The Mystery of the Phantom Web Pages

[beamish13]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles seems the most likely. I just hope they can unearth the film's legendary rough cut. Editor Paul Hirsch has already collaborated with Criterion on Blow Out.

[beamish13]

Zemeckis could be Contact, which had one of the last laserdisc-exclusive director commentaries ever.
It would be cool to have some archival Carl Sagan stuff.

[ShellOilJunior]

Seems unusual Criterion is listing a new director every number or so. Usually they keep People numbering together for a given film.

[DeprongMori]

"John Hughes" could be referring to any of the 30-some "John Hughes" listings in IMDB. It's likely to be the Ferris Bueller director, but I wouldn't necessarily assume it.

[AfterTheRain]

Zemeckis could be Contact, which had one of the last laserdisc-exclusive director commentaries ever.
It would be cool to have some archival Carl Sagan stuff.

I did remember one member of the forum here mention that I Wanna Hold Your Hand being confirmed by Bob Gale - one of the writers of that film - for future release, so it might be that.

[ianungstad]

re: Jack Arnold. While I would prefer Incredible Shrinking Man; over on the bluray.com forums there's been a leak that It Came From Outer Space is being released next year. The assumption was that Universal is releasing it themselves but with the odd Brando phantom page that was recently added hinting at One Eyed Jacks....maybe Universal licensed some of these titles to Criterion.

The John Hughes title is almost certainly one of the Paramount titles formerly distributed by Warner Bros. I never liked Planes, Trains and Automobiles...so hope it's Ferris Bueller.

[oldsheperd]

Ah Curly Sue - the film in which James Belushi is repeatedly hit over the head with a bat by his cute 10 year old moppet accomplice in order to fake getting knocked down by reversing cars!

How about a Sixteen Candles/Pretty In Pink double release? It would be wonderful to get some Molly Ringwald into the collection, even if it isn't The Breakfast Club!

(Though of course I have my fingers crossed for Weird Science too! 8-[ )

Weird Science 3 disc blu!

[beamish13]

Zemeckis could be Contact, which had one of the last laserdisc-exclusive director commentaries ever.
It would be cool to have some archival Carl Sagan stuff.

I did remember one member of the forum here mention that I Wanna Hold Your Hand being confirmed by Bob Gale - one of the writers of that film - for future release, so it might be that.

That would be terrific, actually. Would love to have a nice HD copy of it

[doh286]

Could the Wyler be The Heiress? The Library of America featured an essay on the film in their The Moviegoer newsletter last month. Another Universal title.

[CSM126]

John Hughes on Criterion is an exciting idea. I suppose releasing (or re-re-releasing) one of his big hits would be obvious, but I'm a big fan of She's Having a Baby, which I don't think has been released on blu yet and it's a Paramount title.

Of course, Breakfast Club is just about everybody's dream Hughes/Criterion release (especially if they could get his alleged longer cut), but would Universal let that go when it's obviously a perennial cash cow for them?

Zemeckis would be a surprise, but I'd take a deluxe edition of just about anything he's made that hasn't had a major special edition or blu upgrade yet.

As for Wyler, The Best Years of Our Lives is one of my dream Criterions, but is it likely?

[ianungstad]

Best Years of Our Lives is with WB. Most of the early Wyler films are with WB actually; due to their arrangement with the Samuel Goldwyn estate. It's almost certainly Detective Story which is a Paramount title that's OOP. It's a fantastic movie too!

When did someone post on this forum that they had confirmation of I Wanna Hold Your Hand? I don't remember that at all but it sounds about right.

[ianungstad]

MMM is showing Ferris Bueller as being discontinued in all formats with the exception of the budget dvd version. It may not be Criterion but SOMEONE is obviously prepping an Anniversary edition and purging the previous releases. It's still inexpensive but all Amazon listings for the blu is via third party.

Planes, Trains And Automobiles still seems to be in print and readily available.

[domino harvey]

Ferris is only available via third party because Amazon has it on sale for $4 and they're just out of stock

[colinr0380]

You know as delighted I would be about an influx of (good) sci-fi into the collection in the form of Incredible Shrinking Man, It Came From Outer Space, even Contact (my favourite Zemeckis by some way, even if the religious questioning bits with a hunky Matthew McConaughey are rather shoehorned in!), I'd be even more excited by a Criterion edition of When Worlds Collide!

[Cinephrenic]

Hughes as producer... Scarface?

[flyonthewall2983]

Were Hughes and Zemeckis on camera in any documentaries that could be of interest to Criterion?

[beamish13]

Were Hughes and Zemeckis on camera in any documentaries that could be of interest to Criterion?

Good question. Hughes did very few interviews, particularly after the early 90's. Most of the on-camera stuff of him is from electronic press kits from his own films.

Zemeckis has done interviews regarding his USC film school background and for his features, but beyond that, there's nothing of note.

[Buttery Jeb]

In terms of John Hughes, I can think of one vote for Sixteen Candles.

[flyonthewall2983]

I'll put down Cast Away as the Zemeckis title I hope for. It was given a good 2-disc edition by Fox back in 2001 but none of the extras made it to the Blu-ray edition. But logically Contact seems the better option overall for reasons stated.

And Planes, Trains & Automobiles would definitely be my hope for the Hughes title. Between the two I can't see Paramount lending out Ferris Bueller, which seems to pop up now and then in present-day pop culture discussions even now. Most of, if not all Hughes' movies as director bear that distinction so it'll be interesting to see what it is.

[George Kaplan]

Were Hughes and Zemeckis on camera in any documentaries that could be of interest to Criterion?

Please let it be no more than this!

[flyonthewall2983]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles seems the most likely. I just hope they can unearth the film's legendary rough cut. Editor Paul Hirsch has already collaborated with Criterion on Blow Out.

That would be awesome. Any outtakes or bloopers would be potential for film comedy gold.

Unfortunately it seems like it's just the editor who would be of any direct help in terms of people who would assist with the transfer, as not only Hughes passed away but the cinematographer Donald Peterman (who did a tremendous job on this) passed away in 2011.

Another Zemeckis title this could be is Flight. With Paramount/Viacom in a rough transition at the moment, I'm sure there really would be a firesale because there's bigger fish to fry afoot at the company now.

[Luke M]

Were Hughes and Zemeckis on camera in any documentaries that could be of interest to Criterion?

Please let it be no more than this!

Yep. Really not excited about Criterion's limited resources being used for Zemeckis and/or Hughes films.

[Werewolf by Night]

Were Hughes and Zemeckis on camera in any documentaries that could be of interest to Criterion?

Please let it be no more than this!

Finally, a voice of reason in this thread.

[flyonthewall2983]

I'm not super excited for this either, but I don't think it'll be any more damaging to Criterion's reputation than having two Michael Bay films in the Collection.

[colinr0380]

As long as its not Forrest Gump I'll be able to contain my outrage!

It...it's Forrest Gump isn't it?