RIALTO PICTURES ACQUIRES U.S. THEATRICAL RIGHTS TO VAST STUDIOCANAL LIBRARY
RIALTO WILL DISTRIBUTE INTERNATIONAL CLASSICS FROM
THE 2,000+ FILM CATALOGUE OF MEDIA GIANT STUDIOCANAL
RIALTO PICTURES, the New York-based pioneer in classic film re-releases,
celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, has signed a 3 year agreement with
STUDIOCANAL to handle the U.S. theatrical distribution of over 2,000
international classics owned by the French media giant.
The STUDIOCANAL film library, one of the largest in the world, includes classic
films by Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Renoir, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville,
Claude Chabrol, Abel Gance, Vittorio De Sica, Alain Resnais, Mike Nichols,
Jacques Tati, Akira Kurosawa, Bertrand Tavernier, Orson Welles, and many
others. The company’s diverse catalogue includes everything from Hitchcock’s
early sound masterpiece Blackmail to Sam Raimi’s cult classic Evil Dead II.
Says Olivier Courson, Chairman of STUDIOCANAL, “Rialto has already been our
partner for the past fifteen years, brilliantly marketing re-releases of many of the
jewels in our library: Renoir’s Grand Illusion, Carol Reed’s The Third Man,
Godard’s Contempt, Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad, Kurosawa’s Ran, and
many others. Their phenomenal release of Melville’s Army of Shadows in 2006
gave it a new life worldwide. No one knows this very specialized marketplace
better, so we think it makes perfect sense that Rialto should represent our library
in the U.S.”
Says Bruce Goldstein, Rialto’s founder and co-president, “Taking on the
STUDIOCANAL library is not only a great opportunity, but also a great
responsibility. In effect, we’ll be the curators and guardians of some of the
world’s great film classics. One of our goals is to make it easier for American
programmers and curators to access films from the library. And we plan to
promote touring packages of films selected from this library.”
Rialto has already begun releasing some STUDIOCANAL titles under the new
deal, including a reissue of Paul Verhoeven’s original Total Recall, starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger, which opened at New York’s Film Forum a week after
the national release of the new remake. Rialto is also releasing Claude Sautet’s
Max et les Ferrailleurs, starring Michel Piccoli and Romy Schneider.
This fall, Rialto will release STUDIOCANAL’s new restoration of Marcel Carne’s
Port of Shadows. In 2013, Rialto, in association with the BFI and Park Circus
Films, will distribute “The Hitchcock Nine” – nine Alfred Hitchcock silent films
recently restored by the BFI. (Rialto now has theatrical rights to five of them from
the STUDIOCANAL library, Park Circus the other four under license from
Granada.)
The STUDIOCANAL library includes some of the top titles from the former
Carolco and DEG (Dino de Laurentiis) libraries, including Terminator 2, Total
Recall, Basic Instinct, and Rambo, and classics like Crimes of the Heart, Escape
From New York, Lion in Winter, The Graduate, and This is Spinal Tap. The
company also owns hundreds of British films from the Anglo Amalgamated and
Ealing libraries (including classics like Alexander Mackendrick’s The Man in the
White Suit, starring Alec Guinness, which Rialto will re-release this winter with a
new STUDIOCANAL restoration) and countless French masterpieces including
Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion and Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the
Bourgeoisie.
ABOUT RIALTO PICTURES
Described as “the gold standard of reissue distributors” by L.A. Times film critic
Kenneth Turan, Rialto Pictures was founded in 1997 by Bruce Goldstein. A year
later, Adrienne Halpern joined him as partner. In 2002, Eric Di Bernardo became
the company’s National Sales Director.
Rialto’s past releases have included Renoir’s Grand Illusion; Carol Reed’s The
Third Man; Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria; Jules Dassin’s Rififi; De Sica’s Umberto D;
Godard’s Breathless, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Masculine Feminine, A
Woman is a Woman, and Made in USA; Julien Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko; Luis
Buñuel’s Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Diary of a Chambermaid, The
Phantom of Liberty, The Milky Way and That Obscure Object of Desire; John
Schlesinger’s Billy Liar; Clouzot’s Quai des Orfèvres; Mel Brooks’ The Producers;
Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar, Mouchette and Diary of a Country Priest;
Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le Flambeur, Le Cercle Rouge, Léon Morin, Priest, Le
Doulos, and Army of Shadows; Max Ophuls’ Lola Montès; Claude Berri’s The
Two of Us; Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers; Alberto Lattuada’s Mafioso;
and the previously unreleased, original 1954 Japanese version of Godzilla.
In 2006, Rialto released Melville’s 1969 masterpiece Army of Shadows for the
very first time in the U.S. Army of Shadows became the most critically acclaimed
film of the year, topping many Ten Best lists, including The New York Times, and
was named Best Foreign Film of 2006 by the New York Film Critics’ Circle.
Rialto’s 2012 releases include the U.S. premiere of Claude Sautet’s Max et Les
Ferrailleurs, starring Romy Schneider and Michel Piccoli; new reissues of Mike
Nichols’ The Graduate and Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers; the 75th
anniversary restoration of Renoir’s Grand Illusion; and STUDIOCANAL’s new
restoration of Marcel Carné’s 1938 Port of Shadows, starring Jean Gabin and
Michèle Morgan. In a change of pace, Rialto is currently re-releasing Paul
Verhoeven’s original 1990 Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In 1999, Rialto received a special “Heritage Award” from the National Society of
Film Critics, and in 2000 received a special award from the New York Film Critics
Circle, presented to Goldstein and Halpern by Jeanne Moreau. For its 10th
anniversary in 2007, Rialto was honored with a retrospective at the Museum of
Modern Art in New York. The company’s 15tth anniversary was recently marked
by The Film Society of Lincoln Center with a series entitled “15 For 15:
Celebrating Rialto Pictures”.
ABOUT STUDIOCANAL
STUDIOCANAL is a subsidiary of the CANAL+ Group. It is one of Europe’s
leading companies in the market for co-production, acquisition, distribution and
sale of international feature films. STUDIOCANAL is the only studio operating
simultaneously in the three main European territories: France, the United
Kingdom, Germany, and in Australia and New Zealand. The company distributes
a total of more than 50 films a year. Additionally, STUDIOCANAL owns one of
the most important libraries in the world, with more than 5,000 international titles.
STUDIOCANAL’s production ambitions have recently included TINKER, TAILOR,
SOLDIER, SPY, based on John le Carré’s bestseller, directed by Tomas
Alfredson, starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy and produced by
Working Title. The film was number one at the UK box-office for 3 weeks and
grossed over $85 million worldwide.
This year STUDIOCANAL will finance the Coens’ INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, with
Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and John Goodman; Susanne
Bier’s SERENA, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence; and Dan
Mazer’s hotly anticipated comedy I GIVE IT A YEAR with Rose Byrne and Simon
Baker as well as James Griffith's feature film directorial debut CUBAN FURY
currently in production. At the beginning of next year, PADDINGTON, produced
by Harry Potter’s producer, David Heyman will start shooting; PADDINGTON is
based on the famous, and hugely popular, bear in the duffle coat loved by
families worldwide.
STUDIOCANAL also has an exclusive deal with Belgian company nWave, a
European leader in 3D production. In 2012, STUDIOCANAL will release the
sequel to SAMMY’s adventures. SAMMY’s first film, released in 2010, grossed
$85 million worldwide. A documentary, AFRICAN SAFARI 3D will also follow.
Finally, in January 2012, STUDIOCANAL became a major shareholder in
Tandem Communications, one of the leading European companies for
international primetime Event TV productions and worldwide distribution of
quality television programs (PILLARS OF THE EARTH, LABYRINTH, WORLD
WITHOUT END…).
Following are some highlights of the STUDIOCANAL library now being
represented by Rialto Pictures in the United States:
Accident (dir. Joseph Losey, 1967)
A.K. - Akira Kurosawa (dir. Chris Marker, 1985)
Alphaville (dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
Basic Instinct (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1992)
Big Deal on Madonna Street (dir. Mario Monicelli, 1958)
Bitter Rice (dir. Giuseppe De Santis, 1949)
Blackmail (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1929)
Blood of a Poet (dir. Jean Cocteau, 1932)
Britannia Hospital (dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1982)
Carnal Knowledge (dir. Mike Nichols, 1971)
The Clockmaker of St. Paul (dir. Bertrand Tavernier, 1974)
Le Corbeau (dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1943)
Coup de Torchon (dir. Bertrand Tavernier, 1981)
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (dir. Jean Renoir, 1936)
Darling (dir. John Schlesinger, 1965)
The Doors (dir. Oliver Stone, 1991)
Escape from New York (dir. John Carpenter, 1981)
Evil Dead 2 (dir. Sam Raimi, 1987)
First Blood (first Rambo) (dir. Ted Kotcheff, 1982)
Forbidden Games (dir. René Clément, 1952)
I’m All Right Jack (dir. John Boulting, 1959)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (dir. Robert Hamer, 1949)
Le Jour Se Lève (dir. Marcel Carné, 1939)
The Ladykillers (dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1955)
The Lion in Winter (dir. Anthony Harvey, 1968)
The Man in the White Suit (dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1951)
Mr. Klein (dir. Joseph Losey, 1976)
Nicholas Nickleby (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti, 1947)
Pierrot le fou (dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
Rambo: First Blood Part 2 (dir. George P. Cosmatos, 1985)
Serie Noire (dir. Alain Corneau, 1979)
The Servant (dir. Joseph Losey, 1963)
The Small Back Room (dirs. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1949)
The Sound Barrier (dir. David Lean, 1952)
Stavisky (dir. Alain Resnais, 1974)
Swamp Thing (dir. Wes Craven, 1982)
Terminator 2 (dir. James Cameron, 1991)
This is Spinal Tap (dir. Rob Reiner, 1984)
Total Recall (dir. Paul Verhoeven, 1990)
The Trial (dir. Orson Welles, 1962)
Le Trou (dir. Jacques Becker, 1960)
Winter Kills (dir. William Richert, 1979)
Zulu (dir. Cy Endfield, 1964)
