Criterion and Miramax

[luridedith]

With Belle swatted down, The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover is the only other confirmed title at this point.

Any news or confirmation on Prospero's Books?

[ianungstad]

Any news or confirmation on Prospero's Books?

I got a definite NO regarding Prospero's Books.

[exte]

I would die if someone released Good Will Hunting properly. How they missed out on a ten year anniversary release with all the trimmings (at least an anamorphic presentation for heaven's sake!) is beyond me completely! I'd love to see a three disc, with included soundtrack cd...

[Narshty]

Interesting that Miramax don't seem to be actually distributing them this time round (or are they?), as they have done with many of the previous Disney-licensed titles. Then again, the market for these is much smaller than, say, The Rock or The Royal Tenenbaums.

[Matt]

There's a completely different crew in charge at both Disney and Miramax from when those original agreements were made. Perhaps they now are just happy to collect the license fee and let someone else do the rest of the work.

[ianungstad]

Unlikely but maybe they could license A Hard Day's Night from Miramax?

I haven't seen the 2 disc version that is currently available but I would guess that most of the extras are of the fluff "Let's talk about how great the Beatles are" variety.

A more academic-oriented release could be fun.

The reflecting Skin is a film that I've heard a lot of people ask for over the years, so maybe it would be a good title for Criterion to debut on DVD?

EDIT: While it is under their Dimension Films banner, Miramax technically holds the US rights to Cronenberg's eXistenZ which would seem to be up Criterion's alley and could use a special edition?

[Narshty]

EDIT: While it is under their Dimension Films banner, Miramax technically holds the US rights to Cronenberg's eXistenZ which would seem to be up Criterion's alley and could use a special edition?

It's actually got one, with three commentaries and an hour-long documentary, pretty much everywhere except the States (including Canada and the UK).

[ianungstad]

Out of curiosity, do you think that Criterion would avoid releasing a title like eXistenZ because there are good versions in other countries/regions?

I don't know a lot about the subject but it seems that it is quite common for Criterion to go ahead and do special editions for films that already have nice packages abroad.

Maybe eXistenZ wouldn't be a likely pick...who knows maybe we'll get that special edition of Supercop on dvd.

[HelenLawson]

What's the likelihood of Criterion giving us Farewell, My Concubine? Miramax's cheap-ass release seems to be on the verge of going OOP and Criterion could stand to have more "fifth generation" Chinese films, not to mention Gong Li, in the collection.

[CSM126]

Criterion could stand to have more "fifth generation" Chinese films,

I believe you mean any. This is one of those film movements I'm stunned they're still missing out on.

[Jeff]

It turns out that Europa has not been licensed from Miramax. Somehow it has ended up has part of the Janus library.

[justeleblanc]

Kind of makes sense since I think Epidemic is also Janus.

So did Janus ever have a distribution deal with Disney?

[What A Disgrace]

You'd think Criterion would have tried to reproduce the E Trilogy box with all three titles, but I imagine the prospect is a bit too intimidating. I'm not a fan of the films, and I didn't hesitate to sell my box when I had finished the three, but it was one of the most exhausting boxed sets I've ever seen. The extra material, including commentaries, must have been close to half a day in length.

[PillowRock]

it was one of the most exhausting boxed sets I've ever seen. The extra material, including commentaries, must have been close to half a day in length.

Did you mean "exhaustive"? Or did the extras really tire you out that much?

I guess that an exhaustive set of extras could also be quite exhausting.

[ianungstad]

Criterion may want to start compiling a list of all the Miramax titles they'd like to release

Disney Nears Sale of Miramax to Tutor and Colony

Hopefully this deal is announced in the next week or so. This next quote is from a few months ago but it states that Tutor and his group are planning to focus on digital distribution and license all the dvd/blu rights to third parties:

Bergstein described the business plan of his bidders would be to focus on non-physical distribution of Miramax's movies, including video on demand, pay television,

He said he did not believe physical products like DVDs had a future.

"It would be a distribution company focused on the nonphysical aspects of distribution – teleivsion, vod, internet etc.," he said. "The hard part of the business – DVD – would be licensed out to other companies, because we don’t believe there’s much of a future in the hard goods."

[Minkin]

Criterion may want to start compiling a list of all the Miramax titles they'd like to release...

Nobody tell the Facebook page! Unless you want the next two years to be Tarantino pleas. Oh wait..

Let's hope this deal helps the Qatsi trilogy move into sure territory.

[domino harvey]

Screw Woody Allen's feelings, release the Miramax Allens with bonus features

[Highway 61]

Bonus features would be nice, but as long as we get good, anamorphic transfers I'd be happy.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Exotica (Mia Kishner on blu-ray) [-o< [-o<

[swo17]

Exotica (Mia Kishner on blu-ray) [-o< [-o<

At this point, I'd settle for a passable anamorphic transfer and cover art that I don't have to hide under my mattress. But yes, Exotica on Blu-ray, multiple prayer emoticons, etc.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Exotica (Mia Kishner on blu-ray) [-o< [-o<

At this point, I'd settle for a passable anamorphic transfer and cover art that I don't have to hide under my mattress. But yes, Exotica on Blu-ray, multiple prayer emoticons, etc.

I already have 3 versions of Exotica on DVD.
the no-anamorphic z1 Miramax (finally, in the end, the best in terms of color accuracy...)
I bought the z2 belgian as soon as I saw on the back cover that it was an anarmophic transfer.
Nice try but really could be better.
Then, the TF1 version (z2 French) from the Atom Egoyan box set. Anamorphic, DVD-9 contrary to the DVD-5 belgian transfer, but the transfer is really average. The Miramax was not so bad finally...

This is typically the kind of movie that would get advantage of a Criterion HD blu-ray treatment : the smoke of the Exotica club, the traveling with the aquarium at the beginning (which shows terrible compression artefacts on the TF1 transfer...)
really it deserves a Criterion HD treatment...

Moreover, Atom Egoyan should deserve a Criterion entry. And if they could start with Exotica. This is not a bad title to represent Egoyan's filmography...

[Finch]

If Miramax still own the rights to Farewell My Concubine in the US, I think this would be an excellent title for Criterion to acquire: the old Miramax wasn't awful by any means but the film is desperately in need of a worthy release. It hasn't even gotten a UK release through Artificial Eye (presumably still the British rightholders).

edit: re the Tarantino pleas - I would actually love a 1080p version of Jackie Brown, easily Quentin's best film.

[Jeff]

I'm guessing that the new owner will end up licensing the library to someone who can afford the whole thing and doesn't mind licensing the lousy films too. Someone like Lionsgate. Of course they would license them and then just sit on the library and not release anything.

[dad1153]

Does this affect Criterion's license to "Chungking Express" in any way? News accounts mention that Miramax is close to losing the rights to 100 or so of the 700 titles in its library. Could "CE" be one of them? [-o<

[colinr0380]

Agreed on Farewell, My Concubine. Add in a Tony Rayns commentary, Leslie Cheung tribute, some historical context on the Chinese opera and maybe Stanley Kwan's contribution to the BFI's Century of Cinema series Yan ± Ying: Gender In Chinese Cinema and that would be an essential package!