Criterion and Warner Bros.

[flyonthewall2983]

Every version of it including the recent three-pack with Body Heat and LA Confidential is OOP on MMM

Awesome. I mentioned on this forum not one month ago that I was buying The Player on blu so that it it would go OOP and come to Criterion. Fuck me.

Don't feel too bad, the sole copy available on Amazon is 501.75

[Emak-Bakia]

Every version of it including the recent three-pack with Body Heat and LA Confidential is OOP on MMM

Awesome. I mentioned on this forum not one month ago that I was buying The Player on blu so that it it would go OOP and come to Criterion. Fuck me.

Don't feel too bad, the sole copy available on Amazon is 501.75

If anyone still has doubts about it coming from Criterion, or just wants to pick up a cheap copy in the meantime, it's still available for just $6.95 via WB's DVD2blu program.

[theflirtydozen]

Taking a further look at that discontinued list of discs posted a while ago, I found some more interesting titles. Are any of the following possibilities?

Gun Crazy
The Man with the Golden Arm
Adam's Rib
Billy Budd

Anything else from the Controversial Classics Box not discussed thus far:
Advise and Consent
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Blackboard Jungle
The Americanization of Emily

WB discs for Gun Crazy, MwtGA, and I am a Fugitive are listed as discontinued at MMM by my research. The rest have at least one still in-print release from WB. I know that Woman of the Year was mentioned here previously, but MMM also has one Tracy & Hepburn collection still in-print, a set that includes WotY and Adam's Rib.

[Drucker]

Man With A Golden Arm I thought was PD? I see so many different variations of it on DVD at the used store near where I work. Didn't the Film Foundation restore it? Would be excellent to get in a Criterion version.

[theflirtydozen]

After a quick Google search and taking a look at its dedicated thread, I think there have actually been two restorations of it by Film Foundation. The most recent one is from 2010 I think. I'm not sure if it's PD, there are other releases still in print but I couldn't find any that weren't discontinued from WB themselves.

[Ashirg]

Billy Budd and The Americanization of Emily are both released as part of Warner Archive, the last one also on blu-ray. Man With A Golden Arm is PD, but official quality release was from Warner.

[ianungstad]

What titles that have never been released on dvd (R1) or via the archives would be good Criterion possibilities? A few that come to mind:

The Fixer (John Frankenheimer)
The L Shaped Room ( Bryan Forbes)
Devils (Ken Russell)
Stop (Bill Gunn)
Nothing Lasts Forever (Tom Schiller)
The New Land (Jan Troell)
Emigrants (Jan Troell)
Last Summer (Frank Perry)
The Crowd (King Vidor)
The Wind (Victor Sjostrom)
Greed (Eric Von Stroheim)
Run of the Arrow (Sam Fuller)

[criterion10]

Stop (Bill Gunn)
Last Summer (Frank Perry)

I do know that the Warner Archive was planning to release both of these, only to be postponed after having trouble locating quality prints.

[ianungstad]

Last Summer was screened on TCM earlier this year in a good quality print. Apparently they snipped a few seconds of nudity for the TCM broadcast. Very disturbing film.

[giovannii84]

What titles that have never been released on dvd (R1) or via the archives would be good Criterion possibilities? A few that come to mind:

The Fixer (John Frankenheimer)
The L Shaped Room ( Bryan Forbes)
Devils (Ken Russell)
Stop (Bill Gunn)
Nothing Lasts Forever (Tom Schiller)
The New Land (Jan Troell)
Emigrants (Jan Troell)
Last Summer (Frank Perry)
The Crowd (King Vidor)
The Wind (Victor Sjostrom)
Greed (Eric Von Stroheim)
Run of the Arrow (Sam Fuller)

Anthony Adverse (Mervyn LeRoy) - there's also a trailer & short film they could include as supplements. A new interview with the legendary Olivia de Havilland would be cool too

[Arthur House]

What titles that have never been released on dvd (R1) or via the archives would be good Criterion possibilities? A few that come to mind:

The L Shaped Room ( Bryan Forbes)

I seem to recall seeing someone inquire about this title on the Warner Archive Facebook page awhile back, and they replied that they no longer have the rights.

[Bruce]

Is 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon' still owned by Warner? I'm wondering why they haven't released it on Blu yet - they did 'Fort Apache' some time ago. Is this a possibility for being licensed to Criterion?

[Calvin]

What titles that have never been released on dvd (R1) or via the archives would be good Criterion possibilities?

John Ford's 7 Women is another one

[beamish13]

Stop (Bill Gunn)
Last Summer (Frank Perry)

I do know that the Warner Archive was planning to release both of these, only to be postponed after having trouble locating quality prints.

No, STOP is being held up by missing clearance forms which will dictate how much money is owed to the performers and creative personnel on it. LAST SUMMER's original negative is in existence, but I assume some heavy work is needed on it-the uncut film screened at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre with Barbara Hershey in person not too long ago, and it was a 16mm copy that's held by Australia's National Film & Sound Archive.

[beamish13]

TWICE UPON A TIME (1983) would be a fantastic choice, especially given that 2 distinct versions of it exist. David Fincher was a visual consultant on it, and given his relationship with Criterion, I wouldn't be surprised if he contributed an interview or commentary. Many other artists to it have subsequently had significant careers, as well, like Henry Selick and Pixar production designer Harley Jessup. The Archive has said on Facebook that they intend to release it themselves, but hopefully they'll change their minds.

[Roger Ryan]

Is 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon' still owned by Warner? I'm wondering why they haven't released it on Blu yet - they did 'Fort Apache' some time ago. Is this a possibility for being licensed to Criterion?

TCM aired a true HD version of this film over the weekend, so an HD master exists and it looks good.

[kingofthejungle]

What titles that have never been released on dvd (R1) or via the archives would be good Criterion possibilities?

John Ford's 7 Women is another one

As is Jacques Tourneur's Great Day In The Morning

[ordinaryperson]

Is "Day For Night" the first of the Warner deal or was it dropped by the studio?

[criterion10]

Is "Day For Night" the first of the Warner deal or was it dropped by the studio?

It's the first. Seems like Warner still owns it, as they still have it streaming online.

[cdnchris]

The sell sheets indicate that Warner is indeed the licensor for Day for Night.

[johnnysnatchclub7]

Any guesses on the next title? BEFORE trilogy? BLOW-UP? THE NEW WORLD?

[giovannii84]

Any guesses on the next title? BEFORE trilogy? BLOW-UP? THE NEW WORLD?

Would love for it to be consecutive Antonioni titles for Blow Up & Zabriskie Point.

A 'Jean Renoir in Hollywood' eclipse set would be cool too.

[criterion10]

Would love for it to be consecutive Antonioni titles for Blow Up & Zabriskie Point.

Based on Day for Night being in that list of recent OOP WB titles, I'm assuming that Criterion has it in their contract that all licensed films must go out of print (does this seem accurate?).

In other words, Zabriskie Point is still in print, and if my reasoning is sound, then we won't be seeing that one any time soon.

I do also have to wonder what exactly caused WB to reconsider their old stance on licensing.

[danieltiger]

Would love for it to be consecutive Antonioni titles for Blow Up & Zabriskie Point.

Based on Day for Night being in that list of recent OOP WB titles, I'm assuming that Criterion has it in their contract that all licensed films must go out of print (does this seem accurate?).

In other words, Zabriskie Point is still in print, and if my reasoning is sound, then we won't be seeing that one any time soon.

I do also have to wonder what exactly caused WB to reconsider their old stance on licensing.

Seems like it could be the waning nature of the home media market, and them deciding that whatever they can get from Criterion is worth more than whatever the cost of doing the release is.

[criterion10]

Seems like it could be the waning nature of the home media market, and them deciding that whatever they can get from Criterion is worth more than whatever the cost of doing the release is.

I'm sure that's the main reason, but it is interesting, mainly because WB is still really the only major studio that has an interest in putting their catalogue out mostly on their own (even though most of this is done through the Warner Archive). In other words, they could have easily left titles like Blow-Up and Dreams in print via the archive, instead of licensing to Criterion, which is the type of thing they would have done only a few years ago.

I wonder if Criterion has a semi-carte blanche attitude towards their catalogue, or if WB is very selective about what they license out.