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A number of these seem like very safe buys, especially at this price, regardless of what might be revealed once the discs are finally released. The Sacrifice and Nostalghia have already seen extras-free releases from Kino, both with acceptable but middling transfers, so it's not like anyone buying the AE releases has to worry about them being superseded later. Stalker and Mirror will likely fall into the same category as Kino still have the rights in the US (AFAIK anyway). Those two did see horrendous releases PQ wise in Japan last year but I'm confident even AE wouldn't sink so low as to use those transfers, nor do I imagine the BFI would use them for their screenings (I'm pretty confident whatever sources fueled the retrospective are going to also be used by AE).

The only ones I'll be holding off on are Ivan's Childhood and Solaris, as I have them from Criterion (and anyone who is Region B locked should be holding off on the former anyway until we know what on earth is going on with Criterion's supposed upcoming UK release), and Andrei Rublev as a Criterion upgrade is inevitable, will almost certainly beat the AE supplements wise, and may even come with the longer cut.

EDIT: Though I have just learnt that The Sacrifice and Nostalghia also saw releases in Japan last year (from different companies to the one that put out the Stalker and Mirror shit shows) and in the case of The Sacrifice, used a vastly superior source to the Kino. Still, considering how old the Kino is, I'm confident AE will be using this new source (and again, that the BFI did for their retrospective).

Only having Criterion's Solaris and Ivan, that'd leave me with Stalker, The Sacrifice, Mirror and Nostalghia.
Humm, dilemma, though I'm likely to jump on the band wagon very very soon anyway.

Thanks for the input already !

Didn't Criterion pick up the Tarkovskys from Kino? It's the only thing making me hesitate.

There are rumours, but it is unlikely as Kino have said they retain some of the rights. Criterion strikes me as a company that wants their releases on both formats and not just one (going forward) so they probably aren't the ones.

I think as tempting as the price is I'll pass. I still remember the dreadful Chaplin BDs from last year and the Tarkovsky covers are photoshop botch jobs. Anyone know who owns Mirror in the US? Is it safe to say that Stalker will be coming from Criterion along with Rublev?

knives wrote: Criterion strikes me as a company that wants their releases on both formats and not just one (going forward) so they probably aren't the ones.

In the UK they are perfectly happy to only release one format, but I guess their strategy mustn't have changed that much for their main market.

What do you get when you combine 2 strange seemingly competiting releases and AE ?
A last minute delay of course !
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p ... tcount=124" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ivan's Childhood's release has been put back, a date is yet to be confirmed. We'll make sure to send you a press release once a release date is set.

tenia wrote:What do you get when you combine 2 strange seemingly competiting releases and AE ?
A last minute delay of course !
http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p ... tcount=124" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ivan's Childhood's release has been put back, a date is yet to be confirmed. We'll make sure to send you a press release once a release date is set.

Too bad for those who have preordered. Since it's the only one I'm not going to order, I'm in the clear as long as this symptom doesn't mean other Tarkovskys might be infected, too.

It'll be interesting to know what's going down.

I'd tend to say maybe Criterion are in the end the ones who can release it on video in the UK.

tenia wrote:I'd tend to say maybe Criterion are in the end the ones who can release it on video in the UK.

Based on what? Artificial Eye has distributed this film in the UK across multiple media for several decades now.

MichaelB wrote:

tenia wrote:I'd tend to say maybe Criterion are in the end the ones who can release it on video in the UK.

Based on what? Artificial Eye has distributed this film in the UK across multiple media for several decades now.

It's just a guess. I don't know what could be the internal reason for AE to delay to an unknown date the release merely a week before the release date, but true, it's not like it never happened before.

Welp. Amazon raised their prices. The speculation was fun while it was lasted.

If you preordered you should be locked in for the lowest price.

FrauBlucher wrote:If you preordered you should be locked in for the lowest price.

I was on the fence and never ended up pulling the trigger.

It looks like Andrei Rublev has been delayed.

These developments sure have been discouraging, but perhaps they'll flip the script and got the (a?) complete box set announced and released in the mean tine.

A SIX MONTH delay now? Absurd, especially if the rest of the titles follow suit. What on earth could possibly delay a title six months, after a previous delay of two years? In Rublev's case, I can only hope it means the inclusion of the Scorsese cut... but not likely.

Why wouldn't they make some kind of statement. Now we have to wait to see what happens to the May titles and beyond via Amazon.


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Manny Karp wrote:A SIX MONTH delay now? Absurd, especially if the rest of the titles follow suit. What on earth could possibly delay a title six months, after a previous delay of two years? In Rublev's case, I can only hope it means the inclusion of the Scorsese cut... but not likely.

Is it possible that Criterion intends to release some of the Tarkovsky's in UK, thus creating a rights debate? They already have Ivan, and they almost certainly intend to release Rublev at some point, hence the delay of those two. Extending the release date by 6 months gives AE enough time to sort out the rights one way or other. Only a conjecture; I have no evidence to suggest this.

As Kevin from MoC said recently:

But having been priced out of a few renewals by them recently it grates at the same time.

This very well may be what happened to AE as well.

FrauBlucher wrote:As Kevin from MoC said recently:

But having been priced out of a few renewals by them recently it grates at the same time.

This very well may be what happened to AE as well.

If AE have lost a few of the films they may change their minds about doing a box set...

I doubt AE have lost the rights. Why would they bother announcing them. Or going to the trouble of producing artwork, website listings etc

AE could do with pulling their head out of their arse though.
And engage in some communication.

It's always worth bearing in mind Amazon's habit of making up release dates when they don't know what the actual one is - they once informed me that one of my own productions was coming out in a year or so, which was news to me (understatement) because the actual delay was three weeks.

Bürgermeister wrote:I doubt AE have lost the rights. Why would they bother announcing them. Or going to the trouble of producing artwork, website listings etc

AE could do with pulling their head out of their arse though.
And engage in some communication.

Criterion lost rights to RAN after they had announced it.

Count me among the believers that this is an AE, not rights related, delay. How long did it take for those Bresson films to come out?