Arrow Announcements, Speculation & Wild, Irresponsible Conjecture

[Costa]

To get away from the dropped mystery title, this was pointed out on blu-ray.com, quoted from this page:

Arrow Video brings the very best in cult, horror and genre films, released in deluxe, definitive editions with uncut versions, newly commissioned artwork, specially curated extras and booklets. Starting as an offshoot label in 2009, the collection now spans more than 400 releases including films from Dario Argento, John Carpenter, Lucio Fulci, Wes Craven and George Romero, plus upcoming releases from the likes of Guillermo del Toro and Edgar Wright.

It would be great if it was the Pan's Labyrinth version fans deserve!
Unfortunately, it wasn't the Criterion one.
(and let the doctor rate it with 5 stars all the way!)

[M Sanderson]

Could be a UK only release of Cronos, but I believe StudioCanal controls the UK rights to The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth.

Wasn’t Cronos, like The Addiction, produced or distributed by a company called October Films? Could that be enough of a link to suggest a Cronos release?

[M Sanderson]

To get away from the dropped mystery title, this was pointed out on blu-ray.com, quoted from this page:

Arrow Video brings the very best in cult, horror and genre films, released in deluxe, definitive editions with uncut versions, newly commissioned artwork, specially curated extras and booklets. Starting as an offshoot label in 2009, the collection now spans more than 400 releases including films from Dario Argento, John Carpenter, Lucio Fulci, Wes Craven and George Romero, plus upcoming releases from the likes of Guillermo del Toro and Edgar Wright.

It would be great if it was the Pan's Labyrinth version fans deserve!
Unfortunately, it wasn't the Criterion one.
(and let the doctor rate it with 5 stars all the way!)

There are issues with the Criterion Pan’s Labyrinth?

[M Sanderson]

Something like that certainly has to be Mimic, right? I know that Del Toro is passionate about that film conceptually and had problems with its execution. I could see him supporting a directed-approved vision of Mimic for Arrow (or as close to what is possible).

It is slightly peculiar to me that Arrow would have much of anything planned with Del Toro given his track record with Criterion. But then again, I'm not sure what else could realistically come out on Criterion considering I don't see Pacific Rim, Blade 2, or Hellboy appearing at any point.

isn't there already a director approved Blu ray of Mimic in the U.K.? I’m sure i used to have it

[jazzo]

There's definitely one in North America from Lionsgate. I own it, and it's a fairly stacked edition. Room for improvement, for sure, but it's out and fairly cheap, and I believe even comes in a trilogy set with its sequels. To be honest, I'm not sure the film deserves more than its current release, although I am quite fond of it.

[dwk]

Wasn’t Cronos, like The Addiction, produced or distributed by a company called October Films? Could that be enough of a link to suggest a Cronos release?

October Films distributed the film in the US, but those rights expired long ago and Criterion licensed the film from the production company. It could be that the UK rights have finally reverted to the original production company. (October Films catalog, well the titles they still have rights to, is now with Focus Features.)

[Costa]

There are issues with the Criterion Pan’s Labyrinth?

Serious encoding issues revealing macroblocking:
http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x=258 ... 0&i=4&go=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, it is newly graded (per Criterion's press release), so it would be nice if we had a version perfectly encoded AND with the original theatrical colors.
(despite if the new colors fit the film or not)
(also has some black crush)

It was generally a quite controversial release.

[KJones77]

There are issues with the Criterion Pan’s Labyrinth?

Serious encoding issues revealing macroblocking:
http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?a=2&x=258 ... 0&i=4&go=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, it is newly graded (per Criterion's press release), so it would be nice if we had a version perfectly encoded AND with the original theatrical colors.
(despite if the new colors fit the film or not)
(also has some black crush)

It was generally a quite controversial release.

I've literally never heard of any controversy.

Plus, it was overseen by Del Toro. If there were changes (never saw it in theaters, so can't say), they were undoubtedly because he wanted to make them. Just see the forthcoming Virgin Suicides release where Coppola and Lachmann changed the colors from the original release.

[swo17]

Criterion has been releasing titles with less than optimal encodes for a while now (as can be seen from caps-a-holic comparisons) though I'd be hesitant to identify the magnitude of these flaws as "serious."

[Drucker]

Latest clue posted on Instagram for AV announcement.

[rapta]

My immediate guess is it's The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey.

[Costa]

I really hope it's Waterworld!

[swo17]

Navigator's a good guess. My first thought was something by Ruiz, but then, that's my first thought for everything.

[Ribs]

My first guess is anything involving a circle.

[Adam X]

My first thought was The Navigator too, but with the visual clue suggesting “North America”, it made me think we might finally get vol 2 of the American Horror Project. Maybe both?

[Costa]

why everyone is thinking of The Navigator? (which I had never ever heard until now)
has it been hinted at/ is it expected from Arrow?

[beamish13]

why everyone is thinking of The Navigator? (which I had never ever heard until now)
has it been hinted at/ is it expected from Arrow?

they've announced Vigil, another film by director Vincent Ward.

[MichaelB]

why everyone is thinking of The Navigator? (which I had never ever heard until now)
has it been hinted at/ is it expected from Arrow?

they've announced Vigil, another film by director Vincent Ward.

And they’ve already licensed three other titles from the New Zealand Film Commission (The Quiet Earth, Sleeping Dogs, Smash Palace), so I’d say Rapta is bang on the money.

Put it like this - if you were cherry-picking titles from that particular catalogue, The Navigator is at least as good as any of those artistically, and may even be more commercially appealing than some.

(I’m now almost entirely out of the Arrow loop, so I genuinely don’t know what the correct answer is.)

[M Sanderson]

From Fran Simeoni on Twitter:

I think I just agreed on two of the biggest titles of my career and I think I might feel a bit sick. And emotional. And scared. And happy. Mixed feelings then.

One of the two titles has been nixed at the behest of the director

I am really curious what these two titles were, even though one has been cancelled.

Films such as The Fly (1986), The Keep, Halloween, or some prime Jodorowsky come to mind, but they’re not huge productions.

Could the titles be big in reputation, or big in terms of production values and budget?

[dwk]

As usual, Amazon UK posted Arrow's slate before they were announced. So here are July's releases:
The Endless
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
Doom Asylum
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail
The Boondock Saints

[tenia]

And also Detective Bureau 2-3.

[dwk]

Nice, I was going of the list posted on Blu-ray.com and that one wasn't there.

[KJones77]

New Arrow Academy announcements coming Friday

Clue:

[tojoed]

Is it "Bring me the head of Sergio Garcia"?

[rapta]

Someone on Blu-ray.com pointed out it's a photo of Mohsen Makhmalbaf - more specifically, at Locarno Film Festival in 1993.

So chances are we're getting some Makhmalbaf, or perhaps even Kiarostami's Close-Up (which he starred in). Either way, some more Iranian cinema on Blu-ray is a cause for celebration!