Arrow Films

[Drucker]

Any chance California Split?

[PfR73]

Good to see the man himself having an opinion.
As long as it's not O.C. and Stiggs.

I would totally buy an Arrow Blu-Ray of OC And Stiggs. I think it is a very funny & underrated film.

[warren oates]

I feel like we probably had this conversation before, but, yeah, I like O.C. and Stiggs too and I'd totally buy a Blu-ray.

[rapta]

I'm hoping for The Player...it is possible, as although it's a Warner title in the US it's with Pathé in the UK as far as I'm aware.

But if not, it's likely to be one of the MGM-owned titles: Images, Thieves Like Us, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, OC & Stiggs etc.

I'm not 100%, but I think Paramount have Short Cuts and Universal have Gosford Park in the UK. Both would be excellent on blu-ray - in fact, Short Cuts would be perfect for Eureka's Masters of Cinema (and entirely possible considering they've handled Paramount in the past). Fingers crossed, as always!

A shame that three great Altman films probably won't see blu-ray releases in the UK any time soon due to being Warner titles: Countdown, Brewster McCloud, and most of all, McCabe & Mrs Miller.

[GaryC]

I certainly wouldn't say no to a Blu-ray of 3 Women - a Fox title but on Blu from Criterion in the USA. There is a UK DVD though from Cinema Club.

Images would be nice too - I've only seen that on TV and it was panned and scanned then.

Momentum had a DVD release in the UK of Buffalo Bill and the Indians, but that was back in 2004.

[jsteffe]

Guru Dutt films - Kagaz-ke-phool, Aar-Par, Pyasa, Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam
Was it Kagaz-ke-phool or Pyaasa that was shot both flat and in CinemaScope? Films Sans Frontieres did a widescreen VHS release in France of one of those films, but my VHS is tucked away right now so I´cant check

That would be Kaagaz-ke-phool. Agreed, any Guru Dutt film would be wonderful, but the question is who holds the rights. The other potential problem with Kaagaz-ke-phool is the condition of the film elements, especially for the widescreen version. I don't know whether the camera negative or duplicate negatives survive for the widescreen version. As far as I know, for years it has only been available in a battered print. Whatever the case, few postwar films of its stature are more badly in need of a restoration.

[Calvin]

Arrow's Francesco Simeoni has teased this on Twitter:

If people think we recently teased 'release of the year' material I just got off a call that might make everyone think again... Think double

[Drucker]

All this in addition to the unannounced Altman they are working on.

[Drucker]

Thinking of this last night, perhaps Simeoni's comment is related to the tease of releasing Bollywood films?

[swo17]

I will accept nothing less than a complete "Ruiz in the '80s" set.

[zedz]

I will accept nothing less than a complete "Ruiz in the '80s" set.

Dual format 218-disc set! In special sailing-ship packaging (actually floats and capable of carrying two homicidal infants), including a 200-page hardbound book written by fictional authors.

[Drucker]

Fans of 80s slasher flicks! Tomorrow we'll announce a surprise title destined for our upcoming US/UK slate. Tail end of the slasher Golden Age. First time on Blu-ray (or legitimate DVD, for that matter) ever in the world. Place bets now!

Someone suggested The Mutilator and there's a Tweet saying it's coming. Of course, could be an April Fool's joke...

[Banasa]

If it's anything like last year, we are getting a gag response, followed by an actual announcement of a release.

[Drucker]

Videodrome just confirmed on Facebook:

Time to wish a very happy birthday to James Woods! He will be making his Arrow Video debut in Videodrome soon...

[Banasa]

Confirmed much earlier from various postcards in discs I'm afraid!

[A man stayed-put]

I bought Arrow's Blu of Caligula (I'm still not sure why) and was surprised to find a new postcard in it for Lizzani's Wake Up & Kill. On the back it had smaller pictures of La Grande Bouffe and Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key.

I know some people had guessed at these being forthcoming before, but didn't know if they'd been confirmed (sorry if this is old news if so).

[Adam X]

Guess I won't be watching that NoShame DVD I finally got a copy of after all. Wonderful to see Vice confirmed.

[chatterjees]

I received my Society set today and it contains a postcard for Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key.

[Dr Amicus]

I see Miracle in Milan has been repackaged as Blu only for the main film with a DVD of Il Tetto and the booklet now limited to the first 1000 copies- I assume the only change is that the DVD of the main film has gone? Is there any change to the booklet?

[TonyleStephanois]

I see Miracle in Milan has been repackaged as Blu only for the main film with a DVD of Il Tetto and the booklet now limited to the first 1000 copies- I assume the only change is that the DVD of the main film has gone? Is there any change to the booklet?

Both Miracle in Milan and Ashes and Diamonds have this treatment. Unfortunately both have been rather weak sellers and we can't justify keeping them in print. It's unclear yet whether they will have another release at all after these 1000 copies because it's not just down to the booklets (which are incredibly expensive to keep in print) but down to the release as a whole. As mentioned, should they get re-printed both releases will not include booklets.

In this shrinking market we have had to evaluate certain releases and strategies. We did not want to simply cut back, down or change our booklets so it we felt the best option would be to keep them in print for a limited time only. We're grateful for any feedback on this matter and will certainly be monitoring this over the coming months.

[tenia]

For the booklet, maybe the texts could be uploaded on Arrow's blog, like Criterion does with theirs ? Or a pdf file could be made available ?
This could solve the issue of keeping the booklets in print, at least.

[Bürgermeister]

I'm curious, just how much it costs to keep a blu/dvd booklet "in print"?

[mistakaninja]

Presumably they do a single large print run at the start. If a title isn't a good seller, then you'd only want a smaller subsequent run, which is financially prohibitive.

[TonyleStephanois]

For the booklet, maybe the texts could be uploaded on Arrow's blog...

Yes we will look to do something like this in the future.

I'm curious, just how much it costs to keep a blu/dvd booklet "in print"?

Presumably they do a single large print run at the start. If a title isn't a good seller, then you'd only want a smaller subsequent run, which is financially prohibitive.

The problem is a minimum print run for niche titles is quite a lot in itself and there are associated costs, which I won't get into the specifics of.

[Erik Morton]

I see Miracle in Milan has been repackaged as Blu only for the main film with a DVD of Il Tetto and the booklet now limited to the first 1000 copies- I assume the only change is that the DVD of the main film has gone? Is there any change to the booklet?

Both Miracle in Milan and Ashes and Diamonds have this treatment. Unfortunately both have been rather weak sellers and we can't justify keeping them in print. It's unclear yet whether they will have another release at all after these 1000 copies because it's not just down to the booklets (which are incredibly expensive to keep in print) but down to the release as a whole. As mentioned, should they get re-printed both releases will not include booklets.<br abp="908"><br abp="909">In this shrinking market we have had to evaluate certain releases and strategies. We did not want to simply cut back, down or change our booklets so it we felt the best option would be to keep them in print for a limited time only. We're grateful for any feedback on this matter and will certainly be monitoring this over the coming months.

Thanks very much for the helpful information! What are the chances of a similar repackaging upgrade for Spirits of the Dead, as well as a Blu-ray upgrade for The Garden of Finzi Contini?