The Criterion Collection

[HillSprinter]

Originally Posted by jshaide

How many films are left for potential future World Cinema sets?

Potentially hundreds, if not thousands.

[Sommerswerd]

Originally Posted by regeyer

They'd probably be more apprehensive, as they'd now have to do a triple release - DVD/Blu-Ray/UHD. Or, in the very least, a Blu-Ray/UHD release.

Criterion found it to be too costly to do the dual releases. The DVD only crowd did not want to have to pay for a Blu-Ray they were never going to use. And the DVD only crowd makes up a large portion of their customers.

If only it was financially possible for them to price the dual format release the same price as the DVD only release then everyone would be happy.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jshaide

How many films are left for potential future World Cinema sets?

Back when Criterion released the first WCP set back at the end of 2013, I made an attempt to keep track of what films were being restored for the World Cinema Project. I didn't get very far before I dropped it -- probably because I had too many other things going on at the time. I have note of seven films beyond what's in the three Criterion sets.

Two Girls on the Street (André De Toth, Hungary, 1939)
Kalpana (Uday Shankar, India, 1948)
Borom Sarrat (Ousmane Sembène, Senegal, 1963)
Forest of the Hanged (Liviu Ciulei, Romania, 1965)
The Night of Counting the Years (Shadi Abdel Salam, Egypt, 1969)
The Eloquent Peasant (Shadi Abdel Salam,, Egypt, 1969)
The Treasure (Lester James Peries, Sri Lanka, 1973)

There was an eighth one, but it was released as a standalone by Criterion a couple of years ago:

Manila in the Claws of Light (Lino Brocka, Philippines, 1975)

There have been at least a couple of others that were released as standalones by Criterion. Two I can think of are Black Girl and A Brighter, Summer Day.

Check out http://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema

[blujazz]

Anyone know how many homes in the US/Canada actually can play UHD?

Anyone know how how many physical copies Criterion has sold on each of David Lynch's films?

Isn't there a minimum number of copies you can contract with manufacturers to produce UHD discs?

These questions could probably answer the question why The Elephant Man is not being released on UHD.

I guess they could do a limited UHD run but that would be unprecedented. And knowing how Criterion discs get crazy money when their copies go OOP, could contribute to their hesitance? The transition to loop in UHD will be slower than them transitioning from DVD to Blu-Ray. Anyone remember how long that took?

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Of that DVD crowd, a significant part of that was libraries. With their constrained budgets, libraries preferred getting DVDs because it was cheaper than getting Dual-Format. As I recall, Criterion said that it was largely the library market that caused them to abandon DF.

My library is smart enough to realize that it’s actually cheaper to buy Blu-ray’s in the long run since they have a protective layer and last longer than DVDs. Many of the older criterion DVDs in my library skip or get removed from being unplayable

[ZeTi]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

My library is smart enough to realize that it’s actually cheaper to buy Blu-ray’s in the long run since they have a protective layer and last longer than DVDs. Many of the older criterion DVDs in my library skip or get removed from being unplayable

It's the other way around for me personally - A few criterions and asian titles had disc rot while my trusty 20+ year old Dvds still play like on day one.

[WeeBey]

I don't think Criterion will ever adopt UHD for their physical media releases. The format's growth rate is declining rapidly. To give you an idea:

2016: UHD Blu-ray introduced
2017: 187% Year-over-Year Growth
2018: 70% YoY Growth
2019: 15% YoY Growth

The format will peak in about 2 years which means it will remain very niche. This also means it won't benefit from the economies of scale Blu-ray and DVD have so they will always be pricey to produce.

That's not to say they will never produce one offs here and there, who knows, but I wouldn't hold my breath for UHD to be a regular thing at Criterion. I think it's more likely that Criterion Channel will see 4K HDR versions of movies released on Blu-ray/DVD.

Ideally, Criterion wouldn't bother with movies that already have great UHD releases and would instead focus their attention on movies that haven't made it to HD. That said, business interests do have to prevail sometimes and I bet movies like elephant man are some of the better sellers in the collection.

[regeyer]

Originally Posted by Sommerswerd

If only it was financially possible for them to price the dual format release the same price as the DVD only release then everyone would be happy.

Perhaps. But I bet there'd still be people who'd complain. They'd want the DVD only for even less. And if Criterion did such a thing there'd be a big drop in income.

[nitin]

Absolutely dynamite month, but will be getting the UK UHD+blu combo of The Elephant Man which is my fourth favourite film.

The rest though will all be mine. Really looking forward to Beau Travail and the full uncut Christ Stopped at Eboli.

[BluLobsta]

Originally Posted by WeeBey

I don't think Criterion will ever adopt UHD for their physical media releases. The format's growth rate is declining rapidly. To give you an idea:

2016: UHD Blu-ray introduced
2017: 187% Year-over-Year Growth
2018: 70% YoY Growth
2019: 15% YoY Growth

The format will peak in about 2 years which means it will remain very niche. This also means it won't benefit from the economies of scale Blu-ray and DVD have so they will always be pricey to produce.

That's not to say they will never produce one offs here and there, who knows, but I wouldn't hold my breath for UHD to be a regular thing at Criterion. I think it's more likely that Criterion Channel will see 4K HDR versions of movies released on Blu-ray/DVD.

Ideally, Criterion wouldn't bother with movies that already have great UHD releases and would instead focus their attention on movies that haven't made it to HD. That said, business interests do have to prevail sometimes and I bet movies like elephant man are some of the better sellers in the collection.

I'm still trying to figure out if my 12-year-old Band of Brothers Blu-ray release looks better than any 4K that I own (or better than anything that I own actually).

[BluLobsta]

Trying to explore Ingmar Bergman at the moment. The first film that I decided on was Persona since it is the cover photo for the Cinema collection. I knew nothing of his work, despite having heard of his name all of my life. That probably helped because I was expecting a typical, well-constructed film with no real surprises. I was stunned when the film started rolling (literally). I wasn't expecting such an abstract work. During the first minute or two, it immediately reminded me of David Lynch. I own Mulholland Drive and now having seen Persona in its entirety, I can see even more similarities between the two films. The whole duality thing between two women in each film, made more than obvious with the editing of Ullman's face over Andersson's in Persona. I'm still trying to figure out if they were the same person. Did Alma believe she was Elisabet? Really deep, dark and controversial. Much more than I expected. Probably the most provocative and unexpected hour and a half I have ever spent. Even more unexpected, I decided to watch it during Bergman Week in Sweden which I did not know!

EDIT: I will probably be editing this a lot. I am a big pushover for cinematography. The lighting in this film really caught my attention. The interior shots were really amazing. Gave me a special feeling. Of course, the shots on Faro were pretty cool, too. I like Nykvist's style.

I guess Ullman is Bergman's muse much like Anna Karina with Godard.

[NeoNical]

Originally Posted by jayembee

There have been at least a couple of others that were released as standalones by Criterion. Two I can think of are Black Girl and A Brighter, Summer Day. http://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema

There is one more that you missed and it was Memories of Underdevelopment but thanks for the list! I hope Scorsese does more restoration projects for these but I don't know if they're still doing it or if the company completely halted from doing any more restorations. They did excellent with the source materials they had

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by ZeTi

It's the other way around for me personally - A few criterions and asian titles had disc rot while my trusty 20+ year old Dvds still play like on day one.

Those Blu-ray’s were isolated and criterion offered replacements. Otherwise, disc rot for Blu-ray isn’t something To be worried about as far as I know

[SlickDamian]

The best announcement month that I've seen in a long time, in my opinion anyway.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Of that DVD crowd, a significant part of that was libraries. With their constrained budgets, libraries preferred getting DVDs because it was cheaper than getting Dual-Format. As I recall, Criterion said that it was largely the library market that caused them to abandon DF.

Originally Posted by Sommerswerd

If only it was financially possible for them to price the dual format release the same price as the DVD only release then everyone would be happy.

Originally Posted by regeyer

Perhaps. But I bet there'd still be people who'd complain. They'd want the DVD only for even less. And if Criterion did such a thing there'd be a big drop in income.

But when Criterion went Blu-ray, they deliberately kept the price of DVDs and BDs the same at $40! If they hadn't stupidly then dropped DVDs by ten dollars there might not have been any complaining at the dual format price, because it would have been the same. Seems they dropped the ball a bit there... unless said libraries had been pressing for a ten dollar drop on their DVD price, which would seem a little odd, given they'd been paying $40 since the very first Criterion DVD release.

[regeyer]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

But when Criterion went Blu-ray, they deliberately kept the price of DVDs and BDs the same at $40! If they hadn't stupidly then dropped DVDs by ten dollars there might not have been any complaining at the dual format price, because it would have been the same. Seems they dropped the ball a bit there... unless said libraries had been pressing for a ten dollar drop on their DVD price, which would seem a little odd, given they'd been paying $40 since the very first Criterion DVD release.

I'm sure Criterion's customers were not willing to pay $40 for a DVD when that's the price of the Blu-Ray. DVDs are almost always less than the Blu-Ray. That's just the way it is.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by nitin

The rest though will all be mine. Really looking forward to Beau Travail and the full uncut Christ Stopped at Eboli.

I hadn't previously heard of it but the synopsis of Christ Stopped at Eboli makes it sound like something I would be very interested in. Not likely upgrading the Arrow Dassin blus if I can help it.

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Two Girls on the Street (André De Toth, Hungary, 1939)
Kalpana (Uday Shankar, India, 1948)
Borom Sarrat (Ousmane Sembène, Senegal, 1963)
Forest of the Hanged (Liviu Ciulei, Romania, 1965)
The Night of Counting the Years (Shadi Abdel Salam, Egypt, 1969)
The Eloquent Peasant (Shadi Abdel Salam,, Egypt, 1969)
The Treasure (Lester James Peries, Sri Lanka, 1973)
http://www.film-foundation.org/world-cinema

The film Borom Sarrat is a supplement on the Black Girl release. It's a great short film.

[silverlakephil]

I watched Dance, Girl, Dance last night. Such a lovely film with excellent PQ on my big screen. Maureen O' Hara was great and Lucille Ball stole the picture IMO.

[Show spoiler]I didn't expect the knock down drag out fight at the end. I bet Ms. Ball was a pistol in real life.

I highly recommend this film of you love classic Hollywood Film making.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by BluLobsta

I'm still trying to figure out if my 12-year-old Band of Brothers Blu-ray release looks better than any 4K that I own (or better than anything that I own actually).

Me too, since the US version has a LOT of DNR compared to the OOP Japanese version. It's never looked great in the US market.

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...=42238&i=7&l=0