Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 4

[ianungstad]

I was talking to someone at GKIDS and they mentioned that they had looked at acquiring the rights to the Rene Laloux titles but they went to another company. I asked if it was Janus/Criterion but they wouldn't say. They seem like the kind of titles Criterion would be interested in. (even if it means more MoC overlap) Maybe that's why the Quay brothers were at the Criterion office?

It reminds me of recent remarks by Shout Factory in which they stated they were outbid on Scanners/The Brood and Blood For Dracula/Flesh For Frankenstein. They all seem like acquisition targets for Criterion. We'll see.

[Cinephrenic]

Nagisa's The Ceremony from Art Cinema Guild is playing at BAM/Pacific credited to Janus/Criterion.

[zedz]

(Jumps for joy; hits head on low ceiling of forum)

Is this the first confirmation we've had of Criterion securing an ATG Oshima?

[knives]

Officially yes, but there have been rumours for a while.

[jwd5275]

Boy has been on the Hulu channel since late September...

[Cronenfly]

Hopefully now it's just a question of which box/set of releases will come out first (and whether any of these will get main line treatment or will all be handled through Eclipse): Town of Love and Hope/Cruel Story of Youth/Sun's Burial/Night and Fog in Japan or Death by Hanging/Diary of a Shinjuku Thief/Boy/The Man Who Left His Will on Film/The Ceremony/Dear Summer Sister (don't know if The Catch/Band of Ninja would fall into either camp, or get released at all). I won't be complaining no matter how it pans out, but some supplements (a taste of Oshima's TV work from the period, perhaps?)/Blu treatment would be much appreciated, though with such a high volume of titles to get through I can see how that might be unrealistic...

[FerdinandGriffon]

MoMA is currently in the middle of an ambitious ATG retrospective, and though the full line up hasn't been announced yet, I hope we'll see several Janus properties. Already The Man Who Left His Will on Film and Death by Hanging have shown up as Janus acquisitions.

[SpiderBaby]

I really hope in addition to the ATG Oshima films, Criterion has Terayama's Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets.

[zedz]

An Oshima ATG BluRay set would be mind-blowing. Terayama would be terrific as well, but much less likely.

Of course, it would be terrific to get some individual releases in the main line (e.g. Matsumoto's Funeral Parade of Roses plus shorts; Jissoji's Mujo plus shorts), but at the very least you could extract some killer Eclipse sets. Can you imagine an ATG Eclipse set consisting of Inferno of First Love, The Human Bullet, Demons, Mujo and Coup d'Etat?

[Lowry_Sam]

If.... Maybe this discussion has just gotten really stupid?

That was inherent in my reasons for posting so many titles. 1.) you have the problem of what the movie is actually depicting (ie is an older actor playing a kid) 2.) you have the problem of whether depicting something is pro/anti....

The other was just to point how many titles in the catalog could actually be construed as such, as the original post implied (jokingly?) that there weren't (m)any.

Maybe that's why the Quay brothers were at the Criterion office?

I missed this, guess I'll hold off on importing that Institute Benjamenta blu ray (although I'd be more excited about a complete shorts box).

Speaking of Hulu titles, when's Black Lizard going to be released, hopefully they can find a better print for a blu-ray.

[brendanjc]

Zeitgeist has most of the Quay brothers films in print on DVD in the US - I don't think there's any reason to believe Criterion will be releasing them.

[Matt]

If you're all-region-capable, you'll likely want the BFI set over the Zeitgeist. The Zeitgeist uses the BFI PAL source, converted to NTSC. They're good conversions, but conversions nonetheless.

[MichaelB]

Actually, the Zeitgeist edition was mainly sourced from the BFI's HD masters, so PAL-NTSC conversion won't be an issue with the actual films - just with some of the extras.

[Matt]

My apologies! I was relying on a faulty memory and DVD Beaver.

[R0lf]

Speaking of Hulu titles, when's Black Lizard going to be released, hopefully they can find a better print for a blu-ray.

And it would be great to get a Fukasaku/Akihiro Miwa double feature of this with Black Rose Mansion.

[ianungstad]

According to Mike's Movie Mayhem, Criterion has discontinued the dvds of Wild Strawberries, The Last Wave and Darjeeling Limited.

[Matt]

I seriously hope The Last Wave is a tandem release with the long-awaited Picnic at Hanging Rock upgrade. It's a good film in its own right, but it would be awfully perverse to upgrade it before Picnic.

[captveg]

Wild Strawberries Blu-ray eminent - finally!

[swo17]

Or all of these are OOP forever. Dun dun dun.

[jindianajonz]

Or all of these are OOP forever. Dun dun dun.

Don't even joke...

[knives]

That would be the only explanation for The Darjeeling Limited.

[matrixschmatrix]

Could be just a minor packaging change for that one, I'd imagine. If they lost the rights or something it'd make no sense to discontinue the DVD and not the blu.

[captveg]

Or all of these are OOP forever. Dun dun dun.

Losing the rights to Wild Strawberries would also mean likely losing the rights to all of the Svensk Filmindustri licensed films, and I just don't see that happening.

[cdnchris]

Could be just a minor packaging change for that one, I'd imagine. If they lost the rights or something it'd make no sense to discontinue the DVD and not the blu.

I would agree with this since the BD is still in print. They probably ran out of their current run and might be printing up new ones without the sticky on the back.

[ianungstad]

Would The Cars that Ate Paris be worthy of it's own spine number? They've been bringing a lot of the old Janus/Home Vision titles to Criterion/Eclipse. Maybe it will just be a bonus film on the upgrades of Rock/Wave.