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HJackson wrote:Is Mildred Pierce the first Warner title they're putting out in the UK? I just dropped some big change on the US Asphalt Jungle!

Also, hasn't Cul-De-Sac just been released in the UK in a Polanski set by another label?

I'm hoping The Asphalt Jungle will be announced for the UK soon - as well as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Badlands, Short Cuts, and My Own Private Idaho. Fingers crossed...

And yes, Cul-de-sac has just been released by Screenbound (aka Odeon) as part of a set along with Repulsion and Knife in the Water, with separate releases due in March. Much like Black Orpheus, it seems Screenbound are somehow releasing things they don't necessarily have sole rights to. I don't know if these are public domain, or the rights are split between several parties, but it feels to me like Criterion got these two as part of a library, and they just happen to be part of another library that Screenbound have access to. It's a little odd...be interesting to hear from either company what the deal is with these.

I guess Repulsion could be next? I also wonder if the Tarkovsky titles are in a similar grey area, hence why Criterion reportedly have UK rights to the Mosfilm restorations (as well as North America). That could of course be an error though, since Criterion apparently pulled their Amazon listing for Ivan's Childhood.

Great news for us UK folk: looks like we're getting The Life of Oharu in a few months (probably March).

Black Orpheus is listed as region free on Amazon. If that's true, would it be their first blu-ray without a region lock?

Ashirg wrote:Black Orpheus is listed as region free on Amazon. If that's true, would it be their first blu-ray without a region lock?

Yes it would, but I highly doubt it will actually be Region-Free.

March releases:
20th - Multiple Maniacs
27th - Lone Wolf and Cub

Just heard about Lone Wolf & Cub...great news, and suppose that means Eureka's rights have expired? I have their DVD set and it's already great, so it will depend on the price of the Criterion set (I'm guessing it'll be about £50).

Still hoping they announce some more Warner Bros and Sony titles soon, especially Blow-Up, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Being There and The Fisher King...

According to both Amazon and HMV, April's titles are Life of Oharu and Solaris.

As the latter has not long been released by Artificial Eye, I'm sceptical...

If Criterion is actively trying to release titles already out in that territory from another boutique label, they're basically the nerd mafia. "That's a nice Blu-ray you have there. It would be a shame if someone else were to release it"

They announced Ivan's Childhood last year, which never appeared. You'd have thought they'd be aware of the Mosfilm/Artificial Eye situation by now.

I'm not convinced Criterion have anything to do with their UK releases. There was some conjecture that Sony have simply licensed them to port them over to the UK. I can't imagine any label treating an off-shoot with such little interest.

MichaelB wrote:They announced Ivan's Childhood last year, which never appeared. You'd have thought they'd be aware of the Mosfilm/Artificial Eye situation by now.

If I'm not mistaken, multiple people have posted that they emailed Mosfilm and were told that they had licensed the UK rights to their Tarkovsky films to Criterion.

Rumor is that McCabe & Mrs. Miller was meant to be an April release, so if that was delayed, Solaris may have been plugged in at the last second to fill that slot.

Screenbound releasing Black Orpheus last summer didn't stop Criterion releasing their edition. Was there any explanation of how they managed that?

A man stayed-put wrote:Was there any explanation of how they managed that?

$$$$$

A man stayed-put wrote:Was there any explanation of how they managed that?

Whoever requested Black Orpheus on Mulvaney's daughter's wedding day had impeccable taste.

They are doing the same with Cul-de-Sac, also released on blu by Screenbound.

May titles are Tampopo (May 1st) and 12 Angry Men (May 15th).

I'm sure UK folks will be very excited about the latter, despite the existence of a perfectly decent Fox disc available for less than a third of the price!

Odd that from the Fox/MGM library, they've chosen Cul-de-sac and 12 Angry Men first over titles currently unavailable on domestic Blu-ray - Kagemusha, Something Wild ('86), Bigger Than Life, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Broadcast News, Kiss Me Deadly, Love Streams, Night Train to Munich, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Black Stallion. Their decision-making continues to baffle! That's the only conclusion I can come to, assuming the rights for the other titles are tied up with other distributors (but it doesn't look like it...only The Ice Storm seems to be affected).

And the crowd goes mild...

rapta wrote:over titles currently unavailable on domestic Blu-ray - Kagemusha

Kagemusha is available on Blu-Ray in the UK, although it is the shorter cut, not the original cut that Criterion released on the US disc.

PfR73 wrote:

rapta wrote:over titles currently unavailable on domestic Blu-ray - Kagemusha

Kagemusha is available on Blu-Ray in the UK, although it is the shorter cut, not the original cut that Criterion released on the US disc.

Yes, I have that one but would obviously prefer the Criterion release (as would many others in a similar position). The transfer is significantly different, as well as the cut (and of course there are minimal extras).

It wouldn't be like 12 Angry Men, Solaris, Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider, where the transfers are very similar to previous UK releases, so the extras are the only real benefit - ditto things like The Thin Red Line or Fantastic Mr Fox if they decide to release those for the UK, to give further examples.

I wanted to ask, is there any regular sale about these UK editions, as there is the B&N one for US ones?

Zavvi, HMV and Zoom all ran 2 for £25 offers in December. Zoom always have 10% off for subscribing to their newsletter, so can get 2 for £22.50, if and when they do it again.

Amazon UK often have them on Lightning Deals too. Some better than others.

TMDaines wrote:Zavvi, HMV and Zoom all ran 2 for £25 offers in December. Zoom always have 10% off for subscribing to their newsletter, so can get 2 for £22.50, if and when they do it again.

Amazon UK often have them on Lightning Deals too. Some better than others.

ah, thanks!

June's titles are The Fisher King and Diabolique.

Whilst Criterion UK have so far released a few titles other labels have already released - Black Orpheus, Cul-de-sac, Solaris - this is perhaps the most curious case of that so far, since Arrow Academy have released Diabolique already (under the original title Les Diaboliques) and presumably still have sole UK rights.

Anyway, I'm very happy they've finally decided to release The Fisher King as it's possibly my second favourite Gilliam film after Brazil. Announcements like this one make perfect sense because it'll be a Blu-ray debut, so it's frustrating when the second title in any given month is virtually wasted on something any savvy UK collector already owns (or can at least buy for a much lower price).

UPDATE: Someone on Blu-ray.com contacted Arrow, and apparently they did let the rights for that one go. So UK collectors that want to save a bit of cash and don't have this yet should probably move fast...

I think I came to the conclusion a while back that the Criterion was superior to the Arrow release. At least I sold mine and imported to the Criterion. Can't remember the reasoning and not got time to check right now.

But, yes, not the most exciting release.