Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#101 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:36 pm

willoneill wrote:
Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:24 pm
Yet Starting Over will still be talked about; I mean, it's still being talked about all these years later, isn't it?
therewillbeblus wrote:
Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:11 pm
I'd be surprised if many people on this forum had even seen the latter, or heard of it at all before some recent championing. I sure hadn't until I did some digging a year or two ago on this forum, and if this forum didn't exist I probably never would have discovered it.
Short answer: No, unless you're referring to on this forum in recency (mostly resigned to posts of me hoping for it to be released), in which case, sure?

I'll just say again, hopefully more clearly, that I have no qualms with a plug for these Amazon films to get released. I am worried about the implications of what I see as clues for a potentially disturbing shift in business model, and because Criterion has only so many resources to funnel their output, I am speculating that the consequences for further slowing down an already evaporating market of old titles by adding more modern awards-contenders is alarming. That's all.

Jgh8xxx
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 12:41 am

Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#102 Post by Jgh8xxx » Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:44 pm

Maltic wrote:
Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:37 pm
I guess this is where we're at... the Oscars now gaining prestige by associating themselves with Criterion. :)
100% this. It's no coincidence this happened during Oscar voting, or that this announcement for Netflix titles happened during the second phase of voting last year-
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/netfl ... 202205790/

Amazon and Netflix are aligning themselves with Criterion for the prestige the label offers, full stop. My how I only wish THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF EURIDICE GUSMÃO had been nominated last year so we could have gotten a release (there's no English friendly physical copy in the world :(

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#103 Post by Big Ben » Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:20 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:36 pm
I'll just say again, hopefully more clearly, that I have no qualms with a plug for these Amazon films to get released. I am worried about the implications of what I see as clues for a potentially disturbing shift in business model, and because Criterion has only so many resources to funnel their output, I am speculating that the consequences for further slowing down an already evaporating market of old titles by adding more modern awards-contenders is alarming. That's all.
If you'll allow me to play Devil's Advocate here I think it might be worth pointing out that if Criterion does more things with more currently visible films that don't need a ton of leg work to put out it would certainly open the window financially for more obscure titles. A film from India from the sixties for instance is going to need more work than say, One Night in Miami. I realize my hypothesis isn't exactly scientific but I think it bears repeating that sometimes good things can come from things like this.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#104 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:27 pm

I mentioned that in my first post about this
therewillbeblus wrote:
Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:55 pm
I get the argument of releasing popular titles so that ___ can happen, but this seems to be growing a bit beyond the need
so I understand and respect that point. I’m fearful of the disproportionate skewing, and possible sacrifice of other opportunities in the process of prioritization (including random speculation of how this could have been an indirect swapsie with Paramount for all we know)

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Drucker
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#105 Post by Drucker » Fri Mar 05, 2021 8:41 pm

I'm completely just guessing, but it seems that Fox and Paramount could be major studios that are licensing far less or not at all these days. If those major labels are just having their portion of the slate displaced by the streamers, no big deal overall. Studios are moving things to streaming platforms, and streaming platforms are finding ways to extend the shelf life of their content by giving it a physical release?

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Maltic
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:36 am

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#106 Post by Maltic » Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:05 pm

I suppose Criterion was going to switch focus from films/cinema to "content" sooner or later.

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#107 Post by Ribs » Sun Mar 07, 2021 11:47 pm

The original article was corrected to clarify that the Sound of Metal release is tentatively scheduled for next year and the other two are coming this year.

I think there is definitely a real possibility of an issue if Criterion maintains its “the three or four most appropriate movies” with these companies every single year - as that ends up at 15 releases and fully 25% of the slate. If, for example, Amazon has licensed Time, One Night in Miami, Sound of Metal, I’d expect they will take at the very least Mank, Da 5 Bloods, and Dick Johnson is Dead from Netflix (can see them interested in I’m Thinking of Ending Things and Forty-Year-Old Version as well, but just limiting the thought experiment, then from Neon I think they’d probably be happy to take some of their great foreign language slate this year which otherwise seem certain to be Blu-less (pick from Gunda, Night of the Kings, Dear Comrades!, Quo Vadis Aida), and then from IFC they probably will take (ignoring we know Medicine for Melancholy is happening and we assume Non-Fiction is still pending) at the very least The Truth (and think MLK/FBI seems possible though Criterion’s not been overeager about their Docs). I think all of these things I’ve listed are probably happening to a greater or lesser degree w/r/t individual titles and would result in a really different Criterion release calendar much more focused on contemporary film then it’s really ever been. Not necessarily a bad thing as without Criterion other than IFC it’s hard to see these titles ever making a disc.

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Maltic
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:36 am

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#108 Post by Maltic » Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:02 am

I don't see how it could not be a bad thing tbh... if those 25% might instead go to old titles otherwise left to KLSC, or a Hong Kong push a la Eureka, or whatever?

Again though, I may be presenting a false dichotomy here, since it's comparatively easy to clean up the cigarette burns in Mank and release it without extras, + it might sell better than the older stuff.

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FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#109 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:24 am

We are about to enter the mid-2021 releases and still haven't gotten Atlantics and the American Factory doc that was announced January of 2020 by Netflix, and who knows if they are slated anytime soon, although I do think that Criterion's calendar is somewhat fluid.

tonytr87
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2021 7:04 pm

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#110 Post by tonytr87 » Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:58 pm

As far as recent films, all I want is a Mank criterion. Otherwise, Criterion can stick to what they do best: preservation.

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soundchaser
Leave Her to Beaver
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#111 Post by soundchaser » Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:10 pm

tonytr87 wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:58 pm
Otherwise, Criterion can stick to what they do best: preservation.
The Wong Kar-Wai set would like a word.

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bainbridgezu
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#112 Post by bainbridgezu » Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:43 am

soundchaser wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:10 pm
tonytr87 wrote:
Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:58 pm
Otherwise, Criterion can stick to what they do best: preservation.
The Wong Kar-Wai set would like a word.
You know what they say: "If you love something, flay it of all character, twist its form into a hollow shambles, and shit the mutilated corpse into a French-fold doorstop."

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#113 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:53 am

Pretty sure the only words the WKW set knows is "No man steps in the same river twice"

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Adam X
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#114 Post by Adam X » Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:25 am

At this point, it feels like that quote should be prominently displayed somewhere in the packaging or book. Just to drive the point home.

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jedgeco
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:28 am

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#115 Post by jedgeco » Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:41 am

Adam X wrote:
Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:25 am
At this point, it feels like that quote should be prominently displayed somewhere in the packaging or book. Just to drive the point home.
Second pressing title change: W̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ Different Rivers of Wong Kar Wai

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#116 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:48 am

To make it clearer, there should be a visual aid on the insert showing one river as a thin blue stream, and a second river as green and wide. That literalist picture of the quote would make a hell of a lot more sense to the final product.

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rapta
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Location: Hants, UK

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#117 Post by rapta » Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:32 pm

Curiously, just noticed Sony are releasing the brilliant Sound of Metal on Blu-ray in the UK on May 31st. I'm wondering if this will be a similar situation to Certain Women before, when they released it on DVD then announced a port of the Criterion disc a couple of months later? Just seems slightly odd if they're planning releasing it on Blu-ray twice...

Godzamera
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#118 Post by Godzamera » Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:37 pm

I want a blu-ray release of The Vast of Night so bad, Amazon needs to get on that lol

Bressonaire
Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 4:49 pm

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#119 Post by Bressonaire » Fri Apr 23, 2021 7:57 am

The Vast of Night has one of the biggest howlers I've seen in a film in a long time--the name of the radio station, WOTW. Radio stations west of the Mississippi begin with a K.

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#120 Post by domino harvey » Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:19 am

Something something fired for this blunder

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dekadetia
was Born Innocent
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 11:57 pm
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#121 Post by dekadetia » Fri Apr 23, 2021 12:19 pm

Bressonaire wrote:
Fri Apr 23, 2021 7:57 am
The Vast of Night has one of the biggest howlers I've seen in a film in a long time--the name of the radio station, WOTW. Radio stations west of the Mississippi begin with a K.
This is not really an error, as there are lots of exceptions to the W/K boundary rule, but it *is* a rather groan-inducing reference to War Of The Worlds.

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swo17
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#122 Post by swo17 » Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:34 pm

When it could have been a sly reference to either King of the Hill or Kids in the Hall

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Ribs
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Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#123 Post by Ribs » Sun Jul 25, 2021 5:37 pm

It looks like the BBC maintains video rights for Small Axe in the US as they’re putting out a DVD - which is unfortunate, obviously. I still would expect it’s something they’d want to pursue but it wouldn’t be going through the same channels and could end up just not being able to happen even if McQueen were to provide any kind of push.

ianungstad
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:20 pm

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#124 Post by ianungstad » Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:30 pm

BBC America is jointly owned by the BBC and AMC Networks (parent company of IFC films). A Criterion set could still be possible via their IFC connections?

Calvin
Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2011 11:12 am

Re: Criterion and Netflix and Amazon

#125 Post by Calvin » Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:55 am

Criterion have also licensed extras from the BBC on multiple occasions

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