Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
DarkImbecile
Ask me about my visible cat breasts
Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:24 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1076 Post by DarkImbecile » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:08 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:00 pm
Why do all of the new covers have actors listed?
I'd be surprised if this was the case specifically for the people named on this month's covers, but I wonder if they have some research indicating sales boosts when actors are listed as well? Seems like a no-loss way of marginally improving the odds of attracting new purchasers.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1077 Post by domino harvey » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:11 pm

Then, again, why hide Marlon Brando in the role that earned him his final Oscar nomination??

User avatar
Boosmahn
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:08 pm

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1078 Post by Boosmahn » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:15 pm

Panique is definitely the highlight here, but all of them have their own merits. It's interesting that all of them (with the exception of Sawdust and Tinsel) have actors listed; it's probably just a coincidence, though.

Gerald Christie
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:06 pm

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1079 Post by Gerald Christie » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:15 pm

Weird, but I kind like all of the covers this month. Is there something wrong with me?
domino harvey wrote:
Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:11 pm
Then, again, why hide Marlon Brando in the role that earned him his final Oscar nomination??
I know it might be a stretch, but maybe considering the whole Last Tango debacle they are trying to distance themselves or downplay Brando's role in this film?

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1080 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:20 pm

The day Criterion starts worrying about which dead actors are problematic they're gonna have a reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally long cleanup effort ahead of them

eastguy
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:23 pm

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1081 Post by eastguy » Mon Sep 17, 2018 6:20 pm

It looks like they changed the color of the spine wrap on Sawdust and Tinsel. It use to be gold.

User avatar
Ovader
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:56 am
Location: Canada

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1082 Post by Ovader » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:08 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:00 pm
Why do all of the new covers have actors listed?
I suspect that is a new marketing strategy to use name recognition to entice customers who are not into director driven films but the star power of the acting talent.

User avatar
FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
Location: Greenwich Village

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1083 Post by FrauBlucher » Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:01 pm

It looks like Ambersons will be a digipak according to an image on Amazon.UK.

User avatar
cdnchris
Site Admin
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Washington
Contact:

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1084 Post by cdnchris » Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:04 am


User avatar
Jean-Luc Garbo
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:55 am
Contact:

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1085 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:44 am

For the love of god, Rublev didn't warrant even a booklet?

User avatar
Roger Ryan
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1086 Post by Roger Ryan » Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:17 pm

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:
Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:44 am
For the love of god, Rublev didn't warrant even a booklet?
I'm assuming "PLUS: An essay by critic J. Hoberman" is on the reverse side of the poster?

User avatar
tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1087 Post by tenia » Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:19 pm

I'm wondering if Criterion thinks most of their customers are actually happy getting these posters and the essays are just extras for them.

User avatar
movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1088 Post by movielocke » Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:16 pm

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:
Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:44 am
For the love of god, Rublev didn't warrant even a booklet?
I really don't think that they view going the route of a lovely poster as a betrayal and nor do they view the freudian LACK of a tumescent booklet as a problem.

Rather, the presence or not of a booklet probably has to do with a decision based on the artwork in question, and the writing in question. Apparently, they felt satisfied with one essay, which is fine.

There is also the nefarious commercial possibility that essays are one of their least utilized extras (like less than 5% of their customers interact with the essay at all), and given the high overhead costs of including essays, given that they're so disused, it'd be a waste of resources to prioritize them. If that were the case, they're like commentaries, which are expensive to produce and are also utilized at extremely low rates by their customers, meaning few resources should be allocated.

But we also know that criterion doesn't necessarily think in these sorts of stark commercial terms, so maybe they do posters because they like them and there is nothing more to it than that.

User avatar
Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1089 Post by Gregory » Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:32 pm

Why assume the booklets are "disused"? I often make a small stack of booklets of my current viewing and use them as on-the-go reading material (on the train, in a long Post Office line) where reading a poster would not make sense. These "lovely posters" are a strange way to print an essay from a practical standpoint, and I've found it downright odd to read the often flowery prose of these Criterion essays on something the size of a newspaper broadsheet.

I see the appeal of it for the Time Bandits universe map (a release I passed on anyway, so I haven't actually seen it). But for most of these, what are people using these fold-outs for? Looking at the one from The Lodger, for example, both sides are just text, so no one would hang this anywhere.
Last edited by Gregory on Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
goblinfootballs
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2014 9:37 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1090 Post by goblinfootballs » Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:37 pm

I've only used booklets to read essays when they haven't been posted on the website.

User avatar
colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1091 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Sep 25, 2018 2:52 pm

Of course the best fold out with essay was for Quai des Orfèvres. Couldn't read that in a Post Office queue without raising a few eyebrows!

User avatar
Boosmahn
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2017 10:08 pm

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1092 Post by Boosmahn » Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:35 pm

Image

Criterion's new website rotates its header image every few days; some of them are minimalistic enough to use as wallpapers. I'm not sure where else this would go, and figured some of you would be interested, so here's one for A Raisin in the Sun.

Full-size image here.

User avatar
cdnchris
Site Admin
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:45 pm
Location: Washington
Contact:

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1093 Post by cdnchris » Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:17 am



User avatar
swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1095 Post by swo17 » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:02 pm

Image Image Image Image Image

User avatar
Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1096 Post by Brian C » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:08 pm

The old Notorious cover was perfect. But this new one is also very nice.

Might as well shut down the quarantined guesses thread now that 4 Months has been announced.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1097 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:08 pm

Yikes. Can’t recall a month where I’ve disliked every cover but this is a rough lineup.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1098 Post by domino harvey » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:09 pm

The original Notorious cover was maybe their best ever. This is not

flyonthewall2983
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Indiana
Contact:

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1099 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:15 pm

Love In The Heat of the Night. Quasi-psychedelic noir-y pulp.

User avatar
Cremildo
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:19 pm
Location: Brazil
Contact:

Re: Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

#1100 Post by Cremildo » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:15 pm

The covers for the May and the Kiarostami are ace; the rest, not so much. The one for ItHotN sure is among their worst ever.

Post Reply