Image acquires Last Emperor, among others

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Buttery Jeb · #1 Post by **Buttery Jeb** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:43 pm

Image Entertainment Acquires Film Slate from Jeremy Thomas' Recorded Picture Company, Including ``The Last Emperor,'' Winner of 9 Academy Awards

MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE, THE HIT and INSIGNIFICANCE also Acquired through Agreement

CHATSWORTH, Calif., Apr 11, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Image Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq:DISK), a leading independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming in North America, today announced the acquisition of The Last Emperor, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Hit and Insignificance, four Jeremy Thomas-produced films, through an exclusive North America license agreement with Recorded Picture Company's sales agent, UK-based dreamachine.

The agreement grants Image home video, digital and broadcast rights to each of the four titles. For home video, Image will release movie-only versions while Criterion, also distributed through Image, will release definitive special editions of the films as part of the renowned Criterion Collection. Criterion and dreamachine will work together to create new high-definition masters assuring film aficionados the highest quality possible. Broadcast availability, home video and digital distribution plans will be announced later in the year.

Director Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor won each of the nine Academy Awards for which it was nominated. Along with Best Picture, it won Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Score, Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The 1987 film chronicles the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, played by John Lone, with Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Maggie Han, Ric Young, Vivian Wu, and Chen Kaige. It was the first motion picture filmed inside the walls of China's Forbidden City. The Last Emperor premiered theatrically on December 18, 1987, thus celebrating its 20th Anniversary at the end of this year.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, starring David Bowie, deals with the bonds between four men in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. The Hit, directed by Stephen Frears, features Terrence Stamp as a former gangster living under an alias in Spain. Insignificance, a drama/comedy directed by Nicolas Roeg, is a fictional account of the interactions of four iconic figures; Marilyn Monroe, Joseph McCarthy, Joe di Maggio and Albert Einstein.

"We are thrilled with this acquisition and look forward to developing and expanding this relationship. These films certainly enhance our library and heighten the profile of films Image will acquire and distribute in the future," stated David Borshell, Image's Chief Operating Officer.

London-based Wendy Rutland brokered the agreement on behalf of Image Entertainment.

justeleblanc · #2 Post by **justeleblanc** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:25 pm

Criterion releases? Insignificance? Last Emperor? Seems like a crazy idea. I'd be happy with bare bones of each as long as they had pristine transfers.

rwaits · #3 Post by **rwaits** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:27 pm

Surely. Last Emporer, especially, is a no-brainer.

toiletduck! · #4 Post by **toiletduck!** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:32 pm

They can't even be bothered to print Nagisa Oshima's name in the press release? I know, I know, I'll just count my blessings.

-Toilet Dcuk

souvenir · #5 Post by **souvenir** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:11 pm

The idea of dual releases from both Image and Criterion seems odd. It would temporarily quiet all those price complainers who say they only want the movie, but I could see it cutting into Criterion's sales quite a bit.

#6 Post by **Matt** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:12 pm

souvenir wrote:The idea of dual releases from both Image and Criterion seems odd. It would temporarily quiet all those price complainers who say they only want the movie, but I could see it cutting into Criterion's sales quite a bit.

They've done it before, with 8 1/2 and possibly 1 or 2 other titles.

souvenir · #7 Post by **souvenir** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:31 pm

Matt wrote:They've done it before, with 8 1/2 and possibly 1 or 2 other titles.

Yeah, that's true. The Image releases of I Vitelloni and 8 1/2 both came out a year after the Criterion versions, according to Amazon's release dates. I wonder whether the releases will be spread out with this new deal also.

Cosmic Bus · #8 Post by **Cosmic Bus** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:34 am

The Hit! I'd written off the idea of ever seeing a decent DVD release... Wonderful news.

Cinesimilitude · #9 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:40 am

Last Emperor Criterion? That is easily the best news all year.

#10 Post by **Jeff** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:24 am

souvenir wrote:Yeah, that's true. The Image releases of I Vitelloni and 8 1/2 both came out a year after the Criterion versions, according to Amazon's release dates. I wonder whether the releases will be spread out with this new deal also.

Both versions of Bicycle Thieves are still available as well. And, of course, most of the titles licensed from Universal and Disney are available in bare-bones versions from the studio and special editions from Criterion.

I think this is great news. Image's pockets are ten bazillion times deeper than Criterion's, and it is nice to see them being used to acquire a high-profile title.

Harold Gervais · #11 Post by **Harold Gervais** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:39 am

The Last Emperor is good news. I'm less sold on the other movies. The Hit is pretty cool, with one of John Hurt's best performaces and as I recall a score composed in part by Eric Clapton but don't know if it belongs in the Collection. Same thing with Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Interesting film with some good work but otherwise...I watched my R2 recently and I liked the film a lot more when it first came out than I do now.

#12 Post by **zedz** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:45 am

The Hit is the one I'm most heartened by. Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence is a rather bizarre choice for Criterion's first (only?) Oshima, but maybe Oshima is merely incidental and they're after the Bowie and Kitano fans.

Tribe · #13 Post by **Tribe** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:15 am

The Hit is the only one I'm unfamiliar with...any commentary about it?

Tribe

a.khan · #14 Post by **a.khan** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:10 am

I'm just really happy they got "Insignificance." Call me a completist fool, but more Roegs in the Criterion Collection is a good thing.

Musashi219 · #15 Post by **Musashi219** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:06 am

This is excellent news, especially The Last Emperor, as I'll finally be able to replace my craptastic Artisan edition.

Solaris · #16 Post by **Solaris** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:48 am

a.khan wrote:I'm just really happy they got "Insignificance." Call me a completist fool, but more Roegs in the Criterion Collection is a good thing.

Agreed. It'll be great if they include one of his shorts, such as "Hotel Paradise".

Now if only "Two Deaths" can get the Criterion treatment.

mrschroeder1982 · Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:50 pm

Am I the only one here who only knows "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" by the song written by Ryuichi Sakamoto (available on one of the "Pure Moods" CDs)?

Lino · #18 Post by **Lino** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:43 pm

Well, that was my first introduction too. But I've since then watched the movies countless times and I can't remember when I first watch it now.

The news on this thread are all amazing. I'll definitely buying Lawrence and Emperor. Is Insignificance any good? Yes, I am a Roeg fan.

davida2 · #19 Post by **davida2** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 3:13 am

mrschroeder1982 wrote:Am I the only one here who only knows "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" by the song written by Ryuichi Sakamoto (available on one of the "Pure Moods" CDs)?

This song I don't know, but he's had a varied and fascinating career - several collaborations with David Sylvian, and he was involved in YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) from roundabout 1978-84. He's done lots of scores; otherwise I have his disc of Satie homages, and the remix disc of YMO singles along with the Sylvian stuff.

colinr0380 · #20 Post by **colinr0380** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:34 pm

mrschroeder1982 wrote:Am I the only one here who only knows "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" by the song written by Ryuichi Sakamoto (available on one of the "Pure Moods" CDs)?

That is how I first came to it (it did seem to be a favourite 'oriental' track used as background music in television programmes for a while), though of course there is much more to the film than that. The track even got a dance music remix in 2000!

Here is the track.

Doctor Sunshine · #21 Post by **Doctor Sunshine** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:53 pm

Is anyone else disappointed? The Hit is easily one of Wahlberg's weaker movies and, frankly, I didn't think Eddie Murphy was very funny in the Last Emperor.

patrick · #22 Post by **patrick** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:34 pm

I'm looking forward to Insignificance and The Hit, whether they come from Criterion or Image, as I haven't seen either of them.

Nadsat · #23 Post by **Nadsat** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:37 pm

Doctor Sunshine wrote: and, frankly, I didn't think Eddie Murphy was very funny in the Last Emperor.

Was Eddie Murphy really in the "Last Emperor"?

tartarlamb · #24 Post by **tartarlamb** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:32 pm

Nadsat wrote:
Doctor Sunshine wrote: and, frankly, I didn't think Eddie Murphy was very funny in the Last Emperor.
Was Eddie Murphy really in the "Last Emperor"?

Maybe he was thinking of The Golden Child?

toiletduck! · #25 Post by **toiletduck!** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:08 pm

Doctor Sunshine wrote:The Hit is easily one of Wahlberg's weaker movies.

The Big Hit is severely underrated. And if I don't say it, no one will.

So there.

-Toilet Dcuk

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Image acquires Last Emperor, among others