Janus Films

[dwk]

I've noticed that these last few acquisitions make no mention of Sideshow being involved. Is Sideshow still an ongoing company are what?

[andyli]

Well the only big name acquisition at Cannes was Bi Gan's Resurrection. Les Films du Losange did mention working with Sideshow / Janus for the US distribution less than a week ago in one of their tweets.

[Mark L.]

I've noticed that these last few acquisitions make no mention of Sideshow being involved. Is Sideshow still an ongoing company are what?

Well, looks like the dude who created/ran Sideshow is moving to a "Global Cinema" role at Neon, so I imagine a lot of things that might have been picked up by Sideshow will be going to Neon now. I mean I can't imagine Neon or Janus letting him run both.

[Aspect]

I’m a little concerned that Janus hasn’t picked up the US rights to The Dardennes’ Young Mothers. What are they waiting for?

[dwk]

Well the only big name acquisition at Cannes was Bi Gan's Resurrection. Les Films du Losange did mention working with Sideshow / Janus for the US distribution less than a week ago in one of their tweets.

Maybe they will keep the Sideshow branding for new releases and only use Janus for the classic re-releases. I guess we will see when these recent acquisitions are released.

Well, looks like the dude who created/ran Sideshow is moving to a "Global Cinema" role at Neon, so I imagine a lot of things that might have been picked up by Sideshow will be going to Neon now. I mean I can't imagine Neon or Janus letting him run both.

I missed that news, and, yeah, no way he can do both.

[The Narrator Returns]

Just learned that another key Sideshow figure started a new distributor, 1-2 Special, which just bought the rights to the new Christian Petzold off of Metrograph. So it seems very easy to assume Sideshow has been spread to the wind.

[Zot!]

I figured they'd get/had The Lovers on the Bridge when they picked up Boy Meets Girl and Mauvais Sang.

Any mention of what happened to Pola X? Seems like the black sheep of his filmography, but I liked it a lot more than what followed.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I never quite understood Sideshow and what made it different than Janus. It had a terrible logo and has none of the history Janus Films has as a brand of quality, curated cinema. It makes more sense to just keep it Janus, but what do I know?

[dwk]

I always assumed that Sideshow was just a way to take the risk of buying a lot of newer films without risking the financial stability of Janus.

As to Pola X, I haven't a clue. Has it gotten a new restoration?

[Matt]

I think it was always a pooling of resources with a simple division of labor: Sideshow handled first-run theatrical distribution of newly acquired contemporary films, Janus handled non-theatrical (colleges, museums, festivals, retrospectives, etc.), physical media, and streaming.

I don't see why it would cease to exist just because key people have moved on. As long as you've got someone with good taste and a good budget going to festivals, all of the infrastructure is still in place. They're still announcing acquisitions—Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud just a few days ago. And they have plenty of other films yet to come this year: Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie), Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke), Peter Hujar’s Day (Ira Sachs), and Resurrection (Bi Gan), plus Cronenberg's The Shrouds, which is still in its theatrical run.

[beamish14]

I always assumed that Sideshow was just a way to take the risk of buying a lot of newer films without risking the financial stability of Janus.

As to Pola X, I haven't a clue. Has it gotten a new restoration?

No, POLA X hasn’t. It’s amazing how even the DVD has been OOP for years. Only a few prints were struck. It had such a tiny release in North America

[im_online]

This Indiewire interview with Carax from December states that his first four films including Pola X are being restored by Caroline Champetier and will be re-released in France...at some point.

Caroline restored it, so I guess in France, at least, it’s going to come out again. Maybe here. I don’t know.

[dwk]

Kurosawa's Serpent's Path (1998) has a 4K restoration and will be distributed by Janus

[Zot!]

This Indiewire interview with Carax from December states that his first four films including Pola X are being restored by Caroline Champetier and will be re-released in France...at some point.

Caroline restored it, so I guess in France, at least, it’s going to come out again. Maybe here. I don’t know.

Thanks for the scoop. I saw Pola X at Cannes, so I have a bit of a soft spot for it, but can understand why it was not fully appreciated. However, it looked and sounded AMAZING at the Palais, and would love to relive that experience just a little, and the DVD is not cutting it. Would also love to see the lesser Beineix films again, especially Moon in the Gutter. Not sure what abyss those fell into....I own the "BD" of MITG, which looks like a VHS EP bootleg.

[bainbridgezu]

Would also love to see the lesser Beineix films again, especially Moon in the Gutter. Not sure what abyss those fell into....I own the "BD" of MITG, which looks like a VHS EP bootleg.

I'll second that. Back in the day, I always imagined Criterion might release the non-Betty and Diva films in a nice box. I sadly don't see that happening now, but perhaps an individual release of Diva somewhere down the line.

[dwk]

Kino still has Diva, and i think there was word/rumor that StudioCanal is doing a UHD of it, so I imagine that a US one from Kino will follow.

[Zot!]

Kino still has Diva, and i think there was word/rumor that StudioCanal is doing a UHD of it, so I imagine that a US one from Kino will follow.

The Kino Diva BD and the Betty Blue BDs from Crit and Second Sight are absolutely acceptable for now, and that nice because that wasn't always true. It's all the rest that are MIA except that weird OOP DVD collection from Cinema Libre in 2009.

[beamish14]

Would also love to see the lesser Beineix films again, especially Moon in the Gutter. Not sure what abyss those fell into....I own the "BD" of MITG, which looks like a VHS EP bootleg.

I'll second that. Back in the day, I always imagined Criterion might release the non-Betty and Diva films in a nice box. I sadly don't see that happening now, but perhaps an individual release of Diva somewhere down the line.

I really wish Mortal Transfer and Roselynne and the Lions had gotten real releases in North America. The latter got a dubbed release in the UK.

Moon in the Gutter was Columbia in the 80’s, I think. It’s jumped owners a bit. I’d love a 4K, but maybe Depardieu makes it less of a priority

[Lowry_Sam]

Two other directors from that era whose early work has fallen off the radar & I would love to see picked up by Janus are Paul Verhoeven (pre Robocop) & Peter Jackson (pre- Frighteners). I'd love to get UHDs of The Fourth Man, Heavenly Creatures, & Dead Alive, but I imagine their current projects preclude them from doing anything to revisit their early years.

[beamish14]

Two other directors from that era whose early work has fallen off the radar & I would love to see picked up by Janus are Paul Verhoeven (pre Robocop) & Peter Jackson (pre- Frighteners). I'd love to get UHDs of The Fourth Man, Heavenly Creatures, & Dead Alive, but I imagine their current projects preclude them from doing anything to revisit their early years.

Verhoeven’s pre-1985 films (minus SPETTERS) are held by the same producer, who will not license them

[dwk]

And all of Jackson's early films are back with his company and he keeps threatening to do new 4K restorations.

[Zot!]

I'd seen all those Dutch Verhoeven features back in day, and didn't realize they were now hard to find. Honestly he didn't fully realize his potential until his foray into Hollywood (and I'm not even a Showgirls apologist), so I don't really miss them too much. On the other hand I far prefer Jackson's gonzo stuff to all his magical NZ tourism board adverts. Still both directors deserve their work to be made available.

[Peacock]

Two other directors from that era whose early work has fallen off the radar & I would love to see picked up by Janus are Paul Verhoeven (pre Robocop) & Peter Jackson (pre- Frighteners). I'd love to get UHDs of The Fourth Man, Heavenly Creatures, & Dead Alive, but I imagine their current projects preclude them from doing anything to revisit their early years.

Verhoeven’s pre-1985 films (minus SPETTERS) are held by the same producer, who will not license them

Rob Houwer? I didn’t realise it was that simple. Why wouldn’t he want to licence them? Do you mean he can’t licence his films because he is demanding an unreasonable amount of money?

[beamish14]

I'd seen all those Dutch Verhoeven features back in day, and didn't realize they were now hard to find. Honestly he didn't fully realize his potential until his foray into Hollywood (and I'm not even a Showgirls apologist), so I don't really miss them too much. On the other hand I far prefer Jackson's gonzo stuff to all his magical NZ tourism board adverts. Still both directors deserve their work to be made available.

Verhoeven’s commentaries on the Anchor Bay discs are fantastic. They’re all wonderful films, save for Business is Business

[dwk]

Kino still has Diva, and i think there was word/rumor that StudioCanal is doing a UHD of it, so I imagine that a US one from Kino will follow.

And the Kino Insider confirmed that they will be releasing Diva on UHD and re-releasing a new Blu-ray using the new 4K master.