Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol.4

[cgray]

When I asked why blu would lack some features that were available on SD (missing essays from Third Man, etc.), Mulvaney responded:

The audiovisual supplements on our BD releases will be the same as those on the SD releases.

For a combination of reasons, some economical, some environmental, we're trying to use a little less paper going forward. We'll still be producing the same audiovisual supplements, and we'll still be dedicating ourselves to creating beautifully designed packages, but we'll be turning to the web as a means for delivering some text that in the past we might have included in a printed book. All the content will eventually be available online, and in fact, we expect to be assigning and publishing even more film essays, about new releases and classics from the catalog, since on the web we won't have to keep such a close eye on the page count.

In the end, we're doing what we think makes the most sense for the films and our audience, putting more content into the hands of more people, in digital if not physical form. We think it's the right thing to do. I hope this answers your question, and thanks for your email!

[Matt]

They must get that question a lot: http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/vie ... 581#204581

[cgray]

missed it. i've been outta town.

[souvenir]

Cover change!

[swo17]

What?! No! Old better! Me barking mad!

[ianungstad]

How unfortunate. I really liked the old cover. I think the dog looking sinister or menacing is a much better representation of the film.

[domino harvey]

What the hell were they thinking

[CSM126]

Of all the covers on their upcoming slate, they chose White Dog over Fanfan for a cover change? What. The. Fuck.

[HerrSchreck]

Says absolutely nothing about the text whatsoever, aside from the fact that there's a uh dog... who is cough uh white...

Actually looks kinda polar-bearish. Esepcially if you squint your eyes and let the wacky C be an ear.

[tholly]

They change this but not bottle rocket??

[mfunk9786]

Wow. The old cover was pretty fantastic and really growing on me beyond even that, it was becoming one of my favorites. This one is horrible. Just horrible. Oh, Criterion. Take it back. Please.

As petty as it sounds, this might be the difference between me buying it (which I was planning on doing) and just renting it from Netflix.

[Matt]

Maybe a bunch of idiot parents will buy it for their kids thinking it's some cute animated story about a happy-go-lucky sled dog.

[domino harvey]

When you think about it, cluelessly changing that cover really is the perfect end to Criterion's shitty year

[swo17]

This now looks like a Disney movie about a head-in-the-clouds Eskimo girl (voice of Abi Breslin) who conjures her imaginary dog friend from the snowy ether in order to save her parents' land from an imperialist oil company tycoon (voice of Patrick Warburton).

EDIT: Dammit Matt, you half stole my joke.

[Matt]

This now looks like a Disney movie about a head-in-the-clouds Eskimo girl (voice of Abi Breslin) who conjures her imaginary dog friend from the snowy ether in order to save her parents' land from an imperialist oil company tycoon (voice of Patrick Warburton).

EDIT: Dammit Matt, you half stole my joke.

Same joke would be funnier if you kept the original cast and made it a movie from Disney's shitty mid-'80s period:

This now looks like a Disney movie about a head-in-the-clouds Eskimo girl (voice of Kristy McNichol) who conjures her imaginary dog friend (voice of Paul Bartel) from the snowy ether (voice of Burl Ives) in order to save her parents' (voices of Sam Fuller and Christa Lang) land from an imperialist oil company tycoon (voice of Paul Winfield).

[HelenLawson]

Is White Dog now part of the Ophuls set?

[kaujot]

I don't get it.

[Saturnome]

I think they wanted to save some ink.
Or they went confused when some expressed good opinions about the precedent cover.

[Macintosh]

How is this any different from the cover posted a few pages back? Or did i miss something?

[HerrSchreck]

You dig?

[Macintosh]

Say it ain't so, Joe! So should we start a mass letter writing campaign a la the pink Viridiana cover now?

[domino harvey]

Instead of poorly riffing on the original poster, they should just remove the extra text and use it outright



Lately Criterion's art department is just more annoying than creative

[Street Dude]

Wow. I thought it was a joke at first. The new White Dog artwork is abysmal.

More ambition with design! Not the obvious!

More of 1982 in the design. More

[Murdoch]

As someone who was no fan of the previous cover I have even worse feelings toward this one. The previous one did well to capture the grittiness of the film and the bold colors worked well with the style of the film. This one looks like it could be the special edition of Snow Dogs.

[colinr0380]

I don't know, both covers seem fine. Considering the way that the dog's expression changes from fluffy and cute to slavering and snarling in a simple cut in the film itself (with that fantastic circular move from one to the other in a single shot as the finale) perhaps this would have been the perfect opportunity to use both of those images in one of those lenticular covers!

I'm sorry but still feel that if any cover needs a make over after a pink Viridiana cover full scale protest it would be Fanfan!

(By the way Joe Dante fans, Dick Miller has an extremely brief one line appearance in Fuller's film! And Fiend Without A Face fans should watch out for Marshall Thompson's cameo!)