Criterion and Miramax

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Gary Gnu
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:50 pm

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#226 Post by Gary Gnu » Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:36 pm

swo17 wrote:I think that was me who identified it, and that was 90% using my imagination. It could just as easily have read "bread pudding."
Yes, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I think I can see it, as well. The image is so blurred, it's incredible that the community was able to confirm more than a handful of them!

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dadaistnun
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:31 am

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#227 Post by dadaistnun » Tue Jul 19, 2011 10:39 pm

Jeff wrote:A little further research shows that Belle de jour was a production of Robert and Raymond Hakim, and the U.S. rights to their films appear to be held now by the France-based Plaza Productions International. Purple Noon was in the exact same situation, so I would bet on that coming eventually. Plaza Productions International has previously licensed Pepe le Moko, Casque d'or, L'Ecclise, and La Bete Humaine to Criterion.
FWIW, the Miramax theatrical re-releases of both Belle de jour and Purple Noon were marketed under the "Martin Scorsese Presents" imprimatur .

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ryannichols7
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:26 pm

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#228 Post by ryannichols7 » Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:30 pm

allow me to revive this 11 year old thread to study the...restoration and rescue of former Miramax properties that have now gone back to their original rightsholder. I even made sure to read this whole thread, and lots of fun guesses and former rumors are here, great to see that many came to fruition over time!
The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
Wed Jun 15, 2022 1:19 pm
Miramax has been gradually losing catalog titles for years. The box version of Chungking Express was licensed directly from Block 2, Through the Olive Trees and the Three Colors trilogy from MK2, Europa from Trust Film, The Thin Blue Line from IFC, Dead Man from Jarmusch's company, etc. I imagine the various entities that have acquired the post-Disney Miramax catalog aren't interested in continuously shelling out more money to renew rights and eventually everything that Miramax didn't actually own will revert to the original rightsholders. That includes (probably) all of the HK titles and almost everything Miramax released before the Disney buyout.
so I took this post and ran with it, did some research and got most of it for sure, but anyone who has any word on the gaps, corrections, etc would be greatly appreciated. these are only movies that Miramax distributed, not anything the Weinsteins paid for out of pocket, as we know almost all of those (Pulp Fiction, et al) are controlled by Paramount now. I know there's some issues with the Lionsgate stuff (they may or may not have retained various films, many did go OOP, including big titles like Amelie and City of God), and without Paramount releasing it, I put it down to the original rightsholder/production company. this list was my reference, and I know there's some stuff that's pre-Miramax's existence that they ran rereleases for..and I included those here, in order to be comprehensive. please let me know if I forgot anything!

the 'possibilities' list isn't necessarily just Criterion, as I'm sure Arrow and others would pick from that pool as well (I can't see Criterion doing Shaolin Soccer but I could see Arrow do it!), since Arrow has already done Cinema Paradiso, among others.

pre weinstein jail:
0359 the double life of veronique (image/MK2; likely only held by MK2 now)
0453 chungking express (originally licensed from buena vista/miramax)
0587 three colors trilogy (MK2)
0593 belle de jour (plaza productions international)
0637 purple noon (plaza productions international)
0642 naqoyqatsi (licensed from lionsgate; TBD if owned by Lionsgate)
0722 tie me up, tie me down (pathe)
0753 the thin blue line (janus)
0717 the young girls of rochefort (cine-tamarais)

post weinstein jail:
0919 dead man (direct from director)
0938 sex, lies, and videotape (miramax distributed; owned by sony)
0992 through the olive trees (MK2)
1018 paris is burning (direct from director)
1087 working girls (direct from director)
1110 the piano (TFI)
1150 exotica (janus)
0000 chungking express (now licensed from block 2)

possibilities:
the cook, the thief, his wife, and her lover (long rumored; anyone know who owns US rights?)
trainspotting (film4; laserdisc title unreleased on 4K, rereleased by paramount on BD in 2021)
velvet goldmine (film4; lionsgate BD is OOP) [UPDATE 18 JUNE: rumored to be coming to Criterion; possibly owned by Sony Pictures Classics]
the crying game (film4; released by BFI in UK - possibly retained by Lionsgate)
infernal affairs (mediaasia; likely criterion in US as covered above)
delicatessen (studiocanal; released by lionsgate on BD in 2010)
amelie (last released by miramax; BD OOP in US)
city of god (last released by miramax; BD OOP in US)
ju dou (unconfirmed rightsholder; no BD in region A/B)
hero (rereleased by paramount on BD in 2020)
kafka (undetermined rightsholder; long rumored/discussed)
zentropa (long rumored due to existing relationship with LVT)
reservoir dogs (confirmed to be still with lionsgate per this post, only pre-2009 Tarantino not with Paramount)
farewell my concubine (rightsholder undetermined; released by BFI in UK...can someone confirm who its licensed from?)
the thief and the cobbler (who knows at this point)
the son's room (studiocanal; released on BD in the UK)
shaolin soccer (unconfirmed rightsholder; unreleased in US)
Last edited by ryannichols7 on Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PfR73
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#229 Post by PfR73 » Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:27 am

The Crying Game may be with Lionsgate also; it follows a similar home video release trajectory as Reservoir Dogs:

LIVE Entertainment (VHS/Laserdisc) -> Artisan (DVD) -> Lionsgate (DVD)

The Lionsgate Collector's Edition DVD was released prior to their handling of the Miramax library (Miramax was still going at the time), so it depends on whether Lionsgate still has the rights or they've lapsed/ended.

beamish14
Joined: Fri May 18, 2018 3:07 pm

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#230 Post by beamish14 » Fri Jun 17, 2022 1:09 am

Map of the Human Heart might be owned by Working Title? It had a different distributor in every territory

Thief and the Cobbler would possibly entail having to structure a deal with WB (who produced the cut Richard Williams was contractually obligated to deliver by 1992) and Disney. It’s an impossible title

Mediterraneo-Silvio Berlusconi’s legal team? :-$
(Such a shitty film-proof that the Weinsteins could buy an Oscar for ANYTHING)

Prospero’s Books was a Japanese/Dutch co-production. Producer Kees Kasander owns some of Greenaway’s other titles outright, so perhaps this one as well

Malena is an interesting one. Its original theatrical cut has only been released on home video in Korea, I think

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#231 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jun 17, 2022 1:24 am

ryannichols7 wrote:
Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:30 pm
farewell my concubine (rightsholder undetermined; released by BFI in UK...can someone confirm who its licensed from?)
The BFI has a logo for "Tomson Film" on its back cover.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#232 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Fri Jun 17, 2022 2:22 am

ryannichols7 wrote:
Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:30 pm
0642 naqoyqatsi (licensed from lionsgate; TBD if owned by Lionsgate)
This was actually a Miramax production. Soderbergh joined the project as a producer and kicked in nearly $2 million of his own money, but was having trouble getting the rest until he offered it to Miramax as part of a package with Full Frontal. Miramax not only agreed but put up the entire budget, reimbursing Soderbergh for his share. But it's possible there was a rights reversion clause in the contract, since Soderbergh apparently now owns Full Frontal himself.
ju dou (unconfirmed rightsholder; no BD in region A/B)
This was one of the many pre-Disney acquisitions that went to Live for video release and eventually made its way to Artisan. In theory it would've ended up with Lionsgate, but they've never released it. The last American release was a very sketchy DVD from some outfit called "Razor Digital Entertainment" that seemingly came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. My guess is there's no current U.S. rightsholder and it's with whoever owns the international rights generally; the original press materials listed both China Film and Tokuma Shoten (the Japanese co-producer) as the international sales reps.
kafka (undetermined rightsholder; long rumored/discussed)
Soderbergh has said the rights reverted to himself and the producer, hence the Mr. Kneff re-edit that premiered last year. He's also said he intends to release both edits in a box alongside the other films he controls, though there hasn't been any word on that for a couple of years and it wouldn't preclude a standalone Criterion edition at some point.

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ryannichols7
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#233 Post by ryannichols7 » Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:37 am

PfR73 wrote:
Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:27 am
The Crying Game may be with Lionsgate also; it follows a similar home video release trajectory as Reservoir Dogs:

LIVE Entertainment (VHS/Laserdisc) -> Artisan (DVD) -> Lionsgate (DVD)

The Lionsgate Collector's Edition DVD was released prior to their handling of the Miramax library (Miramax was still going at the time), so it depends on whether Lionsgate still has the rights or they've lapsed/ended.
thank you! very curious to see what happens with this one - with Neil Jordan working with Criterion recently for the Mona Lisa reissue, totally possible we see it soon. I can't imagine this is is one Lionsgate would hang onto, it's not nearly as big as Reservoir Dogs
beamish14 wrote:
Fri Jun 17, 2022 1:09 am
Map of the Human Heart might be owned by Working Title? It had a different distributor in every territory

Thief and the Cobbler would possibly entail having to structure a deal with WB (who produced the cut Richard Williams was contractually obligated to deliver by 1992) and Disney. It’s an impossible title

Mediterraneo-Silvio Berlusconi’s legal team? :-$
(Such a shitty film-proof that the Weinsteins could buy an Oscar for ANYTHING)

Prospero’s Books was a Japanese/Dutch co-production. Producer Kees Kasander owns some of Greenaway’s other titles outright, so perhaps this one as well

Malena is an interesting one. Its original theatrical cut has only been released on home video in Korea, I think
Thief is a total impossibility, I threw it on there since it's sort of a holy grail thing and I'm sure given the opportunity, Criterion (or Shout!) would go for it. I admit to knowing very little about the others in the post, minus Prospero's, which I left off because we all know The Cook... would probably come first. it was even "confirmed" by Mulvaney in the early pages of this thread!
colinr0380 wrote:
Fri Jun 17, 2022 1:24 am
ryannichols7 wrote:
Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:30 pm
farewell my concubine (rightsholder undetermined; released by BFI in UK...can someone confirm who its licensed from?)
The BFI has a logo for "Tomson Film" on its back cover.
thank you! will update the post. really hope we can see this one stateside finally, and hopefully with a knockout of a transfer.
The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:
Fri Jun 17, 2022 2:22 am
ryannichols7 wrote:
Thu Jun 16, 2022 11:30 pm
0642 naqoyqatsi (licensed from lionsgate; TBD if owned by Lionsgate)
This was actually a Miramax production. Soderbergh joined the project as a producer and kicked in nearly $2 million of his own money, but was having trouble getting the rest until he offered it to Miramax as part of a package with Full Frontal. Miramax not only agreed but put up the entire budget, reimbursing Soderbergh for his share. But it's possible there was a rights reversion clause in the contract, since Soderbergh apparently now owns Full Frontal himself.
ju dou (unconfirmed rightsholder; no BD in region A/B)
This was one of the many pre-Disney acquisitions that went to Live for video release and eventually made its way to Artisan. In theory it would've ended up with Lionsgate, but they've never released it. The last American release was a very sketchy DVD from some outfit called "Razor Digital Entertainment" that seemingly came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. My guess is there's no current U.S. rightsholder and it's with whoever owns the international rights generally; the original press materials listed both China Film and Tokuma Shoten (the Japanese co-producer) as the international sales reps.
kafka (undetermined rightsholder; long rumored/discussed)
Soderbergh has said the rights reverted to himself and the producer, hence the Mr. Kneff re-edit that premiered last year. He's also said he intends to release both edits in a box alongside the other films he controls, though there hasn't been any word on that for a couple of years and it wouldn't preclude a standalone Criterion edition at some point.
great information as always. I'm for sure curious what Soderbergh is going to do with his titles that he has the rights to now, hopefully we see Kafka on disc finally, as long as I've been on this board its been a rumor, and surely before that!

Naqoyqatsi is very inessential (I think most of us would agree), but if a UHD upgrade of the Qatsi Trilogy (a dream release for me) were to happen, I'm sure many would want it to be there. definitely curious if that one went to Soderbergh too, I'll be sure to update the post.

I'm sure Eureka or Arrow would leap at the chance to do Ju Dou and some of the other Yimou films. Criterion could here too, but considering they've never delved into mainland China (and will soon with Jia Zhangke) I hesistate to say with certainty they would. but given that they've seen their Hong Kong releases do pretty well, and I'm sure Flowers of Shanghai and After Life did well enough recently, they'd probably go for it. at least with those films we have "unknown rightsholder" rather than "rights held by triad gangs who refuse to release film" like some of Hou's work!!!

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DeprongMori
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#234 Post by DeprongMori » Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:11 am

I believe Zentropa (aka Europa in the rest of the world, and only called thus because Agnieszka Holland‘s Europa, Europa was still playing in the North American art houses at the time of its release) is currently held by Janus Films.

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#235 Post by dwk » Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:38 am

DeprongMori wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 1:11 am
I believe Zentropa (aka Europa in the rest of the world, and only called thus because Agnieszka Holland‘s Europa, Europa was still playing in the North American art houses at the time of its release) is currently held by Janus Films.
And Criterion released it on DVD (under the orignal title Europa) about 15 years ago.

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PfR73
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2005 6:07 pm

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#236 Post by PfR73 » Sun Jun 19, 2022 2:30 pm

ryannichols7 wrote:
Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:37 am
PfR73 wrote:
Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:27 am
The Crying Game may be with Lionsgate also; it follows a similar home video release trajectory as Reservoir Dogs:

LIVE Entertainment (VHS/Laserdisc) -> Artisan (DVD) -> Lionsgate (DVD)

The Lionsgate Collector's Edition DVD was released prior to their handling of the Miramax library (Miramax was still going at the time), so it depends on whether Lionsgate still has the rights or they've lapsed/ended.
thank you! very curious to see what happens with this one - with Neil Jordan working with Criterion recently for the Mona Lisa reissue, totally possible we see it soon. I can't imagine this is is one Lionsgate would hang onto, it's not nearly as big as Reservoir Dogs
OK, so update, I was in Barnes & Noble browsing the Arrow sale and saw a copy of The Crying Game on DVD. Apparently Paramount did recently reissue this, funny enough though it includes the Lionsgate logo on the spine also along with the Miramax logo.

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Blutarsky
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#237 Post by Blutarsky » Fri Jul 07, 2023 5:39 am

I rewatched Heavenly Creatures tonight with a friend after they had told me the blu-ray was going for outrageous prices through third-party sellers. My copy of the film reminds me of the once barebones blu-ray of The Piano Lionsgate had out prior to the Criterion release.

I am curious, since it wasn’t produced by Miramax, that this could be a title Criterion could release? It is coming up on its 30th anniversary and, as a fan of Peter Jackson, it is the obvious pick in my book for a release.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Criterion and Miramax

#238 Post by Adam X » Fri Jul 07, 2023 6:47 am

It’s one of the early films Peter Jackson’s been restoring these last few years, with the apparent plan being to release all of them in a set. From whom, it’s not been said. Criterion’s as good a guess as any, really.
Currently, they seem to be in a race with The Abyss & True Lies to see which can be released in HD last.

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Tuppence
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#239 Post by Tuppence » Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:11 pm

With the announcement of The Others, the Miramax catalogue (as held by Paramount) is now back in play. I wonder if they'll go after former laserdisc titles like Trainspotting, The English Patient and Sling Blade?

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ryannichols7
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#240 Post by ryannichols7 » Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:13 pm

as I noted in the other thread, I remain curious to see if this was licensed from Paramount. mind you The Piano was a Miramax title, but was licensed from TFI

believe me when I say I want this to be the case - Trainspotting is a movie near and dear to me. but I'll wait for Chris or someone to confirm the sell sheet info before getting too excited

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cdnchris
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#241 Post by cdnchris » Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:53 pm

There were no sell sheets, so I can't say. I'm currently listing the licensor as Paramount (because my database design requires I put something) but I don't know for sure, at the moment.

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captveg
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#242 Post by captveg » Mon Jul 17, 2023 6:19 pm

The Kino Lorber Insider did mention within the last couple weeks that Miramax titles were available to license from Paramount if they were to get another deal done with them.

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dwk
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#243 Post by dwk » Tue Oct 10, 2023 10:41 pm

Tuppence wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:11 pm
With the announcement of The Others, the Miramax catalogue (as held by Paramount) is now back in play. I wonder if they'll go after former laserdisc titles like Trainspotting, The English Patient and Sling Blade?
I just saw a picture of the back cover of The Others on the app formerly known as twitter and the film is licensed from StudioCanal not Paramount/Miramax.

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ryannichols7
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#244 Post by ryannichols7 » Mon Oct 16, 2023 1:46 pm

Tuppence wrote:
Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:11 pm
With the announcement of The Others, the Miramax catalogue (as held by Paramount) is now back in play. I wonder if they'll go after former laserdisc titles like Trainspotting, The English Patient and Sling Blade?
Trainspotting has been announced (rightfully!) - this got an actual Bluray reissue from Paramount once the catalog was under Paramount's control, but it's certainly possible the rights reverted back to Film4 (who Criterion has worked with many times). either way, glad to have it back on UHD and I'm curious to see who the licensor is. if it is Paramount, this would be the first time Criterion has licensed a Miramax title from them

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jazzo
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#245 Post by jazzo » Mon Oct 16, 2023 2:03 pm

Hopefully "More" will include T2, because I don't see it getting its own Criterion release.

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willoneill
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#246 Post by willoneill » Mon Oct 16, 2023 4:14 pm

Aren't the U.S. rights to T2 with Sony though? I always thought Criterion were reluctant to mix rightsholders on releases (other than bigger box sets).

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TechnicolorAcid
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#247 Post by TechnicolorAcid » Mon Oct 16, 2023 4:21 pm

willoneill wrote:
Mon Oct 16, 2023 4:14 pm
Aren't the U.S. rights to T2 with Sony though? I always thought Criterion were reluctant to mix rightsholders on releases (other than bigger box sets).
Yeah they're with Sony's TriStar label so I don't think they'll be that big of a chance, if any, that it'll get packaged with the first one.

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senseabove
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#248 Post by senseabove » Mon Oct 16, 2023 4:28 pm

T2 also already has a 4k UHD release...

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Tuppence
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Re: Criterion and Miramax

#249 Post by Tuppence » Sat Jan 20, 2024 5:44 pm

Trainspotting now confirmed as being licensed from Paramount, which means it's still part of the Miramax library.

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