Criterion and Sony

[ianungstad]

I hope it's not like the Focus deal which seems like a string of vanity projects for minor films by trendy directors. The FOCUS deal has produced pretty meager fruit so far. (In fact I would say Monsoon Wedding and Last Days of Disco were easily the two worst releases from last year)

[jaredsap]

I hope it's not like the Focus deal which seems like a string of vanity projects for minor films by trendy directors.

Who would call REPULSION a minor film? This forum elected it the fifth best Criterion release of 2009 (and the second best single film release). I also think CRUMB is a major film, but I understand why that release has disappointed some given the strength of the extant Sony edition.

[CSM126]

theoretically, SPC titles are now in play.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

[colinr0380]

^^^ Doesn't Nicholson own the rights/negative of "The Passenger" and Sony just licensed it from him for the 2005 revival and eventual DVD release? If this is going to make it to the collection it would have to go through Jack, wouldn't it?

Nicholson did narrate the extracts from Antonioni's writings along with giving some of his recollections of working with him on The Passenger on Criterion's DVD of L'Avventura, so they've obviously approached him before!

But unless they were going to do it on Blu-Ray or something like that, there does not seem to be any pressing urge for Criterion to re-release The Passenger at present.

[ianungstad]

I hope it's not like the Focus deal which seems like a string of vanity projects for minor films by trendy directors.

Who would call REPULSION a minor film? This forum elected it the fifth best Criterion release of 2009 (and the second best single film release). I also think CRUMB is a major film, but I understand why that release has disappointed some given the strength of the extant Sony edition.

Oh Repulsion is fantastic. I was referring more to the potential films from SPC. (Which seem to be a seperate licensing agreement anyways) Crumb as a film is great too...I'm just hoping that if there are more SPC films in the works, the next batch isn't Squid and the Whale, In the Company of Men, a "new" cut pf Crouching Tiger, etc. The Focus deal seems to be going down that route and I think Criterion is worse off for it, though every film has both supporters and detractors.

[ianungstad]

Crazy.

I confirmed the rumor about the New Hollywood boxset with an individual I know who works at Criterion. They were surprised that the Criterion Cast website was able to leak the story as Criterion has been keeping the set a well guarded secret.

The set includes the films Five Easy Pieces/ Head/ King of Marvin Gardens/ The Last Picture Show/ Easy Rider/ A Safe Place/ Drive, He Said

I have no idea the circumstances that lead Sony/Columbia to license the box to Criterion. It seems very bizarre to me as Columbia has been on a great run as of late, producing a lot of fantastic in house boxsets. These are also pretty major titles and you think they would want them for themselves.

I sent an email to Mike Schlesinger at Columbia to see if he would reply and this was what he said : even if true, it doesn't mean we've lost the rights--it merely means we sub-licensed the set to Criterion.

FYI, my source at Criterion also confirmed the rumor about the Universal film Design for Living. Which is great news! More Lubitsch in the collection! Yay.

It seems almost like the laserdisc days again.

[Finch]

Ian, could your source confirm if the films will be available in the set only or if CC would consider stand-alone releases as well? I'd much rather go for Last Picture Show and Five Easy Pieces individually.

PS.: Good to see Design confirmed. Probably going to be something along the lines of their MAKE WAY disc (would be nice if they revisited Trouble in Paradise and released it on Blu also).

[ianungstad]

I tried to get more specific details but my source at Criterion wouldn't do more than confirm that the story ran on the criterion cast website was factual. I don't think they even wanted to do that, as I'm sure Becker/Turrell will be on the warpath trying to find out who leaked the story to Criterion Cast, if they're not already.

[Jeff]

I hadn't heard this rumor yet. It certainly explains why the Columbia set seemed to be indefinitely delayed. I'm surprised that Columbia wanted to license these too, but that Wacky C branding may move enough extra sets that their royalty payments from Criterion outweighed their own margins. Or maybe Rafelson, Schneider, Nicholson pushed for it?

CriterionCast says there will be a Blu version of the set and that they will not be available individually (note to Criterion: please do not put all these films by different directors into one giant, stupid digipak -- individual plastic cases, please, so I can unbox). These would not be Blu if Sony were doing it themselves, so that's fantastic news. Sony had already been working on a number of supplements for these, but I'm sure Criterion will add their own too. Hopefully this isn't a Benjamin Button deal with Criterion putting the C on Sony's already completed set.

So many questions:

• Will the old Boggy commentary from the laserdisc of The Last Picture Show finally surface? Will they include the Sony DVD commentary too? Theatrical and director's cuts? The Sony documentary?

• Will the Dennis Hopper commentary and documentary from Sony's recent Blu-ray of Easy Rider be included?

• Will they be able to include Who is Henry Jaglom?

• Will they be able to snag significant involvement from Jack Nicholson, who either wrote, directed or starred in six of these seven films?

• Will Head finally be released at 1.85? Will they include the pilot episode of The Monkees? Will this guy spontaneously combust when he hears about this?

• Was this a one-off deal, or does it mean that Criterion licensed another round of Columbia titles? Could some other titles that Sony restored and was theoretically planning on doing themselves have been farmed out? La Vérité, Sandra, Man's Castle, Mickey One, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion?

[domino harvey]

The Last Picture Show on Blu-ray?! Be still, my heart

[perkizitore]

Very valid points Jeff, but since i already own the Easy Rider blu-ray i hope Criterion creates some new extras on top of the Sony ones (very unlikely i know)

[Jeff]

since i already own the Easy Rider blu-ray i hope Criterion creates some new extras on top of the Sony ones

I certainly hope so too, and I imagine they will. I'd just like to see them include the Sony extras (especially the Hopper commentary) to eliminate the need to own two versions of this. When this was coming from Sony, it would have probably had an MSRP of $79.95 like the Fuller set of the same size. I expect the Criterion set will have an MSRP somewhere between $124.95 and $149.95, so they'd better add some extra special Criterion style goodies.

I hope the cover of the box set includes this pic of Rafelson and Schneider.

[Roger Ryan]

Finally...finally? Wasn't it TIME magazine that announced THE NEW HOLLYWOOD set as a "hot item" last October?! I kept thinking that the only consolation to waiting so long would be that Sony would be embarrassed to release it only on DVD and that we might get a Blu-ray version. Looks like I can start holding my breath again.

[MoonlitKnight]

Ian, could your source confirm if the films will be available in the set only or if CC would consider stand-alone releases as well? I'd much rather go for Last Picture Show and Five Easy Pieces individually.

PS.: Good to see Design confirmed. Probably going to be something along the lines of their MAKE WAY disc (would be nice if they revisited Trouble in Paradise and released it on Blu also).

They better be. I already have "Easy Rider" on Blu... and I think I'd only want "Drive, He Said" and "A Safe Place" on plain ol' DVD.

[Brian C]

Releasing those as a box-set only would be a very strange decision, since at least three of those titles (PIECES, PICTURE SHOW, and EASY RIDER) would have more mass-market potential than 95% of Criterion's stand-alone releases.

[domino harvey]

Sounds like it was a provision of the deal. I wonder if Sony is funding their great output of boxed sets thanks in part of Criterion's licensing $$$$$ (which had to have been astronomical for a coup like this)

[Brian C]

That doesn't sound like much of a coup for Criterion if that was part of the deal. It sounds good, because those are some relatively high-profile titles, but that sounds like a pretty unwieldy box set to me. Unlike other Criterion boxes, these are films that are only very tenuously related to each other, and there are bound to be a lot more people who only want a few films than there are with other sets.

[Jeff]

Films like Head, A Safe Place, and Drive, He Said probably wouldn't sell very well on their own. Boxing them is a way to get those burgeoning cinephiles who really want Blu-rays of Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, and The Last Picture Show to spring for all seven films. Of course it's also possible that BBS had a deal with Sony (and now with Criterion) to release all of their output together as a sort of vanity set.

[knives]

I wouldn't be surprised if Head was the second biggest name for the public out of those titles. You'd be surprised at the nostalgia the Monkees bring up even in young people.

[Cinephrenic]

Head, A Safe Place, and Drive, He Said

These any good?

[Jeff]

Hey Criterion brass, if you’re following along, here is what I want the spec list to say, at minimum, okay?

Seven-Disc Blu-Ray (Ten-Disc DVD) Set Includes:

The Last Picture Show
• Restored high-definition digital transfers of both the theatrical and director’s cuts
• Two commentary tracks by Peter Bogdanovich on the director’s cut (one recorded in 1990, and one in 2009)
• New video interviews with Larry McMurtry, Jeff Bridges
• Feature-Length documentary, The Last Picture Show: A Look Back
• Excerpts from the documentary, Ben Johnson: Third Cowboy on the Right

Easy Rider
• Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by Dennis Hopper
• Audio commentary by Lee Hill, author of A Grand Guy: The Life and Art of Terry Southern and a BFI monograph on Easy Rider
• New video interviews with Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson
• Feature-Length documentary, Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage
• Excerpts from the documentary, Peter Fonda: The Fortunate Son

Five Easy Pieces
• Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson
• New documentary on cinematographer László Kovács
• New video interview with Karen Black
• Complete performances of the Chopin, Bach, and Mozart pieces

The King of Marvin Gardens
• Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson
• New video interviews with Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn, and screenwriter Jacob Brackman

Head
• Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson
• Audio commentary by Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Michael Nesmith
• Six episodes of The Monkees directed by Bob Rafelson

A Safe Place
• Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by Henry Jaglom and Jack Nicholson
• Feature-Length documentary, Who is Henry Jaglom?

Drive, He Said
• Restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by Jack Nicholson with Robert Towne
• New video interviews with Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Henry Jaglom, and Robert Towne
• New Feature-Length documentary on Raybert Productions and BBS Productions, featuring extensive interviews with Bert Schneider, Bob Rafelson, and Steve Blauner, Jack Nicholson, and Henry Jaglom.

[movielocke]

the odd array of films being bundled as a set, if themed as a new hollywood set, reminds me of warner sets like the Film Noir set, the films aren't related (in the way that say the Thin Man series are related, or a Bogey boxset is related) but they mix in the highest profile films with some gems that most people overlook. The strategy seemed to work well for Warners and led to a lot of high caliber film noir releases from them.

[Tribe]

warner sets like the Film Noir set, the films aren't related

No, they were just related in the sense that they were all...well, noir films.

[Buttery Jeb]

I wonder if Criterion will use the opportunity to include "Hearts and Minds" as part of the New Hollywood set, seeing as it was originally part of the BBS library.

[Brian C]

Was there anything 'Hollywood', New or otherwise, about Hearts and Minds?