Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 5

[bainbridgezu]

If United Artists/MGM licensed all of these films for the same amount of time, they may be trickling out in the coming years: Persona was released in 1966, Hour of the Wolf and Shame in '68, and The Passion of Anna in '69; Sepent's Egg ('77) would be a ways off

[vygnyr]

Two René Clair titles, Le Million and À nous la liberté, are currently only $10.49 and $11.99 at Amazon.com. Do you guys think those two are getting an Blu-ray update?

[domino harvey]

Highly, highly doubt it. Pick 'em up!

[jindianajonz]

damn! I just bought A Nous la Liberte in the flash sale! Why couldn't Under the Roofs of Paris be on sale instead? I meant to grab that but it somehow fell out of my cart...

[vygnyr]

Bought both Clair titles. Any thoughts about Criterion releasing I Am Curious... set on Blu-ray? Because Amazon has the set for $19.11.

[phantomforce]

I just finished watching the making of Insignificance and I noticed that Bad Timing clips show up in the feature as 1080p (looks quite good to me!). I wonder if this is something that is ready for a blu ray revamp or if they're just holding onto it til they see more interest. I'd love to get a blu of this as its one of my favorites of Roeg's next to Whore.

[ianungstad]

This is probably very unlikely but Bill Hunt (Digital Bits column) posted that Twin Peaks will be released on blu in the near future and will include Fire Walk with Me. You would think that it would be Warner Brothers releasing this but Fire Walk with Me is actually an mk2 title and New Line has been letting the rights to licensed products lapse.

http://www.mk2pro.com/film-en/twin-peak ... e/?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Warner Brothers did have this film available for digital purchase but the Amazon status has been changed to "no longer available" and while it is available on iTunes it is not credited to New Line or Warner Brothers:

http://www.amazon.com/Twin-Peaks-Fire-W ... lk+with+me" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://itunes.apple.com/au/movie/twin- ... d658205860" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is it totally impossible that Twin Peaks was acquired by Criterion from CBS and they picked up the film from mk2? They already picked up Eraserhead and the shorts from mk2.

Warner has their deal with Paramount but it does not seem to include the titles that are owned by CBS. (My Fair Lady, etc.)

[Bando]

This is probably very unlikely but Bill Hunt (Digital Bits column) posted that Twin Peaks will be released on blu in the near future and will include Fire Walk with Me. You would think that it would be Warner Brothers releasing this but Fire Walk with Me is actually an mk2 title and New Line has been letting the rights to licensed products lapse.

http://www.mk2pro.com/film-en/twin-peak ... e/?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Warner Brothers did have this film available for digital purchase but the Amazon status has been changed to "no longer available" and while it is available on iTunes it is not credited to New Line or Warner Brothers:

http://www.amazon.com/Twin-Peaks-Fire-W ... lk+with+me" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://itunes.apple.com/au/movie/twin- ... d658205860" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is it totally impossible that Twin Peaks was acquired by Criterion from CBS and they picked up the film from mk2? They already picked up Eraserhead and the shorts from mk2.

Warner has their deal with Paramount but it does not seem to include the titles that are owned by CBS. (My Fair Lady, etc.)

The Twin Peaks BD rumors have been floating around for years, and you're not the only one who wishes Criterion could get its hands on it. [-o< The latest iterations had it as a Christmas release, but now it seems bumped to early 2014. So, I guess there's a chance since the January releases haven't been announced yet? While I loved the Gold Box, my hope would be that a BD release would pull out all the stops with a packaging befitting the beauty of the show, with all the extras and essays they could possibly cram in the thing.

As for chances of other things, the rumors about the third season are snowballing, too, especially with

Spoiler

the 25th anniversary of Dale Cooper in the Black Lodge

coming up in 2016. Cast members seem to think it's happening, Lynch is supposedly working on an unnamed project, Mark Frost even got in on the fun with the joke tweet... A boy can dream, right?

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I know someone working on the Twin Peaks Blu-Ray set. It is being done by CBS and not Criterion. The reason for the delays is all because of the extras.

[musicguy]

Any chance Criterion would release the 1936 "Show Boat". Criterion did the original laserdisc which was stunning for it's time. WB was going to release this as a set along with the 1951 version (MGM) but that never materialized. This was a Universal Picture, I believe the rights changed hands when MGM bought the property. But it seems more likely Criterion would issue it at this point.

[FrauBlucher]

Has Kino ever lost any titles to Criterion? I noticed Mirror and Stalker on youtube that was posted by Mosfilm. They look like restorations to me. Could Criterion end up with these titles?
Stalker (first half)
Stalker (second half)
Mirror

[warren oates]

I thought Kino had hinted that The Mirror would be next, but then that was called into question by the new Nostalghia prints. I think Kino's been clear in the past that they don't have the Blu-ray rights to Stalker.

[bamwc2]

I thought Kino had hinted that The Mirror would be next, but then that was called into question by the new Nostalghia prints. I think Kino's been clear in the past that they don't have the Blu-ray rights to Stalker.

The rights to Stalker have been an absolute mess for some time now, so much so that when Criterion acquired Solaris, they thought that Stalker came with it, only to find out that some loophole kept them from releasing it. At least that was the story that was all over the internet about a decade ago.

[rwiggum]

I thought Kino had hinted that The Mirror would be next, but then that was called into question by the new Nostalghia prints. I think Kino's been clear in the past that they don't have the Blu-ray rights to Stalker.

The rights to Stalker have been an absolute mess for some time now, so much so that when Criterion acquired Solaris, they thought that Stalker came with it, only to find out that some loophole kept them from releasing it. At least that was the story that was all over the internet about a decade ago.

Really? Does someone know what the story is with that? It sounds interesting.

[Roger Ryan]

...I noticed Mirror and Stalker on youtube that was posted by Mosfilm. They look like restorations to me...

The YouTube video of MIRROR looks like the same restored version released by Artificial Eye a couple of years back (note the pinkish sky near the beginning) and, while the stream can be played at 1080p, the image could simply be upscaled from SD. The video for STALKER, however, looks identical to the Kino edition; this one doesn't look like a new restoration at all to me.

[bamwc2]

Really? Does someone know what the story is with that? It sounds interesting.

If memory serves, that was mentioned by Jon Mulvaney some time after Solaris was revealed to be in production. A forum member inquired something along the line of "Why not Stalker too?" and he said that when they signed the contract, that they thought that they were getting both films, but as it turned out they only had something like a limited window theatrical distribution rights to the latter. I'm not making this up, am I guys? Can one of my fellow old timers back me up here?

[Matt]

None of that sounds familiar to me, and I can't remember Mulvaney ever being quite so forthcoming about rights issues. I am highly unreliable, though, and that would have been 11 or so years ago.

[lefeufollet]

As I recall, it was a brief window in the summer of 2001 where it looked like CC would distribute Stalker. I'll dig around to see if I still have the actual JM quote.

[FrauBlucher]

...I noticed Mirror and Stalker on youtube that was posted by Mosfilm. They look like restorations to me...

The YouTube video of MIRROR looks like the same restored version released by Artificial Eye a couple of years back (note the pinkish sky near the beginning) and, while the stream can be played at 1080p, the image could simply be upscaled from SD. The video for STALKER, however, looks identical to the Kino edition; this one doesn't look like a new restoration at all to me.

These YouTube Mosfilm uploads are more recent than either DVD you mentioned. I have recently seen the Kino DVDs of these two films and the uploads look much better in so many ways. The most recent releases for these films were 2006. Why would MosFilm use those transfers to recently post on YouTube?

[jindianajonz]

As I recall, it was a brief window in the summer of 2001 where it looked like CC would distribute Stalker. I'll dig around to see if I still have the actual JM quote.

Post #'s 15 and 18 here back this story up. They are both from September 2001.

[FrauBlucher]

As I recall, it was a brief window in the summer of 2001 where it looked like CC would distribute Stalker. I'll dig around to see if I still have the actual JM quote.

Post #'s 15 and 18 here back this story up. They are both from September 2001.

Unfortunately it doesn't state why or if they were even interested in Stalker. Perhaps next year light will be shed on when and who for these 2 films.

[swo17]

How could Criterion being interested in Stalker ever be in question?

[Matt]

As I recall, it was a brief window in the summer of 2001 where it looked like CC would distribute Stalker. I'll dig around to see if I still have the actual JM quote.

Post #'s 15 and 18 here back this story up. They are both from September 2001.

They back up the fact that Criterion didn't have the rights, but not that they didn't have rights but thought they did.

[jindianajonz]

As I recall, it was a brief window in the summer of 2001 where it looked like CC would distribute Stalker. I'll dig around to see if I still have the actual JM quote.

Post #'s 15 and 18 here back this story up. They are both from September 2001.

They back up the fact that Criterion didn't have the rights, but not that they didn't have rights but thought they did.

Post number 9, from July, says that Mulvaney confirmed Stalker. This and the fact that the posts I originally referenced went out of their way to emphasize DVD distribution rights certainly seem to lend support to bamwc2's story.

EDIT: Unless you were implying that Criterion knew they only had theatrical rights all along, and that post #9 is just the audience misunderstanding what Mulvaney was saying, which I guess could be the case.

[Roger Ryan]

...I noticed Mirror and Stalker on youtube that was posted by Mosfilm. They look like restorations to me...

The YouTube video of MIRROR looks like the same restored version released by Artificial Eye a couple of years back (note the pinkish sky near the beginning) and, while the stream can be played at 1080p, the image could simply be upscaled from SD. The video for STALKER, however, looks identical to the Kino edition; this one doesn't look like a new restoration at all to me.

These YouTube Mosfilm uploads are more recent than either DVD you mentioned. I have recently seen the Kino DVDs of these two films and the uploads look much better in so many ways. The most recent releases for these films were 2006. Why would MosFilm use those transfers to recently post on YouTube?

Sorry if I wasn't clear: the MIRROR upload does indeed look quite a bit better than the Kino DVD (I'm thinking it may be from the same restored source as the Artificial Eye 2011 DVD release). As for STALKER, I'm not seeing a huge difference from the Kino DVD, although there may be less compression issues which could indicate a better encode but not necessarily a newly restored source.