The Criterion Collection

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by jacobsever

I'm sorry, but that's just silly.
You sound just as stuck up/snobby/elite as the anti blu ray posters on the Criterion and Auteurs forums. We all know blu Ray is better, but is DVD quality honestly that horrendous that you will refuse to buy films you already enjoy?

I don't feel that way at all. I feel that if a company is going to release 4-5 titles a month only, why not do it right step up and release the films with an option for either format. I own over 300 Criterion DVDs and I love them, but I hate it when films get passed over for a blu-ray release. It usually means don't hold your breath for a Blu ray, and when it doesn't (Days of Heaven) I have already bought the DVD and will be buying the film again for BD.

besides Criterion is supposed to deliver the best possible product they can, I just feel like they are talkin steps backwards on their end.

Besides I could buy a DVD for Dillinger is Dead to watch it but the whole entire time I will be wanting to see it in HD and I can't enjoy it as much knowing they have the HD transfer and we aren't able to see it.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

I don't feel that way at all. I feel that if a company is going to release 4-5 titles a month only, why not do it right step up and release the films with an option for either format. I own over 300 Criterion DVDs and I love them, but I hate it when films get passed over for a blu-ray release. It usually means don't hold your breath for a Blu ray, and when it doesn't (Days of Heaven) I have already bought the DVD and will be buying the film again for BD.

I agree, but I understand its all an issue of money. I don't know if Summer Hours or Ride With the Devil (very minor Ang Lee and a box office disaster) will sell better than Fugitive Kind, but I guess someone at the company thinks so... I did buy the Rossellini war trilogy that came out on DVD only, but skipped over Downhill Racer in anticipation of an eventual blu release...

[substance]

Ok I recieved the follwoing reply from criterion a few minutes ago(wow 2 hr after I made a payment for replacement cases).

Thank you for your case replacement order! Please note that we are short on stock of cases and expect more to arrive within the next two weeks. Once they do, we will ship them out through First Class/Priority USPS Postal Service, so you should expect to receive the order within 4-6 weeks from now.

Please let me know if you have any more questions and thank you for supporting Criterion!

Best,

Karen
The Criterion Collection

[stlcards]

Originally Posted by substance

Ok I recieved the follwoing reply from criterion a few minutes ago(wow 2 hr after I made a payment for replacement cases).

Thank you for your case replacement order! Please note that we are short on stock of cases and expect more to arrive within the next two weeks. Once they do, we will ship them out through First Class/Priority USPS Postal Service, so you should expect to receive the order within 4-6 weeks from now.

Please let me know if you have any more questions and thank you for supporting Criterion!

Best,

Karen
The Criterion Collection

I ordered over the weekend...The Third Man only. I received the same email today.

[SpiderBaby]

VIVRE SA VIE! Sorry, I'm just happy. Criterion I will pay double if I can have it now!

[ChadFL]

Well April is going to be cheap for me. Only one I'll probably pickup is Ride With the Devil.

[whbinder]

They're here! I got the eight replacement cases today (already had Third Man).

I wanted to post this good/bad news for all. I ordered mine on December 10th and just two days ago received the "out of stock 4-6 weeks" email, and they arrived today.

Also, they're beautiful. I'll miss the uniqueness of "The Last Metro", but these are beautiful.

[stobbart]

Criterion has said that they only put movies on BD if they think it will be profitable. We here on the BD forum have a skewed sense of how many people are really buying blu-rays. From what I have read here, the criterion forum is practically anti-blu. So from a marketing stand point, The Fugitive Kind, they probably assume that the audience that it will appeal to, (older) not everyone is such cinema lovers as us, will not have blu-ray.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by stobbart

Criterion has said that they only put movies on BD if they think it will be profitable. We here on the BD forum have a skewed sense of how many people are really buying blu-rays. From what I have read here, the criterion forum is practically anti-blu. So from a marketing stand point, The Fugitive Kind, they probably assume that the audience that it will appeal to, (older) not everyone is such cinema lovers as us, will not have blu-ray.

Amazon.com Criterion best sellers. 7 of 12 top sellers right now are Blu.
http://www.amazon.com/Criterion-Coll...XTWJRBSMZ7A1XA

Try any other seller of both Blu and non-Blu Criterion movies and you'll see the same thing. The Blu-Rays are more than holding their own against non-Blu Criterion releases.

[Volume11]

Originally Posted by stobbart

Criterion has said that they only put movies on BD if they think it will be profitable. We here on the BD forum have a skewed sense of how many people are really buying blu-rays. From what I have read here, the criterion forum is practically anti-blu. So from a marketing stand point, The Fugitive Kind, they probably assume that the audience that it will appeal to, (older) not everyone is such cinema lovers as us, will not have blu-ray.

Wrong. Both Criterion and Eureka's MoC line have 50/50 splits which are well above the large studios ratio.

Don't let the crybabies at those forums sway you...and the 50/50 splits were prior to the huge Xmas push...

[whbinder]

Well, it's the "Armageddon" thing.... sort of. Everyone gave Criterion grief for "Armageddon" back in 1998. Criterion put out the quasi-logical argument that it was a film of note and film historians should acknowledge the existence of the mindless action film as a genre, but realistically it was a way to fund other great releases.

OK, we truly get that. Criterion, like many artistic endeavors rides that line. (I run a stage theatre, I also have to sometimes try to preserve the integrity as much as possible and also pay the rent)

So I can't blame Criterion for ever making a choice to prevent them from losing money, but their mission statement has always been (going back to that Laserdisc video I posted yesterday) to present these films in the best way possible. And that's Blu-ray.

At first, Criterion didn't offer their titles in anamorphic. I personally wish they would have just put out a few less titles back then and done so, but now that they can afford to, they do. I hope the same is true of Blu-ray.

[Volume11]

Originally Posted by whbinder

Well, it's the "Armageddon" thing.... sort of. Everyone gave Criterion grief for "Armageddon" back in 1998. Criterion put out the quasi-logical argument that it was a film of note and film historians should acknowledge the existence of the mindless action film as a genre, but realistically it was a way to fund other great releases.

OK, we truly get that. Criterion, like many artistic endeavors rides that line. (I run a stage theatre, I also have to sometimes try to preserve the integrity as much as possible and also pay the rent)

So I can't blame Criterion for ever making a choice to prevent them from losing money, but their mission statement has always been (going back to that Laserdisc video I posted yesterday) to present these films in the best way possible. And that's Blu-ray.

At first, Criterion didn't offer their titles in anamorphic. I personally wish they would have just put out a few less titles back then and done so, but now that they can afford to, they do. I hope the same is true of Blu-ray.

See my above post. The Blu sales for Criterion are abnormally high. And MoC have the right idea. They are releasing titles that will benefit from the upgrade ONLY in BLU and titles that have bad sources/film elements in DVD only save the rare huge title.

I think they are poised to take a bigger chunk of Criterion's pie this go around because they are embracing the format and not pandering to people who are pissed they have 400 criterion DVDs and don't want to upgrade.

The whole numbering debacle still miffs me...there is no reason Criterion couldn't have renumbered the Blu Rays OR had two numbers, one block on top and another on bottom that had both.

They honestly cater too much the DVD crowd.

That being said, I still love and support them I just wish they not waste time nd money with HD director approved transfers for a DVD release...

[fdm]

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

You can buy it on it's own, it's just not part of the collection (Spine #) is what bugs me.

Good to know. Thought maybe we had another Murderous Maids on our hands, among a few others.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Volume11

See my above post. The Blu sales for Criterion are abnormally high. And MoC have the right idea. They are releasing titles that will benefit from the upgrade ONLY in BLU and titles that have bad sources/film elements in DVD only save the rare huge title.

I think they are poised to take a bigger chunk of Criterion's pie this go around because they are embracing the format and not pandering to people who are pissed they have 400 criterion DVDs and don't want to upgrade.

The whole numbering debacle still miffs me...there is no reason Criterion couldn't have renumbered the Blu Rays OR had two numbers, one block on top and another on bottom that had both.

They honestly cater too much the DVD crowd.

That being said, I still love and support them I just wish they not waste time nd money with HD director approved transfers for a DVD release...

Why is the numbering a debacle? Ya, I think it would have been smarter to renumber the Blu-Ray releases but I don't think it's a debacle. It's fairly easy to pull up a list of Criterion Blu spine numbers on the internet and I don't have a problem with ordering my Blu's by spine number as they are now.

[Volume11]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Why is the numbering a debacle? Ya, I think it would have been smarter to renumber the Blu-Ray releases but I don't think it's a debacle. It's fairly easy to pull up a list of Criterion Blu spine numbers on the internet and I don't have a problem with ordering my Blu's by spine number as they are now.

Debacle is too strong of a word. But, I'll dodge the question and post a question to you...if it isn't a big deal one way or the other why couldn't Criterion renumber them?

The larger point I was trying to make is that I think Criterion either thought BD wouldn't be successful and/or that they are way too worried about the DVD crowd.

Like I said, MOC renumbered the BD line and waves of DVD supporters didn;t raid London and burn down their offices...and in Criterion's case plenty of numbered DVDs will never see the light of day on BD...

[captveg]

Originally Posted by retablo

Ride With the Devil has fans? lol... didn't know this one tanked so bad.. $630,779 total domestic with a budget of $35 mil? How did anyone let Ang Lee direct again after that? lol

He had to get money from China again - and he made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, so thank goodness for that!

[captveg]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

It usually means don't hold your breath for a Blu ray, and when it doesn't (Days of Heaven) I have already bought the DVD and will be buying the film again for BD.

The Days of Heaven DVD came out before Criterion began releasing Blu-ray. Until they release a Blu-ray of a DVD-only release that came out after they began releasing Blu-ray this is NOT a double standard. That would be Spine #450 (Bottle Rocket) and up. (Days of Heaven is #409).

[kndy]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Amazon.com Criterion best sellers. 7 of 12 top sellers right now are Blu.
http://www.amazon.com/Criterion-Coll...XTWJRBSMZ7A1XA

Try any other seller of both Blu and non-Blu Criterion movies and you'll see the same thing. The Blu-Rays are more than holding their own against non-Blu Criterion releases.

Playing devils advocate here. But that's Amazon...

If you look at other forums, for example, Auteurs with the Criterion Deep Discount sale, one guy posted buying 66 Criterion and six box sets. Go on the B&N sale back in November and people were going crazy on DVD sales esp. for the Eclipse and box sets. Also, to remind people...a lot of those people in those forums are film students, professors and hardcore on the filmmaking techniques, aspect ratios, etc. Many of us, are intent in owning equipment to best watching and hear our films in the best manner than a lot of these people from these forums.

They are so passionate about the filmmaking process and discuss it, while on this Criterion forum...most are passionate about PQ, AQ and Blu-ray cases.

Now how I feel about it...

I like what MoC is doing with the numbering of Blu-rays and releasing both versions. The fact that they have employees who are quite involved with the Eureka/MoC Blu-ray forum is pretty significant. Criterion is closely associated with Auteurs and as you have seen on Auteurs, as much as we try to explain the advantages of Blu-ray, it falls on deaf ears.

As one post said, no need to even explain technical advantages of Blu-ray to them (on Criterionforum or Auteurs), since many are not even reading that.

But there's a reason why Criterion doesn't release these other films on Blu-ray. I would like to believe, quality-wise and content-wise, they don't make the cut on their set standards of what could be released on BD.

One thing that is pretty consistent with a lot of posts we have with the Criterion Blu-rays, we haven't been disappointed at all...PQ, AQ and content. So, if these DVD's don't make the cut for BD consideration, I like to believe that those releases are fine for DVD but don't make the cut for what they have set the bar for in a BD release.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by captveg

The Days of Heaven DVD came out before Criterion began releasing Blu-ray. Until they release a Blu-ray of a DVD-only release that came out after they began releasing Blu-ray this is NOT a double standard. That would be Spine #450 (Bottle Rocket) and up. (Days of Heaven is #409).

I am aware of that, I bought Days of Heaven the day it was released. Just saying this is a very recent title and I don't like buying and then rebuying.

[whbinder]

Originally Posted by Volume11

See my above post.

Yes.... I was agreeing with you.