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.
Image acquires Last Emperor, among others
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Image Entertainment press release
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They've done it before, with 8 1/2 and possibly 1 or 2 other titles.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.
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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.Matt wrote:They've done it before, with 8 1/2 and possibly 1 or 2 other titles.
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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.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.
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.
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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.
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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.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)?
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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!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)?
Here is the track.
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