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Pepsi wrote:Zoom.co.uk claims that the Criterion UK disc's are region A/B/C. Have someone actually tested if it's true?

Zavvi has them also reduced at the moment.

I can confirm that the UK editions of The Samurai Trilogy and Speedy at least are Region B locked, in line with the "B" logo on the back cover. They come up with the familiar "Mismatch between disc and region code" screen if I switch my player over to Region A and then try to play them.

I'm pretty sure I set my player to A once out of habit for a Criterion UK disc and was bounced back too.

Forgive me if someone has already asked this somewhere, but has anybody noticed any trends in the releases that Criterion UK has already released,
that might give us an indicator of what they might have access to for the future. i.e. Same production companies, studios or rights holders?

Living in the UK, it's become something of pain in that it costs more to buy the US equivalent when there might be a UK equivalent for nearly 1\3 less.

The majority of releases have been from Sony and Warner Brothers. Followed by Toho with three releases (there are 10 titles in these three releases) and one or two from the following companies: Buena Vista, Euro-London Films, Filecard, Harold Lloyd Entertainment, Itami Productions, Janus Films, Maysles Films, MGM, Mosfilm, Pennebaker-Hegedus Films, Pinball London, TF1, and Waltzing Clouds.

A Brighter Summer Day and Stalker in July.

Sure love 50% of their releases covering existing ground, although Stalker will be an improvement at least.

Just a quick question : does anybody know if Criterion UK sales figures are now higher than their ridiculously low launch figures ?

According to Zoom.co.uk listings, Lord of the Flies and The Music Room are coming in August.

Still not sure what the September titles will be, but BBFC submissions have just appeared for Carnival of Souls, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and 3:10 to Yuma, so certainly looks like more reissues are coming.

Can't complain about any of those - especially Carnival of Souls, which I'm very excited to see - but I'm still hoping we'll get recent new-to-North America titles like Ghost World and Certain Women, not to mention Hopscotch, They Live by Night, Blow-Up, Being There, The Asphalt Jungle, McCabe & Mrs. Miller...dozens of Sony and Warner Bros titles especially (Badlands, Five Easy Pieces, My Own Private Idaho, Bottle Rocket).

I'm sure we'll get there eventually though, and really happy about The Fisher King (which I just got hold of), as well as upcoming UK releases like A Brighter Summer Day, Stalker, Lord of the Flies and The Music Room. I've wanted decent editions of these films for years, and now I don't have to import!

PS: I guess there's a little bit of good news in the form of Blood Simple getting a theatrical re-release in the UK via StudioCanal, which could mean a domestic Blu-ray release too (probably from StudioCanal themselves, as with Mulholland Drive and The Graduate).

I was kinda hoping that Arrow would put out some enormous limited edition of Carnival of Souls in the UK, but now that I already bought the US Criterion release, I'm glad Criterion UK has it.

Confirmed for September: Certain Women and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Not yet clear if the latter is Dual Format or not but I assume it'll just be 2-disc Blu-ray instead, and therefore the packaging might change (at least to a slimmer digipack, but more likely a Scanavo case). Very happy about the former since otherwise it was only getting a barebones DVD release.

Guessing Carnival of Souls and 3:10 to Yuma will be for October and/or November then.

IAMMMMW was already quite a slim digipack, not much thicker than, say, Blow Up or Dr Strangelove.

Quite happy for Certain Women, it will help me not having to import from the US.

October's releases:
The Lure (on the 16th)
Carnival of Souls (on the 23)

2 for 25 is live on Zoom (extra 10% off available with usual code), and the same individual titles are £12.99 each on Amazon.co.uk

Promotion covers non-boxset titles up to an including Tampopo and 12 Angry Men (i.e. May's titles).

These sales make you realise how uninspiring Criterion UK has been. Please ramp it up from two titles a month.

I dunno, I just ordered The Life of Oharu, Mildred Pierce, Cul-de-sac and Tampopo for £45 all-in. Not bad if you ask me...

But yes, I would like them to step things up to at least three titles a month, and release some of the much-wanted Warner Bros titles they've announced for the US recently (e.g. Barry Lyndon, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Being There, The Asphalt Jungle, Blow-Up, They Live By Night, Lost in America etc).

Barry Lyndon would be nice to get here, especially if WowHD are likely to sell the US import for double the price.

The Philadelphia Story, Jabberwocky and Desert Hearts in November.

Finch wrote:Barry Lyndon would be nice to get here, especially if WowHD are likely to sell the US import for double the price.

Never used WowHD, but would there be a reason to use them instead of Amazon US or B&N to import during one of their Criterion sales periods?

UK release of BL would be nice. It's a Warner title on both sides of the Atlantic so if Criterion had picked it up for the UK they would have announced it by now.

ivuernis wrote:

Finch wrote:Barry Lyndon would be nice to get here, especially if WowHD are likely to sell the US import for double the price.

Never used WowHD, but would there be a reason to use them instead of Amazon US or B&N to import during one of their Criterion sales periods?

UK release of BL would be nice. It's a Warner title on both sides of the Atlantic so if Criterion had picked it up for the UK they would have announced it by now.

Not necessarily - Gilda, The In-Laws, Cat People, The Emigrants/The New Land, Day for Night, Lone Wolf & Cub, and several others were all announced for the UK a few months after being announced for North America. I'm holding out hope we'll eventually see Barry Lyndon, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Being There, The Asphalt Jungle, Blow-Up, They Live by Night, Lost in America and several others (e.g. Badlands, My Own Private Idaho).

The Philadelphia Story is a Warner Bros title, so there should be nothing stopping them from releasing Barry Lyndon soon as well (nor any other WB titles). Also, we don't know if any of these titles are going to be delayed yet - obviously there's a lot of expectation for Barry Lyndon to be the definitive presentation, so there could well be a hold-up on that one, which could put back the NA release (and would there also put back announcement of a UK edition).

All speculation at this point obviously, but keeping positive! Took them a while to announce The Fisher King, for example, but we got there in the end.

PS: very happy with Jabberwocky and The Philadelphia Story being announced for UK. And let's hope they keep it at three per month from now on, at the very least!

WOWHD's prices for Criterions are pathetic now. Going with blowitouthere on ebay from now on or November's B&N sale.

Finch wrote:WOWHD's prices for Criterions are pathetic now. Going with blowitouthere on ebay from now on or November's B&N sale.

I know right, they used be £20 or less and now they're at least £30

I buy from Amazon.com for convenience. You can pay import duties up front and avoid having to collect your parcels and pay a handling fee. The prices during the B&N sale weren't bad with most titles at about $23 plus shipping. I've never looked at the alternatives though and would be happy to discover there was another option that provided the same service.

December titles for the UK are The Sword of Doom, Bottle Rocket and Monterey Pop.

Zoom have listed the last one as just 'Monterey Pop', but the product description seems to be for The Complete Monterey Pop Festival 3-disc set. We'll have to wait and see which it is, but surely it would make sense to release the full 3-disc edition for anyone interested? Either way, £17.99 (or £16.19 with the usual 10% off code) is surely worth it for anyone after this release.

PS: still no sign of 3:10 to Yuma, the extras of which were submitted to the BBFC months ago. Also frustrating that we haven't had any high-profile Warner Bros titles announced for the UK: particularly worrying are Barry Lyndon, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Blow-Up and Being There. Obviously there are more than that, but WB have been the most co-operative studio for Criterion's expansion into the UK, and it'd be a shame to miss out on those much-wanted titles.

So with all the stuff they could release, they choose to port over the crappy upgrade of Sword of Doom ?