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peerpee wrote:The problem is with the various Indian producers who own the rights. They don't believe in royalty payments and thus require a large payment upfront (which Eureka paid for ABHIJAN).

Unfortunately, ABHIJAN has been one of the MoC Series' worst sellers, so there's not much enthusiasm from Eureka with regard to releasing more Ray. If we could sell another few thousand we'd probably be able to put out more.

That's a shame, but it also makes sense as to why we do not see any other labels picking up Ray titles. I can only hope that the release of THE CHESSPLAYERS will help to fuel more interest.

peerpee wrote:Unfortunately, ABHIJAN has been one of the MoC Series' worst sellers, so there's not much enthusiasm from Eureka with regard to releasing more Ray. If we could sell another few thousand we'd probably be able to put out more.

I am not surprised at all. John W. Hood refers to ABHIJAN as nothing more than a footnote and one of Ray's worst films. For this reason, as a devoted fan, I have been avoiding this film in any DVD release. It's a shame that Eureka should be discouraged by the almost predictable market reaction.

As a "devoted fan" of John W. Hood or Ray? -- If Ray, you owe it to yourself to make up your own mind and check out ABHIJAN. We don't release bad films.

franco wrote:I am not surprised at all. John W. Hood refers to ABHIJAN as nothing more than a footnote and one of Ray's worst films. For this reason, as a devoted fan, I have been avoiding this film in any DVD release. It's a shame that Eureka should be discouraged by the almost predictable market reaction.

I hadn't realized that John W. Hood was such a force in the marketplace. Is his judgment really so unimpeachable that you wouldn't take a chance on a very good edition of a film by a major director? Clearly somebody thought it was good enough to merit release. Are you a devoted fan of Satyajit Ray or John W. Hood?

Edit: Peerpee beat me to it.

franco wrote:John W. Hood refers to ABHIJAN as nothing more than a footnote and one of Ray's worst films. For this reason, as a devoted fan, I have been avoiding this film in any DVD release. It's a shame that Eureka should be discouraged by the almost predictable market reaction.

Kind of sad that you'd let one critic's opinion prevent you from seeing a film by a director whom you apparently like otherwise. Abhijan is indeed different from Ray's other early work, but it's by no means a bad film. And as with most other major directors, even Ray's "worst" film is still worth viewing.

As Fred and Peerpee suggest, why not just watch it for yourself and make up your own mind about it?

Good point. I must be a fan of John Hood then. I made up my mind when I found myself concurring with all his reasons for not recommending the film.

By no means I am insinuating that Eureka releases bad films, I was just providing a hypothesis for the market reaction.

ABHIJAN has always been one of my favorites from Ray, and I am very pleased to now have in DVD format. Thanks MOC!

OK, I'm picking up "Abhijan," as a small gesture against the market reaction, and John W. Hood (by the way -- forgive my ignorance -- this is the first time I'm hearing of this alleged force of nature).

I was very happy with this release, but Ray rather drifted into this film by chance (as opposed to Pather Panchali, which he spent two years of blood and sweat on) and it's quite dissimilar from his other work, so as a representation of his overall output it's not really the ideal title. I'm sure the fact that it's not selling well doesn't necessarily mean that his other films wouldn't be popular. The Calcutta trilogy would be a better seller, I'd have thought. Stick Bengali and Hindi subs on it, and you've got a huge add-on market, even outside India.

a.khan wrote:OK, I'm picking up "Abhijan," as a small gesture against the market reaction,

Good move, I truly loved this film, highly recommended.

Was the reason this DVD was taken out of print because of bad sales? I certainly hope not. I never got around to getting a copy, which is a shame.

Sales were very poor for nearly 5 years and we decided not to invest in repressing because we didn't want to sit on a thousand copies for another 5 years. We need healthy sales in order to keep doing this and to keep titles in print. Otherwise - everything's going to go out of print.

peerpee wrote:Sales were very poor for nearly 5 years and we decided not to invest in repressing because we didn't want to sit on a thousand copies for another 5 years. We need healthy sales in order to keep doing this and to keep titles in print. Otherwise - everything's going to go out of print.

Would you hate us forever if we asked you if you still had some copies (like has been done with Savage Innocents) that might spring up at some upcoming sale? Sixty quid on Amazon seems a bit steep.

If anything, it's likely to be "our SALO". We were out of copies, and decided not to repress. Therefore, there are very few around. Email [email protected] and ask?

With THE SAVAGE INNOCENTS we were not out of copies when the ownership dispute flowered a number of years ago. We now have a handful of those left.

Assuming this means you still have the rights would smaller represses be possible? I'd hate to think what this means for something like Tabu or Edvard Munch (both of which luckily I own) when their present pressing goes out. Maybe putting these less selling titles out during the sells will help? I suppose that's why you keep putting the Naruse set out there.

Could we at least have a DVR even if the title is handwritten and the cover looks as though the printer needs new ink?

Or

Anyone find a copy for less than $100 ?

...or a blu-ray upgrade oh please oh please oh please....

This is such a great title. But I'd sell mine for $100.

knives wrote:Assuming this means you still have the rights would smaller represses be possible?

Our normal repress amount is the smallest available repress amount.

I think everyone would be shocked by how many we do actually sell. If you've been meaning to buy any of our titles for a few years, you're part of our small core audience who knows who we are, and we could do with your support -- otherwise it demolishes the prospects of putting out anything as risky in the future. We would very much like to put out lots of incredible but potentially commercially risky films in the future but these obviously need to be marketed properly if they're going to work.

peerpee wrote:I think everyone would be shocked by how many we do actually sell.

I remember someone two or three years ago thinking that selling fewer than 100,000 copies was doing badly.

In this market, a hundredth of that isn't bad, and a tenth is a smash hit.

I would buy more MoC titles if I had the money to do so (and the time to get through an enormous to-watch pile, but that's another story). Still, I've been putting them on birthday and Christmas lists for the past few years, and that's how I became an owner of Rocco and His Brothers this week.

Since the news broke that this was now OOP, I've tried to order from 4 separate suppliers - all of whom have come back, agreed, in one case said they'd sent it, then cancelled the order. In one case (via Play.com), they said it was out of stock - and then promptly put one for sale at more than twice the price!

Gutted. But then it's probably my fault for not ordering earlier. Can I blame an enormous kevyip (more than a few MoCs...), a mortgage and a toddler?

I took a chance at HMV Hong Kong of all places for an order, and found a listing for the MoC.... crossing my fingers to see if they actually have it.

manicsounds wrote:I took a chance at HMV Hong Kong of all places for an order, and found a listing for the MoC.... crossing my fingers to see if they actually have it.

They probably do have a few. HMV is the last place to buy Criterions or MoCs here in Hong Kong, as they always charge top dollar. Criterions are priced at a little over the US$ RRP in HK$, similar for MoC as I recall.

ABHIJAAAAAN! Arrived!



Yet another DVD to sit in my Kevyip pile...
I just noticed that now, this DVD will now sit at the very front of my collection, at #1, right before "Ace In The Hole" (Alphabetically)