Quarantined Monthly Guessing Thread

[Lowry_Sam]

Only one director set per year? I was hoping for a volume 2 of a complete Kurosawa set (1950-1965), his mid career covering the new restorations. Kubrick is already well represented on UHD by the individual releases...hopefully they do a lot on the supplemental materials for added value to make replacing the individual titles really worthwhile. I guess I was also expecting a Lynch box before a Kubrick box.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Only one director set per year? I was hoping for a volume 2 of a complete Kurosawa set (1950-1965), his mid career covering the new restorations. Kubrick is already well represented on UHD by the individual releases...hopefully they do a lot on the supplemental materials for added value to make replacing the individual titles really worthwhile. I guess I was also expecting a Lynch box before a Kubrick box.

Yeah I always thought Lynch was the logical next step in UHD sets after Wes. Seeing as they were always their two biggest contemporary players (excluding Del Toro) I guess.

[andyli]

What's wrong with getting individual titles out one at a time? It's not like Kubrick/Lynch were alive to give a comprehensive set seal of approval or something.

Also. Wes Anderson has zero 4K release before his set.

[dwk]

It is possible that the Kubrick films are being boxed up because that the only way they could get The Shining, 2001 and Full Metal Jacket from WB.

[Calvin]

Days and Nights in the Forest
Empire of the Sun UHD
Wild at Heart UHD
Modern Times UHD upgrade
Badlands UHD upgrade
À nos amours upgrade


I'm still surprised that they haven't done a comprehensive Ozu box but, since the ship has sailed on the anniversary celebration, I suspect it is never going to happen.

[DeprongMori]

• O Lucky Man!
• American Dream
• The Secret of Roan Inish
• Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
• Spirit of the Beehive 4K UHD
• Robert Bresson Complete Collection

[nicolas]

- Stanley Kubrick in Black & White 4K Box Set: Killer’s Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Lolita and Dr. Strangelove

I guess this should go in the random speculation thread, but I did hear from a personal source that Criterion is working on a complete Kubrick UHD set as their big director set this year. No guarantee it’s true.

That would be great news but with Kino having the rights to Fear and Desire and all of his early short films in addition to Criterion having just put out EWS separately, I remain a little skeptical about a complete collection emerging anytime soon.

[yoloswegmaster]

- Stanley Kubrick in Black & White 4K Box Set: Killer’s Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Lolita and Dr. Strangelove

I guess this should go in the random speculation thread, but I did hear from a personal source that Criterion is working on a complete Kubrick UHD set as their big director set this year. No guarantee it’s true.

From a few months back:

[TechnicolorAcid]

- Stanley Kubrick in Black & White 4K Box Set: Killer’s Kiss, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Lolita and Dr. Strangelove

I guess this should go in the random speculation thread, but I did hear from a personal source that Criterion is working on a complete Kubrick UHD set as their big director set this year. No guarantee it’s true.

That would be great news but with Kino having the rights to Fear and Desire and all of his early short films in addition to Criterion having just put out EWS separately, I remain a little skeptical about a complete collection emerging anytime soon.

Aren’t all of those in the public domain? If they are then there certainly wouldn’t be a problem with licensing and given the state of Kino’s release, I’d be very grateful to see Criterion release them.

[Matt]

That would be great news but with Kino having the rights to Fear and Desire and all of his early short films in addition to Criterion having just put out EWS separately, I remain a little skeptical about a complete collection emerging anytime soon.

If a Criterion Kubrick set were coming, it would almost certainly be approved by his estate. So they'd probably leave F&D and the short films off since Kubrick did not want those distributed, going so far as to try to burn the negative of F&D.

And Criterion absolutely LOVES to release a single film by a director and then announce a complete box set once it's out. They did this with Bergman and Varda.

[Lowry_Sam]

And Criterion absolutely LOVES to release a single film by a director and then announce a complete box set once it's out. They did this with Bergman and Varda.

Not to mention Demy, Tati, Pasolini & Kurosawa (dvd). That's why I'm hoping that the absence of individual Bresson & Antonioni UHD's means they might be rethinking things & hopefully we'll get boxes before the individual releases at least for those 2 directors.

[denti alligator]

People seem to assume we're getting a box set a year. How long has this been the case? Ozu seems no longer to be happening. Antonioni and Bresson would be marvelous. Kurosawa seems obvious choice.

[DRW.mov]

People seem to assume we're getting a box set a year. How long has this been the case? Ozu seems no longer to be happening. Antonioni and Bresson would be marvelous. Kurosawa seems obvious choice.

Hasn't there been a consistent annual box since 2017 with Bergman? Bergman, Olympics, Fellini, Varda, WKW, Pasolini, the CC40 box, and then Wes? Am I missing one?

I assume they're waiting on the rest of the Kurosawa library to be restored so they can release a complete set on 4K, it only seems like a handful have received 4K restorations, might take a while for all of the early ones to get the same treatment.

[Lowry_Sam]

2019 was the Showa era Godzilla box. The Pasolini 101 seemed to indicate they might consider breaking down more extensive catalogs into natural periods (ie. b&w and color), which is why I thought we might get a Kurosawa mid-career box as that is what has been restored. Directors with fewer titles are easier to do comprehensive boxes (Demy & Tati), though we haven't had any of those or any trilogy/thematic boxes for a while (and we had been getting a few per year in addition to the year's holiday season big box).

[domino harvey]

I think we’ll get a Chaplin box soon, and most of the work would be done already

[denti alligator]

That would be great, though this would be the one case where I have all the existing releases. What films are still missing? King in New York and the new resto of Gold Rush? Not sure I’d be willing to buy it just for those—unless of course everything were UHD.

[yoloswegmaster]

There is also a new restoration of The Great Dictator that Criterion did back in 2020 but has never been released.

[Lowry_Sam]

I think with a Chaplin box people would be more inclined to upgrade everything at once rather than a slow trickle of individual UHD upgrades and then a box since so much has been released already. Of course if Criterion were able to make the box set include both original and re-release versions (in addition to new bonus material) that would make it an even easier sell.

[Finch]

I'd be in for a Chaplin 4K set if they give the same care to the originals. Otherwise it's a hard pass because I cannot stand the re-releases.

[onedimension]

What would be the easiest director sets given rights, restorations, and quantity of films? A complete Robert Bresson box seems fairly attainable, so does a complete Antonioni.. Mike Leigh? Jane Campion?

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

What would be the easiest director sets given rights, restorations, and quantity of films? A complete Robert Bresson box seems fairly attainable, so does a complete Antonioni.. Mike Leigh? Jane Campion?

I would assume Juzo Itami, Bimal Roy, and Ozu.

[beamish14]

What would be the easiest director sets given rights, restorations, and quantity of films? A complete Robert Bresson box seems fairly attainable, so does a complete Antonioni.. Mike Leigh? Jane Campion?

Fassbinder, but that would possibly necessitate 2 or 3 volumes

Maybe Wim Wenders

[MichaelB]

What would be the easiest director sets given rights, restorations, and quantity of films? A complete Robert Bresson box seems fairly attainable, so does a complete Antonioni.. Mike Leigh? Jane Campion?

You’d probably have to exclude Leigh’s BBC-owned television work, which would leave a gaping hole: as far as most of my compatriots are concerned, Leigh is the man who made Abigail’s Party and Nuts in May. And of course it was in television that Leigh really refined and perfected his approach across a pretty big chunk of his career (1971-88).

That said, the BBC iPlayer currently has a gorgeous 4K UHD restoration of Nuts in May, which may or may not be a harbinger of something.

(Although a 4K of Abigail’s Party would be pointless; it was entirely shot on standard definition PAL videotape.)

[Lowry_Sam]

Powell & Pressburger, Lean & Hitchcock (Silents &/or pre- Hollywood) would probably figure highly, Loach is probably in the same boat as Leigh (regarding BBC material).

While many contemporary Asian directors have been getting picked up by more labels of late, Ann Hui's back catalog remains largely unreleased in the US besides Criterion's Boat People & Radiance's Visible Secret (and A Simple Life). I think we'd probably get just more individual Yang releases than a box at this point. Ang Lee probably has too many rights issues for a comprehensive box (an early career box would be nice though).

Altman would seem like an obvious candidate with the recent restorations/retrospectives, but that's probably a rights fiasco to pull off (as well as the decision of whether to include less-loved titles in such a retrospective).

Kore-eda would be my at the top of my contemporary Japanese director wishlist, but it seems like the rights to his works are now spread out all over the place, so a comprehensive box is more unlikely in any region. Itami seems like a more likely candidate given his greater exposure on the channel.


Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse, & Kurosawa all probably have too much that still needs restoring for complete career boxes any time soon.

Fassbinder seems like a shoe-in if the Foundation is all in, but probably would require lots more work for UHD.
Pasolini vol. 2, Godard in the 60s, the same. With the competition from Radiance, Visconti & Bunuel no longer seem like such strong candidates anymore.

[MichaelB]

Altman would be pretty much impossible. The rights issues with California Split are well documented and presumably irresolvable without the intervention of a generous millionaire, and there are also lots of titles vaulted at Disney, including major ones.