Criterion and Sony

[black&huge]

I agree. Isn't All About my Mother the only Almodovar in like 3 years? And the Chaplin's typically took 2 years for a bit and before that it was merely a year or so apart when they first rolled out.

[Glowingwabbit]

And this is quite tiring. They have things like Chaplin, Almodovar or Lloyd and because they chose not to do a boxset, it's taking years for those to be released, to the point it's a bit silly.

This is something I've appreciated Arrow for doing in the case of Kieślowski, Fassbinder, Rohmer, etc.

[Luke M]

I agree. Isn't All About my Mother the only Almodovar in like 3 years? And the Chaplin's typically took 2 years for a bit and before that it was merely a year or so apart when they first rolled out.

Even worse, it seems that release was meant to coincide with the Pain and Glory release. Who knows, we might not get another Almodovar until he makes another movie and then it's released on home video!

[mteller]

And this is quite tiring. They have things like Chaplin, Almodovar or Lloyd and because they chose not to do a boxset, it's taking years for those to be released, to the point it's a bit silly.

Not to mention all the Satyajit Ray they're sitting on... *grumble grumble*

[tenia]

And probably many other instances.
While I understand milking their catalogue through individual releases rather than through boxsets which, I guess, aren't as much profitable per title, they're sitting on so many movies it's hard to understand why, at some point, they don't accept needing to speed up a bit the process for some directors whose movies could be released in a "bulk" way. I don't think anybody will complain if they do more often bix boxsets if it means finally having these titles released on digital home video. I mean : at this pace, the BD market might have disappeared totally before we get these remaining Harold Lloyds !

[dwk]

I wonder, with the success of the Bergman set and four boxsets on tap for this year (that we know of), with three of them potentially being big sets (the Bruce Lee can't be more than five titles), if they are going to be moving toward doing one or two big boxsets a year.

[FrauBlucher]

Can a UHD Taxi Driver be in play for Criterion?

[Calvin]

Can a UHD Taxi Driver be in play for Criterion?

It's already coming from Sony next month, as part of Columbia Classics Vol. 2. I imagine Sony will release it individually themselves next year.

[ShellOilJunior]

I wouldn't rule it out at this point. Sony views classics on UHD as a very small niche of the home video market. It took a while for Sony to unbox vol.1 and offer Dr. Strangelove as a standalone. It looks like the other films will eventually get released individually and Lawrence will be held until 2022 because of an upcoming round number anniversary.

I think we're at a point where a lot more big name classics will be going to boutique labels.

[tenia]

Bigger and bigger titles are going to indies nowadays, yes, but the point was that this is still being handled by Sony themselves as part of their current Columbia UHD releases, as was Strangelove and overall their 1st volume boxset. They're not going to do the work for the set but have Criterion doing the individual later release.

[hearthesilence]

I mean : at this pace, the BD market might have disappeared totally before we get these remaining Harold Lloyds !

EXACTLY. The market's only going to get smaller - by holding back titles in this manner, in the long game they're probably losing out in overall sales/revenue. Reminds me of the late '00s and early '10s when so many dream projects were getting released in the music world - you got the feeling that a big motivator for those releases was that the music business was rapidly shrinking. The demand was always there, but sitting on those projects for over a decade or more probably lost them millions in the long run.

[ryannichols7]

so with new spine Funny Girl, and 4K upgrades Cronos and Punch Drunk Love, the latter of which being a Columbia Classics-released title, I think it's safe to say that despite worries with other labels, Criterion's relationship with Sony will remain strong. very pleased to see this as there's still plenty the two can do together and they've historically had a strong partnership for some time now. I do really hope Criterion can be the ones to rescue California Split, let alone get to all those Almodovars they still haven't touched yet..

[Finch]

It can only be a question of when not if The Devil's Backbone gets a standalone release, but as I said in the Quarantined thread, I hope the same will happen with His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night and Volver. Those were the Columbia Classics titles I wanted from Sony's boxsets.

[ryannichols7]

It can only be a question of when not if The Devil's Backbone gets a standalone release, but as I said in the Quarantined thread, I hope the same will happen with His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night and Volver. Those were the Columbia Classics titles I wanted from Sony's boxsets.

I suspect Talk to Her will be the next Almodovar, but since I like Volver a lot more, I really hope to see that happen. I do think we'll see Criterion "rescue" the Columbia Classics titles they've done, since it seems clear Sony isn't really interested in doing standalone 4Ks of any of them. I'm game - I would personally really love Anatomy of a Murder too of course, among others

for untouched titles so far, especially SPC ones - Cache is one of the few Haneke films I liked and would love to see an edition of. L'Enfant also since they like the Dardennes. and I wish for A Separation, especially since Farhadi may now be "acceptable" again? I'm glad there's still a lot potentially on the table

[eerik]

so with new spine Funny Girl, and 4K upgrades Cronos and Punch Drunk Love, the latter of which being a Columbia Classics-released title, I think it's safe to say that despite worries with other labels, Criterion's relationship with Sony will remain strong. very pleased to see this as there's still plenty the two can do together and they've historically had a strong partnership for some time now. I do really hope Criterion can be the ones to rescue California Split, let alone get to all those Almodovars they still haven't touched yet..

Isn't Sony licensing all their stuff to everybody who wants anyway? From Mill Creek to Criterion, with Shout, Arrow, Powerhouse and everybody else in-between. A lot of the titles which they are now presenting with prestige as part of the Columbia Classics collection were licensed out during the Blu-ray era. I don't think they really care that much.

[rapta]

so with new spine Funny Girl, and 4K upgrades Cronos and Punch Drunk Love, the latter of which being a Columbia Classics-released title, I think it's safe to say that despite worries with other labels, Criterion's relationship with Sony will remain strong. very pleased to see this as there's still plenty the two can do together and they've historically had a strong partnership for some time now. I do really hope Criterion can be the ones to rescue California Split, let alone get to all those Almodovars they still haven't touched yet..

Isn't Sony licensing all their stuff to everybody who wants anyway? From Mill Creek to Criterion, with Shout, Arrow, Powerhouse and everybody else in-between. A lot of the titles which they are now presenting with prestige as part of the Columbia Classics collection were licensed out during the Blu-ray era. I don't think they really care that much.

I believe UK labels are having a bit of trouble with Sony these days, with no fresh deals being made since they closed their distribution operations over here. I think the current Indicator deal may even be their last with the studio, unless something changes of course.

PS: Interesting to note though that Indicator were trying to get all those Capra titles that Sony themselves are now releasing, so they are a bit fickle sometimes (not that it's a bad thing, looks like many of them will be 4K UHD as well as Blu-ray which Indicator absolutely wouldn't have done, for the lesser-known titles at least).