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Unfortunately I don't think any of those sound plausible, especially since most already have bonus features or a director-approved release that would render a Criterion a waste of time

Of course, whenever one of these Criterion/studio deals hits the rumor mill, and a bunch of people post on the internet forums saying, "Ooh, I hope they reissue Title X that already has a perfectly good DVD edition from Studio Y" [I'm paraphrasing], I guess it reinforces Criterion's wisdom in doing exactly that. Dull as the results may turn out to be.

Yeah, I don't think many in that list are likely. Badlands, which I believe WB even said they had no desire to upgrade (even in a keepcase), would certainly be snapped up before The New World.

Since were talking New Line as a part of the Warner Bros. deal, I bet we get Crash, Damage, Menace II Society and a couple of other New Line titles that have been talked about for years.

THX1378 wrote:Since were talking New Line as a part of the Warner Bros. deal, I bet we get Crash, Damage, Menace II Society and a couple of other New Line titles that have been talked about for years.

Yeah. I didn't think about that. Those seem very plausible, as they had Criterion laserdisc releases. Perhaps this also means that those New Line titles that Criterion released a few years ago will be staying in print after all.

domino harvey wrote:Oh right, they think his career stopped in the sixties

Yeah, what's the deal? When are we going to see that double disc of King Lear, JLG/JLG or Numero Deux? Or, if we really want to get tunnel vision from our pipe dreaming, when are they gonna release that 9 disc France/tour/détour/deux/enfants box set?

I find that Criterion is often guilty of cropping key director's oeuvres by focusing (mostly arbitrarily) only on one specific period. Godard, Antonioni, Bresson, all of these directors have had their careers pictureboxed. When I see Hail Mary, The Mystery of Oberwald, and Le Diable Probablement in the Collection, I'll be happy. Until then, I'm afraid that Criterion, one of the bastions of film study in America, is not doing well by some of its pillars.

domino harvey wrote:Unfortunately I don't think any of those sound plausible, especially since most already have bonus features or a director-approved release that would render a Criterion a waste of time

Are you throwing Sid and Nancy in that two, because I'd think that they'd kill to pick up some of their OOPs that haven't had good releases after the Salo explosion last year.

THX1378 wrote:Since were talking New Line as a part of the Warner Bros. deal, I bet we get Crash, Damage, Menace II Society and a couple of other New Line titles that have been talked about for years.

I had completely forgot that Crash is a New Line title. But, yeah, I think those are immediate options since they already have some extras available.

Highway 61 wrote:Yeah, I don't think many in that list are likely. Badlands, which I believe WB even said they had no desire to upgrade (even in a keepcase), would certainly be snapped up before The New World.

Badlands is another title that could be available for Criterion. I think, if we are going to create a list from speculation, we'll have to look back at the Warner chats and titles in which WB have said that they don't seem to be working on, or currently in their schedule for upgrade.

Another thing that I been thinking of is the flip side of the coin. Are we going to start seeing Criterion laserdics extras in WB releases? For example, are we going to see the extras from the Wizard of Oz criterion laserdisc in the upcoming re-release?

Perkins Cobb wrote:I heard about six months ago that Warners had put out feelers to license some classic TV shows to indie labels specializing in that type of release. I was skeptical, but it does seem like there's more evidence that the WB vault door may have been opened a crack.

The obvious title that has no one has mentioned yet from the Warner catalog is Greed....

I have my doubts that, even granted the rights by WB for Greed, CC would even step up and put the thing out in the lavish edition it deserves/requires, and all the attendant funds this would require. With the insidious effect of the economy on the release of fringe titles-- and the increasingly visible (I have no doubt) effect of file sharing sites on the sales of silents-- I fear that the release calander for silents is going to stiffen up quite a bit. Here's hoping that the companies with balls enough to get this stuff out-- MoC, BFI, Kino, Milestone, Ed. Filmmuseum, Arte-- can keep apace.

THX1378 wrote:Since were talking New Line as a part of the Warner Bros. deal, I bet we get Crash[...]

With Criterion's Cronenberg output this seems very likely, and a new release of Badlands would be amazing since the current R1 is badly in need of a tune-up, here's hoping. [-o<

Oh God, give me Badlands.

Looking on IMDB, I would have listed The Player also, but it looks like the New Line dvd has the same extras as the Criterion laserdisc, which I wasn't sure about. I know it's a pipe dream, but I'd give just about anything for Criterion to have the reins and do a special edition of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me with all the deleted footage, and whatever other extras they could come up with. I just have a feeling that if Lynch does another box set that the footage ends up there.

dx23 wrote:New Line titles I could see Criterion releasing:
[...] Punch Drunk Love

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE is owned by Sony.

Dare I hope for Claude Lelouch's Les Miserables (1995)? As far as I know Warner owns the US rights and a DVD edition has been long overdue.

Caligula wrote:Dare I hope for Claude Lelouch's Les Miserables (1995)? As far as I know Warner owns the US rights and a DVD edition has been long overdue.

That would be great. What a wonderful movie.

I can see True Stories being a candidate for Criterion to pick up. They're already had contact with Byrne for The Last Emperor extras.

Jeff wrote:I'll bet a bazillion dollars right now that any deal with Warner involves Rick Linklater's Before Sunrise/Before Sunset. He's been saying for years that it was something he would be doing with Criterion.

Pretty good guess! I actually sent an email to Linklater's production company through their website. I didn't expect to get a reply...but they sent one today!

While Before Sunrise and Before Sunset will not be coming to the collection...another Warner Linklater will be! So, here's the confirmation of the first Warner title:

Hi Ian,
There aren't any current plans for Before Sunset and Before Sunrise to be released on Criterion, but there is a Criterion SubUrbia disc in the works.

Thanks,
Kirsten

With this and the confirmation of Make Way for Tomorrow, I seem to be on a roll today

Wasn't that rumored like YEARS ago?

I love it when old speculation comes to fruition.

Is there any likelihood that The Magnificent Ambersons might be one of the titles in this WB deal? Criterion did release it on laserdisc which could be a point in its favor. Were the LD extras especially good or plentiful? Sad to say, I've never seen it.

Arthur Bannister wrote:Is there any likelihood that The Magnificent Ambersons might be one of the titles in this WB deal? Criterion did release it on laserdisc which could be a point in its favor. Were the LD extras especially good or plentiful? Sad to say, I've never seen it.

The LD extras were fantastic, among the best of the laserdisc era, but I think Ambersons is one title you can definitely count on Warner keeping for themselves. Perhaps they will borrow Criterion's extras as part of this whole deal, but there's no way the film will come out under any label but Warner's own.

kaujot wrote:I can see True Stories being a candidate for Criterion to pick up. They're already had contact with Byrne for The Last Emperor extras.

I would LOVE to see that happen, and it does seem like a title that WB doesn't care about too much.

Does this mean "Twice Upon a Time" is possible, too? Perhaps George Lucas owns it now, a la "Mishima"?

Since we're talking about New Line, would it be too much to ask for "Pump Up the Volume" in its proper aspect ratio finally?

As far as I know, we have no plans for "The Devils" at this time. Thanks for your e-mail!

Best,

JM

God dammit.

Fassbinder's "Despair" should be a no-brainer, right?

beamish13 wrote:Fassbinder's "Despair" should be a no-brainer, right?

Do Warner own that one? I have wanted to see that movie for a long, long time.

beamish13 wrote:Fassbinder's "Despair" should be a no-brainer, right?

When I asked about more Fassbinder, Mulvaney replied that they had plans for Lili Marleen but didn't mention any others. However, his answer probably didn't factor in any possible titles from this acquisition. Since New Line is the distributor for Despair, I imagine it is a no-brainer CC release.