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If upgrades of in print dvds haven't been selling well then at least focus on the OOP stuff. They could put out new editions of Withnail and I, How To Get Ahead In Advertising, Mona Lisa, and The Long Good Friday; if they really wanted to. How To Get Ahead in Advertising has been OOP for like 15 years! Chungking Express has been more recently re-acquired but you can add that to the list.

Mungo wrote:Why put these as a standalone release unless the Demy set is going OOP? I'm afraid I don't understand.

There's a little Best Picture favorite called La La Land - made by a director who is a big Demy fan and has publicly noted the influence of these two films - coming out on video on April 11th.

ianungstad wrote:If upgrades of in print dvds haven't been selling well then at least focus on the OOP stuff. They could put out new editions of Withnail and I, How To Get Ahead In Advertising, Mona Lisa, and The Long Good Friday; if they really wanted to. How To Get Ahead in Advertising has been OOP for like 15 years! Chungking Express has been more recently re-acquired but you can add that to the list.

It wouldn't surprise me if a set of WKW's films was 2017's big holiday box set.

I think the success of La La Land and the Demy films' influence on it is the reason for their standalone releases.

dwk wrote:It wouldn't surprise me if a set of WKW's films was 2017's big holiday box set.

It would be a surprise for me. If there's one think UK/EU labels do more/better that I wish Criterion would adopt, it's more box sets (Allen, Almodovar, Fassbinder....). I think now that fewer people are buying discs, those who do & would buy a title from a particular director, would also likely buy several (similar) titles from that director & so grouping titles into box sets seems pretty wise (and then only releasing the more popular titles individually). I think it's unlikely that we'll get a big WKW box, maybe the trilogy.

From the releases this time around, looks like Criterion has been investing it's resources in stacking releases with extras, just hope they don't come at the expense of PQ.

I think as the Demy box has just shown Americans are too dumb for boxsets.

Lowry_Sam wrote:

dwk wrote:It wouldn't surprise me if a set of WKW's films was 2017's big holiday box set.

It would be a surprise for me. If there's one think UK/EU labels do more/better that I wish Criterion would adopt, it's more box sets (Allen, Almodovar, Fassbinder....). I think now that fewer people are buying discs, those who do & would buy a title from a particular director, would also likely buy several (similar) titles from that director & so grouping titles into box sets seems pretty wise (and then only releasing the more popular titles individually). I think it's unlikely that we'll get a big WKW box, maybe the trilogy.

I should've said gift set instead of box set, but I meant something along the lines of the del Toro set. Unless they are working on a new 4k master, there is no reason for them not to have already re-release their Chungking Express disc.

knives wrote:I think as the Demy box has just shown Americans are too dumb for boxsets.

I'm not sure only wanting Umbrellas Of Cherbourg on a blu-ray & not having to buy Donkey Skin to get it is necessarily the sign of a lack of intelligence.

One bad film out of five is nothing. You're losing out on Lola.

I'd still be wary of assuming a rerelease of Chungking Express is a sure thing; though Arrow getting a Miramax deal definitely seems to indicate the floodgates should be back open for Criterion the streaming rights may well be different than the physical rights.

(I'm possibly just a little upset at springing for that title on eBay a few months ago rather than more affordable titles that will likely remain OOP for the near future, but such is life)

It's kind of surprising how, looking over the Miramax catalog of the 90s, there's really not very much that so easily informs a Criterion release to me. Velvet Goldmine seems like a shout, and I could kind of imagine them doing Talented Mr. Ripley just as they keep doing Ripley movies, and there's obviously more they *could* release (especially in the early part of the decade), but I've got to wonder how they'd divy up titles with Arrow if that's what's happening.

For what it's worth, the film programmer at a local theater has mentioned that he's planning to show Chungking Express later this year and wound up being directed to Janus Films, who are working up a 4K DCP. That sounds like more than streaming rights to me.

Chungking Express is no longer with Miramax - it opens with a Janus logo (which it didn't before). Miramax's Middle-Eastern owners couldn't care less about renewing rights to these foreign films, so they'll keep reverting to the director/producer/etc.

Anyway, here is the month's speculation roundup:

Woman of the Year - October's newsletter clue

Rumble Fish - November's newsletter clue

Buena Vista Social Club - New Years clue + Janus tour

Tampopo - New Years clue + Janus tour + Criterion finally listening to my yearly wants list after like four years
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No surprises (other than the Demy box break-up, I guess..). The newsletter clues are cleared out (other than the perennial), and we should be getting new years clues for awhile still.

Ecstatic about finally getting Tampopo! I've been listing that every year on my random "hopes for next year" section since 2012.

Minkin wrote:...The newsletter clues are cleared out...

*pours one out for Midnight Cowboy*

captveg wrote:

Minkin wrote:...The newsletter clues are cleared out...

*pours one out for Midnight Cowboy*

Guys, I was thinking ... maybe that wasn't a clue for Midnight Cowboy. Is it possible it was showing an ill, sore, possum ... i.e., Il sorpasso? Just spitballing here - if we could spend a few hours or even years hashing this out, that'd be great, thanks.

Re: Miramax, Kino have licensed The Lovers on the Bridge and Microcosmos directly from them also.

Brian C wrote:Guys, I was thinking ... maybe that wasn't a clue for Midnight Cowboy. Is it possible it was showing an ill, sore, possum ... i.e., Il sorpasso? Just spitballing here - if we could spend a few hours or even years hashing this out, that'd be great, thanks.

Brian C wrote:Guys, I was thinking ... maybe that wasn't a clue for Midnight Cowboy. Is it possible it was showing an ill, sore, possum ... i.e., Il sorpasso? Just spitballing here - if we could spend a few hours or even years hashing this out, that'd be great, thanks.

CSM126 wrote:For what it's worth, the film programmer at a local theater has mentioned that he's planning to show Chungking Express later this year and wound up being directed to Janus Films, who are working up a 4K DCP. That sounds like more than streaming rights to me.

Do you know if they happen to say when said 4K DCP will be ready? That would be a good tool to estimate when a re-release of the Blu (or a whole new Blu) will happen.

Minkin wrote:Chungking Express is no longer with Miramax - it opens with a Janus logo (which it didn't before). Miramax's Middle-Eastern owners couldn't care less about renewing rights to these foreign films, so they'll keep reverting to the director/producer/etc.

I believe that Miramax was losing the rights to a lot of stuff even before Disney sold it off (and you gotta think that that may have played a part in them getting rid of it so fast.)

captveg wrote:Unless there is another late addition to the April slate, that makes only six true upgrades in the last year (Carnival of Souls, Night and Fog, Woman in the Dunes, Night Train to Munich, Short Cuts, and The Exterminating Angel), and only one (The Exterminating Angel) over the last six months (Oct-Apr).

I know!
On the other hand, I think we're counting upgrades differently from how criterion does, from their perspective they did seven or eight laserdisc upgrades along with the half dozen DVD upgrades you listed.

And all the laserdisc upgrades are effectively the more elaborate Second Edition type of upgrade, like night and fog, which take as much labor resources as a new release. And even just the Format Upgrade type of release like Exterminating Angel take a decent amount of labor to issue, and there are only so many hours one can allocate.

Ribs wrote:It's kind of surprising how, looking over the Miramax catalog of the 90s, there's really not very much that so easily informs a Criterion release to me.

Paris Is Burning
Madonna: Truth or Dare
Les invasions barbares
The Best of Youth
I'm Not Scared
Infernal Affairs
Frida
City of God
Amélie
In the Bedroom
Italian for Beginners
The Harmonists
Life Is Beautiful
Good Will Hunting
The Wings of the Dove
Princess Mononoke
Basquiat
Kolya
Ridicule
Trainspotting
Dead Man
Kids
Priest
Heavenly Creatures
Il Postino
Exotica
Strawberry and Chocolate
The Piano
Sonatine
The Crying Game
Hard Boiled
Kafka
High Heels
Mighty Aphrodite
The Krays
Ju Dou
The Nasty Girl
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Cinema Paradiso
Pelle the Conqueror
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing
Pulp Fiction
Kill Bill 1&2
Clerks
Chasing Amy
Fahrenheit 9/11
Three Colors: Red
Three Colors: Blue
Three Colors: White
The Double Life of Veronique
True Romance
Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
The Crow
Sling Blade
Microcosmos
Everyone Says I Love You
The English Patient
Shakespeare In Love
Malena
Chocolat

Really?

Having still never received a DVD release, "Kafka" is the highest priority for me. Having an anamorphic copy of "Exotica" would be nice as well.

MoonlitKnight wrote:Having an anamorphic copy of "Exotica" would be nice as well.

There are the UK & Canadian blu-rays, which are at least anamorphic though not overly impressive in their PQ (though certainly better than any of the dvd releases).

Kafka will come out on Criterion whenever Soderbergh is done tinkering with it. It's been "forthcoming" for many years

domino harvey wrote:Kafka will come out on Criterion whenever Soderbergh is done tinkering with it. It's been "forthcoming" for many years

I think we're at the point where we can substitute "decades" for "years".