The Criterion Collection

[octagon]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Wow I am surprised by Eureka insider response in their forum:



While Criterion has more money, they are hardly anything similar to a big studio, what is important is that there will now be more movies released that previously didn't had a chance in that territory.

Actually, Eureka's response is kind of sobering. If Criterion starts shouldering them aside in the UK with regard to areas of overlap will that leave them healthy enough to maintain the rest of their output?

That's in interesting question I had not initially considered.

[Akijama]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Wow I am surprised by Eureka insider response in their forum:



While Criterion has more money, they are hardly anything similar to a big studio, what is important is that there will now be more movies released that previously didn't had a chance in that territory.

I understand the guy and sympathize with him. Make no mistake, this is a great news for collectors, but a terrible one for labels such as Eureka, since their catalogue output is similar to that of Criterion's.

I appreciate the guy's honesty. The UK market is significantly smaller than US, and now, when you have to compete for each title with a (much) bigger company such as Criterion, it doesn't bode well for the future of his company.

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

there will now be more movies released that previously didn't had a chance in that territory.

Plenty of overlap though.

Hopefully there's more than enough movies to go around.

As much as this is great news, I'm wary on the longer term impact on Eureka, BFI, Arrow et al.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by octagon

Actually, Eureka's response is kind of sobering. If Criterion starts shouldering them aside in the UK with regard to areas of overlap will that leave them healthy enough to maintain the rest of their output?

That's in interesting question I had not initially considered.

You are right, I don't know how the battle for distribution rights of films actually works, but this probably means that from now on there will be little or no overlap with their titles anymore.

Also not sure if Criterion will seek to own distribution rights of other films in the UK even if they can't get them in US.

I guess in the long run the best way will be to specialize in an area of films that doesn't compete directly with Criterion, like with the main Arrow line of films witch which there are very few overlaps.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Akijama

I understand the guy and sympathize with him. Make no mistake, this is a great news for collectors, but a terrible one for labels such as Eureka, since their catalogue output is similar to that of Criterion's.

I appreciate the guy's honesty. The UK market is significantly smaller than US, and now, when you have to compete for each title with a (much) bigger company such as Criterion, it doesn't bode well for the future of his company.

And they've got Arrow in the US market now too which I would think has to impact Arrow's ability to compete for UK rights. In some cases at least I can imagine Arrow or now Criterion getting the Region B rights at something of a discount if they're purchased along with Region A rights.

I am officially striking my initial woohoo.

[mja345]

I think Eureka, Arrow and BFI will be fine. Criterion has such an enormous backlog of titles that haven't been released in the UK, so I'm sure that's a lot of what will be put out over there. There are such an incredible amount of films that are still unreleased that there is plenty to go around. I can completely understand why a Eureka employee wouldn't be thrilled though. If I worked for Eureka, I wouldn't be thrilled. But, for example, look how many horror/exploitation labels there are in the US. Scream Factory, Synapse, Arrow US, Grindhouse, Blue Underground, Severin, Scorpion, Vinegar Syndrome, Code Red. And that's with a much smaller pool of films than what labels like Arrow, Criterion, MoC, and BFI have to work with. It'll work out.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by octagon

Actually, Eureka's response is kind of sobering. If Criterion starts shouldering them aside in the UK with regard to areas of overlap will that leave them healthy enough to maintain the rest of their output?

That's in interesting question I had not initially considered.

This is exactly what I thought when I read Eureka's response and I completely sympathize with it. With Criterion now in the picture, the competition is in the bidding for rights to release. I would think Criterion can simply outbid Eureka or at least drive up the price, and by default, Eureka's cost. If this starts happening, which I suspect will happen but not right away, it may be that the smaller UK labels need to pool resources to compete. The good news is that there are a lot of films out there waiting to be released, so hopefully there is enough to go around to keep everyone happy, profitable, and solvent for years to come.

What I want to see is for Criterion to put more urgency into releasing on this side of the pond the titles Eureka has had out in the UK for months if not years. Damn it, Big C, bring us blu-rays of The Passion of Joan of Arc and The Naked Prey and Pickup on South Street and .....etc..etc..

[pedromvu]

Hopefully all this means Criterion is still being as profitable as ever or even more, even if they insist in giving us those leaflets .

So that other than giving us the big titles they can keep betting on different stuff too, I remember in an interview with a guy from Criterion someone posted here, he said the Japanese samurai releases were some of their biggest sellers (which makes sense considering all they have), but that some times even an obscure film that was never released on home format also sold more than expected.

[Scottie]

Will Criterion and Eureka ever partner up? Stay tuned.

[warrian]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

I was putting some new arrivals away on my shelves tonight, and i thought of a question in regard to my (and everyone else's) film collections.

How many directors are there that you own all of the films they have directed?

A few ground rules:

- Short films do not count, you only have to have their feature length films.
- Lost films do not count
- Director has to have directed at least 5 feature films
- If their latest film hasn't had a home release yet it doesn't (so, if you have all of Tarantino's films, but don't have Hateful Eight, that's Ok).

David Lynch
Joel & Ethan Coen
Joe Wright
Christopher Nolan
George Lucas
Steven Speilberg
Ridley Scott
David Fincher
Quinton Tarantino
Terry Gilliam
David Twohy
Lee Tamahori
Darren Aronofsky
Michael Mann
Andy & Lana Wachowski
Alex Proyas
John McTiernan
Wes Anderson
Guillermo del Toro
Francis Lawrence
Jan de Bont
J.J. Abrams
Tarsem Singh
Andrew Niccol
Terrence Malick
Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Some of my "so close" directors:

James Cameron (sans Piranha II), Bryan Singer (sans Public Access), Zack Snyder (sans Legend of the Guardians), Doug Liman (sans Getting In), Edward Zwick (sans Leaving Normal), Kathryn Bigelow (sans Weight of the Water), Gore Verbinski (sans Mousehunt), Antoine Fuqua (sans Brooklyn’s Finest), Gregory Hoblit (sans Frequency), Peter Weir (sans The Last Wave)

That's the best I can figure for now. There are surely more.

You should make this its own thread BTW. Its a cool idea and I feel out of place mentioning some of these director in the Criterion thread.

[easydreamer]

I guess it's ok as long as they focus on releasing the Sony titles, which are otherwise unavailable in the UK. I think most of the rights to the arthouse cinema have already been with other UK labels, such as Eureka, BFI, Arrow & AE, right? Sony titles are available in the UK, as Sony had not sublicense their titles in the UK. So, I think Criterion can release practically all Sony titles they already released in the US, but may not have the rights to others.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Will Criterion and Eureka ever partner up? Stay tuned.

One of the former Masters Of Cinema guys said they once approached Criterion about collaboration, alas, it never came to be.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by easydreamer

I guess it's ok as long as they focus on releasing the Sony titles, which are otherwise unavailable in the UK. I think most of the rights to the arthouse cinema have already been with other UK labels, such as Eureka, BFI, Arrow & AE, right? Sony titles are available in the UK, as Sony had not sublicense their titles in the UK. So, I think Criterion can release practically all Sony titles they already released in the US, but may not have the rights to others.

It already goes beyond Sony titles. MoC released Gray Gardens here on DVD, but Criterion appear to have specifically gone after that for this launch line up. Speedy isn't Sony either.

[shadedpain4]

As someone who is region free, I'm hard pressed to think up any benefit to the Criterion UK thing personally. I like when Criterion releases something here and someone else releases it in the UK. It means more choices for me in terms of artwork, transfer, features etc.

Now I'm probably going to have less options. Not the end of the world, but hard to see the benefit for me.

Obviously a different story for Region B locked folks.

[Martin_31]

I was thinking of going region free but because of the silent films MoC releases. Kino f***ing blows, in the Fritz Lang releases.

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by biglou114

Well, 29 and 1/4

That's an impressive room, and Spielberg collection. There are some movies of his I never hear about, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised there are collectors who will have his entire filmography.

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

That looks like a fun room.

Yes it does!

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

As someone who is region free, I'm hard pressed to think up any benefit to the Criterion UK thing personally. I like when Criterion releases something here and someone else releases it in the UK. It means more choices for me in terms of artwork, transfer, features etc.

Now I'm probably going to have less options. Not the end of the world, but hard to see the benefit for me.

Obviously a different story for Region B locked folks.

As somebody who has just started buying movies from across the pond, I have to wonder how long does somebody like Eureka or Criterion typically maintain (exclusive) rights to distribute a film?

I think there's room enough for both companies. There are enough classic films, and enough genres, where both companies can maintain great catalogs. Criterion getting into the UK market could mean that they acquire rights to the films they haven't released previously, meaning concurrent releases in both markets.

And personally, I like having options. I just got in my first two Masters of Cinema releases today; The Passion of Joan of Arc, and City Girl. I haven't opened them yet, but I have to say, from what I've seen, I love the look of their issues. They're beautiful. They maintain the classic look of films in their art; I wish more distributors stateside would do the same. There are some films where I would continue to buy from both Eureka and Criterion. And, if Criterion doesn't release a film I want, I will gladly order it from Amazon UK.

[Polaroid]

I hope Criterion gives us a bluray release of Mommy!

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

As somebody who has just started buying movies from across the pond, I have to wonder how long does somebody like Eureka or Criterion typically maintain (exclusive) rights to distribute a film?

I think there's room enough for both companies. There are enough classic films, and enough genres, where both companies can maintain great catalogs. Criterion getting into the UK market could mean that they acquire rights to the films they haven't released previously, meaning concurrent releases in both markets.

And personally, I like having options. I just got in my first two Masters of Cinema releases today; The Passion of Joan of Arc, and City Girl. I haven't opened them yet, but I have to say, from what I've seen, I love the look of their issues. They're beautiful. They maintain the classic of films; I wish more distributors stateside would do the same. There are some films where I would continue to buy from both Eureka and Criterion. And, if Criterion doesn't release a film I want, I will gladly order it from Amazon UK.

We're lucky that in the UK we have a number of great indie labels that produce some great packages. Eureka/MoC are the obvious ones but there's also Arrow and the BFI who usually have great on-disc content as well as a fantastic physical package.

Frankly, this news excites me, but there's some trepidation too. I just hope that this means we'll get even more great movies and great sets.

Great picks btw - City Girl, and Joan are two beautiful sets. Plenty more where they came from too!

[Polaroid]

Hands down Arrow releases best packaged box sets in UK - hard to compete with their releases tbh! BFI, Arrow, Criterion, Eureka! Etc all have their own unique selling point and they vary enough for me to want to buy from all of them - even double dip!