criterionforum.org

September:
Beau travail
Safety Last!
Show Boat

A release of the one Lloyd I have imported.

Extremely disappointed to hear about Come and See not being released in the UK. I find it particularly odd as there is proof of at least 2 separate DVD releases (let alone the theatrical release) in the UK both released uncut. If Criterion have ruled it out, presumably they will relinquish their rights, so someone else can release it?

Why would they? Money from importers is still money.

They won't, but it's an absolutely silly frustrating situation for UK citizens, most who won't realise there is a release "available" to them while the rest will probably have to pay a premium to get the equivalent of what they would have gotten domestically if it wasn't handled by lazy stupid people who can't bother taking 30 sec checking the BBFC website.

ex-cowboy wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 5:24 pm Extremely disappointed to hear about Come and See not being released in the UK. I find it particularly odd as there is proof of at least 2 separate DVD releases (let alone the theatrical release) in the UK both released uncut. If Criterion have ruled it out, presumably they will relinquish their rights, so someone else can release it?

Is it concrete that Come & See isn't getting a UK release, or is this based on what happened to Rubleve and War & Peace?

Criterion explicited they won't release it in the UK because they believe the movie would need to be cut. To compensate, they made their US release AB locked so that UK customers could import the US release.

tenia wrote: Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:13 pm Criterion explicited they won't release it in the UK because they believe the movie would need to be cut. To compensate, they made their US release AB locked so that UK customers could import the US release.

...which they're perfectly entitled to do, as they've licensed the rights to a Region B territory regardless of whether they've actually released it in one. So I can't see them giving up the rights.

October 2020:
Eraserhead
Topsy-Turvy
The Times of Harvey Milk

Erm...

Pages for 'Girlfriends', 'Five Easy Pieces', and 'The Irishman' (confirmed to be a digipack) are up on Amazon.

Does anyone know what the chances of Close-Up and Lost in America getting a UK release are?

Lost in America is a Warner Brothers title, so it should be possible.

I think Kiarostami's son mentioned that Criterion has the UK rights to the Kiarostami films that are with mk2, but I don't know if Close-Up is one of those or not. (I don't see it on mk2's site, so I assume it isn't with them.)

Checked the mk2 website, and it looks like they have all the major (and plenty of not-so-major) stuff except the one that I adore. At least Certified Copy is with them.
Thanks.

I was going to order some Criterion's from the US, and I was wondering; apart from Andrei Rublev, War & Peace and Come and See is there any other
discs that people are sure (enough) that wont be released in the UK? Such as rights owned by other labels for the British market etc.

Thanks in advance!

I mean there's likely a ton, and one thing to remember is certain discs like Passion of Joan of Arc and Manchurian Candidate have different (and newer) restorations on the Criterion...

I would look at Fox titles, as they aren't going to get ported over and it is doubtful if they will get licensed to anyone in the UK, and avoid WB or Sony titles, as they are more likely to be released in the UK.

And look at situations were the rights are with different companies in the US and UK. Stuff like Blue Velvet (MGM in the US, but not in the UK) Brazil (Universal in the US, Fox in the UK).

Isn't Blue Velvet owned by MGM worldwide? It's listed as such on Park Circus, and it's available on digital platforms in the UK credited to MGM; I'd always presumed that High Fliers just licensed it from them

I don't know. Looking at the scans of the front and back cover of the UK Blu-ray and MGM isn't mentioned. Blue Velvet was a DEG title, so I had assumed that the non-US rights would be with StudioCanal, but it appears that this High Fliers outfit has a number of the DEG titles: Amityville II: The Possession, Amityville 3-D, Blue Velvet, Conan the Destroyer, The Dead Zone, Dune, Firestarter, Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch and White Buffalo.

That explains why Plan B's release of Firestarter mentioned High Fliers on the back then! I was wondering why their logo was there. I guess a company could license through them if they still had Blue Velvet, and I'm surprised nobody would do just that, as well as bag The Dead Zone and Halloween II/III whilst they're at it (and why not, The White Buffalo too)?

Arrow are releasing Dune, so maybe they've got the above titles as well (and probably Conan and Amityville II if it's them)? Blue Velvet would be much bigger news than Dune for me, and is my favourite Lynch film I've seen to date. I'd be happy whether Criterion or Arrow released it, and if not then hopefully at least Eureka or Second Sight.

Hopefully Mouchette to the UK given how quick the AE went OOP?

It is indeed. December releases:

Mouchette
The New World
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm

I'm happy with that.

January:

Rolling Thunder Revue
The Tin Drum
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

The FAQ on Criterion's site mentions War and Peace as being region AB, so I assume that the rumor about re-authoring it to be AB after the first printing sold out was true. But, if B locked, waiting for some confirmation about the region change and way to tell the difference between the two printings would be prudent.

*There are a select number of Blu-ray releases that are encoded for other regions:
Come and See - regions A/B
The Complete Films of Agnès Varda - regions A/B/C
Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema - regions A/B/C
The Irishman - regions A/B/C
Marriage Story - regions A/B/C
Roma (2018) - regions A/B/C
War and Peace - regions A/B