prior to the 2013 and 2104 ones?

Didn't we all guess Bitter Rice was teased in one of the New Year's drawings?

[Jeff]

Aside from Y tu mama tambien, is the Road Trilogy the only remaining New Years drawing clue left prior to the 2013 and 2104 ones?

Didn't we all guess Bitter Rice was teased in one of the New Year's drawings?

I guessed that a couple of years ago, but I think that turned out to be from Summer with Monika, and I thought that the four cars on the vehicular transport from La promesse might be from each of the Road films and The American Friend.

I also made the Road Trilogy comment zedz is referring to. Wenders was supposedly saying at screenings at the time that Criterion would be releasing it that summer. I think that if we've learned anything in the last couple of days, it's that I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

[Lowry_Sam]

It seems to me that Criterion has been shying away from boxes of late, breaking up former boxes into their individual releases or releasing things individually rather than as a box (Antonioni, Malle, Spalding Gray, Cocteau, Doinel....). I'll be pleasantly surprised if & when they come, but I'm no longer expecting them.

[Gregory]

Just in the last 5 months we've had the Cassavetes box upgrade (the first time they've upgraded a whole earlier box), Zatoichi (their biggest set aside from the huge EAH one), and WCP Vol. 1 (a set that will probably not be a very big seller for them*), so it doesn't seem like they're shying away from box sets too much.

*It has just six reviews on Amazon.com so far, and half of those are negative/complaining!

[Shrew]

There's a weird self-perpetuating cycle with the boxsets, wherein someone posts that Criterion has x, someone else says wouldn't it be cool if they did a xyz box, then xyz box gets posted in monthly guesses for a year or two, and finally people get tired of waiting and say Criterion's not doing many boxsets anymore or assume one must be imminent because so many have been mentioned. They've never actually done many per year, and like Gregory says, last year was exceptionally boxset heavy.

Here's a more comprehensive breakdown of boxset numbers by year (also noting the month of release) because I am a popular person. Note that I counted "condensed" boxsets of several films put on 1 or 2 discs in a regular case (Vigo, Etaix) and big deluxe films (Shoah, Berlin A) as .5 boxes. Edit: Added a few missing things--obviously, what counts as a box or .5 box is subject to debate, but this should give rough evidence to prove that boxsets are fairly rare for Criterion.

1998- 0
1999- 0
2000- 1 (May-Orphic Trilogy)
2001- 2 (Apr-Eisenstein, Aug-Dreyer)
2002- 1 (Nov- Comp. Mont. Pop)
2003- 3.5 (Mar- I am Curious, Apr-Antoine Doinel, Aug-Bergman, Sep-BRD Trilogy)
2004- 2.5 (Aug-Renoir, Sep-Cassavetes, Nov-Fanny/Alexander)
2005- 2 (Apr-Wajda, Oct- Samurai)
2006- 2.5 (Mar-Malle, Apr-Arkadin, Aug-Six Moral Tales)
2007- 3.5 (Jan-Monsters, Feb-Robeson, July-Teshigahara, Nov-Berlin Alexanderplatz)
2008- 1 (Jan- Varda)
2009- 2.5 (May- Imamura, Sep- Human Condition, Complete Mont. Pop Blu, Nov- Golden Age of TV)
2010- 5 (Jan- Rossellini War, Mar-Pedro Costa, May-Brakhage I/II, July- Ozu Two Films, Aug- Sternberg, Nov- BBS Story)
2011- 2 (Aug- Jean Vigo, Nov-F/A Blu, Three Colors)
2012- 3.5 (Mar-Lean/Coward, June- Samurai Tri Blu, Nov- Trilogy of Life, Dec- Qatsi)
2013- 5 (Apr- Pierre Etaix, June- Shoah, Sept- Ros/Berg, Oct- Cassavetes Blu, Nov- Zatoichi, Dec-World Cinema)

So on average, Criterion does about 2 boxsets a year, though there's been a recent uptick. Most years have a boxset in both halves of the year. However, more boxes tend to come out in the Fall.

EDIT: I only included "new" boxes, and left off the sets that collected existing releases (Great Adaptations, Olivier) and the deluxe gift boxes (AK 100, 10 Years of Rialto), which came out at a steady 1 per year pace from 2003-2009. I don't think anything equivalent has been released since (Zatoichi and BBS both being all new), so there might actually be less of an average increase from 2010 on than it appears.

[jindianajonz]

What is the .5 in 2003? I Am Curious was a two case box similar to the Ozu box (which also seems to be missing)

[Cinephrenic]

Speaking of sets, why the slowdown of Eclipse sets? Someone should ask Criterion.

[Lowry_Sam]

I don't really count the 2-discers as boxes & I'm usually only get excited about the director themed (especially trilogies) boxes. Criterion seemed to be on a roll with those for awhile: Wajda, Fassbinder, Varda, Imamura, Teshigahara, Dreyer, Orphic Trilogy, Doinel, Malle are some of my favorite releases & I continue to revisit them. Of the past three years, only the Qatsi trilogy & Three Colors had me excited, while ones that had been rumored & would have excited me most (Antonioni, Spalding Gray, Dekalog,....) haven't been materializing (as well as my favorites of old getting broken up & only getting individual releases, possibly due to rights or available materials). So my low level of enthusiasm for recent output, combined with the actual reduction in Eclipse boxes probably distorts perception. So as not to jinx things, I just said I'll sit back & be pleasantly surprised if the rumored ones I really want finally materialize. I just wanted to point out (and I didn't make it explicit in previous post), it doesn't really pay Criterion to make a box out of 3 titles that can each sell pretty well on their own (particularly if they're licensed from different entities) & that therefore people are pulling the horse before the cart if they're expecting that something that could be part of a box will get released as part of a box.

[flyonthewall2983]

With the announcement of A Hard Day's Night and Quadrophenia coming out last year, I wonder what other Rock movies could become available for Criterion to put out. It's a longshot as I'm sure Universal/EMI might want to release it themselves, but I'd love it if Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii receives a spine. There has been recent news that work is being done on a new transfer of the 1974 version with the band working on Dark Side of the Moon interspersed with the concert footage.

[Lowry_Sam]

the 1974 version with the band working on Dark Side of the Moon interspersed with the concert footage.

...with The Wizard of Oz as a bonus feature?

Are you overlooking Pink Floyd The Wall for a reason? Looks like Sony released the last CD, while IMDB attributes a 2010 theatrical release to Warner..., Of the recent Pink Floyd (cd/dvd/blu) box sets, The Wall was the only one missing a blu-ray, which is rather odd as I would have expected it to be the most likely to include one for 5.1 etc.

[beamish13]

THE CURE IN ORANGE would be a great selection. The original negatives were recently recovered and the band and its director are trying
to get a restoration out. It's a really fabulous movie-a very pure documentary that's just about the performances as opposed to self-reflexivity.

[flyonthewall2983]

the 1974 version with the band working on Dark Side of the Moon interspersed with the concert footage.

...with The Wizard of Oz as a bonus feature?

Are you overlooking Pink Floyd The Wall for a reason? Looks like Sony released the last CD, while IMDB attributes a 2010 theatrical release to Warner..., Of the recent Pink Floyd (cd/dvd/blu) box sets, The Wall was the only one missing a blu-ray, which is rather odd as I would have expected it to be the most likely to include one for 5.1 etc.

No, I suspect Sony would want to keep that one for themselves as it's probably the only property with the Pink Floyd name on it left that they can release (since everything else has reverted back to EMI, including the album). I have heard there is a 5.1 mix of the album in the works, it just didn't meet the record company's timeline for a release when it came to putting out a Wall box set.

[movielocke]

Here's a more comprehensive breakdown of boxset numbers by year (also noting the month of release) because I am a popular person. Note that I counted "condensed" boxsets of several films put on 1 or 2 discs in a regular case (Vigo, Etaix) and big deluxe films (Shoah, Berlin A) as .5 boxes.

iirc, Samurai Trilogy was put in a box in 2004, before that they were only available as individual releases. Perhaps you should include it in the 2013 releases, though.

2002 also had a box set, the Complete Monterey Pop November, upgraded to bluray in september 2009

2009 is also missing The Human Condition

2010 is missing the Ozu box set.

Carlos and Che and Battle of Algiers could also possibly count.

[Moe Dickstein]

Wouldn't a box set have to include more than one film and more than one spine number? Something like Rossellini/Bergman counts, where Shoah is just one film released with bonus films (like King of the Hill).

[fdm]

Back in the day the website listings used to indicate whether it was a box set or not.

Seems it still does, on the product pages it says either "Box Set Info" or "Film Info". (From a very small random sample.)

(Floating Weeds and A Story Of Floating Weeds is considered a box set, but only has a single spine number. The Killing is considered a film, with Killer's Kiss being a supplement, ...)

[FrauBlucher]

Wouldn't a box set have to include more than one film and more than one spine number? Something like Rossellini/Bergman counts, where Shoah is just one film released with bonus films (like King of the Hill).

This sounds like a Home Theater Forum rule.

[ianungstad]

With the announcement of A Hard Day's Night and Quadrophenia coming out last year, I wonder what other Rock movies could become available for Criterion to put out. It's a longshot as I'm sure Universal/EMI might want to release it themselves, but I'd love it if Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii receives a spine. There has been recent news that work is being done on a new transfer of the 1974 version with the band working on Dark Side of the Moon interspersed with the concert footage.

I haven't seen it. so I don't know if it's Criterion worthy but Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is out of print. Criterion also seems to be fans of Bowie and Pennebaker. It's another EMI title.

1991: The Year Punk Broke is also out of print. Criterion screened it once at the ATP festival. The director told me via email that Criterion tried to get the rights but Courtney Love wanted too much money for the rights to the Nirvana material and Criterion declined.

[FrauBlucher]

Damn you, Courtney Love!!!!!

[Shrew]

Wouldn't a box set have to include more than one film and more than one spine number? Something like Rossellini/Bergman counts, where Shoah is just one film released with bonus films (like King of the Hill).

My reasoning was that boxsets could either be multi film sets, or single film sets that are so big they require extra manufacturing and special planning. Hence the .5 thing, but it's all pretty arbitrary. Basically I'm thinking significantly higher price points (as with Shoah) are one of the big reasons Criterion doesn't put out tons of boxes.

[chatterjees]

With the announcement of A Hard Day's Night and Quadrophenia coming out last year, I wonder what other Rock movies could become available for Criterion to put out. It's a longshot as I'm sure Universal/EMI might want to release it themselves, but I'd love it if Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii receives a spine. There has been recent news that work is being done on a new transfer of the 1974 version with the band working on Dark Side of the Moon interspersed with the concert footage.

I would kill for a Criterion blu-ray of Scorsese's No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005). I don't see Paramount releasing a BD.