The Criterion Collection

[Bolo Seagull]

From what I understand, Cameron is one of the few filmmakers who has it in his contract that he personally has to sign off on new transfers done for his films (at least on physical media). They're allowed to repackage his films anyway they want (special edition, ultimate edition, judgement day edition, skynet edition etc), with whatever combination of extras they want, but if they tinker with the AV they have to get his approval.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

Is "The Silence of the Lambs" the biggest film (@ 272 million) in criterion collection (considering only the blu-ray releases) in terms of worldwide boxoffice at #488?
If we consider worldwide adjusted then "The Graduate" is at #22

Don't forget that The Silence of the Lambs was originally a Criterion Laserdisc decades ago, so that one is a bit of a fluke in the collection.

And I was referring to a director, not his films. As a director, Cameron is too much of a megalomaniac/control freak to hand over his work to a small arthouse video distribution company like Janus (although I once thought David Lynch would never see the light of day in the Criterion Collection but I was pleasantly surprised). Like previous posters have said, the AV would have to be specifically approved by Cameron himself, much like Mr. Mann did with Thief). And Cameron wants his films mass-marketed with high volume purchases, so Criterion's price point is prob. too high for his liking.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

Incorrect. I'm looking at 2 different blu-rays beside the CC version as I type.

Fair enough, but my main argument still stands and is still valid.

Criterion's release of The Breakfast Club includes never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes. That makes it a worthy addition to the Collection.

A T2 release by Criterion would have nothing close to that. There's zero reason for it to exist, and zero reason why anyone would pay $20-$40 for it if it did.

Again, it's never going to happen anyway.

[Alex82]

Regarding Terminator 2, I feel like there are two separate conversations going on here. Let's remember how it all started:

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I want a Criterion Blu-ray of Terminator 2. Every Blu-ray version of this movie I have watched looked terrible to me.

Originally Posted by CRM 114

Dear God, no.

One guy says he wants T2 on Criterion, and other guy pretty much says, ew, poop.

Well, Criterion has released in the past titles such as The Wizard of Oz, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Adventures of Robin Hood, RoboCop, Ghostbusters, Bram Stoker's Dracula, This is Spinal Tap, The Rock and other crowd-pleasers. I'm pretty sure that they would release the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films if they had the chance, so I'm not sure why there's still some elitist talk when we talk about "the collection". Terminator 2 is an important film in its genre, and if Criterion could release it, they would (and many others, too!).

And then there's a different conversation regarding the chances that Lionsgate or James Cameron would allow such release, and I'm afraid that's a short conversation, because T2 is a hot seller and Lionsgate would rather send a Terminator to the past to prevent Criterion from ever existing than allowing that title to go elsewhere.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by Alex82

Regarding Terminator 2, I feel like there are two separate conversations going on here. Let's remember how it all started:

And if they do "look like poop," Cameron authorized those transfers and wouldn't ever allow Criterion to do their own transfer, as others have pointed out. So, a Criterion release has no reason to exist whatsoever - and I think it would be a surprisingly low-seller because previous editions have been $5, so who is going to pay $20-$40 for a Criterion edition? Even I wouldn't.

Breakfast Club is a different situation entirely, and such a bad argument by whoever posted it, because the Criterion version comes with never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes, which is a huge deal for fans. T2 has nothing even close to being that enticing.

[kylec123]

Unrelated to anything being talked about currently, but I'd probably shit my pants if Christiane F. (Uli Edel) got a Criterion release.

Easily one of the best pieces of German cinema from the 80s. No English friendly BD release exists.

[Alex82]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

And if they do "look like poop," Cameron authorized those transfers and wouldn't ever allow Criterion to do their own transfer, as others have pointed out. So, a Criterion release has no reason to exist whatsoever - and I think it would be a surprisingly low-seller because previous editions have been $5, so who is going to pay $20-$40 for a Criterion edition? Even I wouldn't.

Breakfast Club is a different situation entirely, and such a bad argument by whoever posted it, because the Criterion version comes with never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes, which is a huge deal for fans. T2 has nothing even close to being that enticing.

Man, did you even read my message? You even took the poop comment completely out of context, I wasn't even talking about the transfers!

And then again with the Breakfast Club comment when I already acknowledged a Criterion T2 was a long shot.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by Alex82

Man, did you even read my message? You even took the poop comment completely out of context, I wasn't even talking about the transfers!

The guy you quoted - stonesfan129 - was though, which is what I was responding to.

And then again with the Breakfast Club comment when I already acknowledged a Criterion T2 was a long shot.

Because someone else in this thread put up a picture of Breakfast Club, as if that made my argument a moot point. It's a bad comparison.

Your overall point - that Criterion would release more popular "important" movies if they could, including T2 - is a valid one. I'm not arguing that T2 isn't worthy of Criterion. I think it is. I just don't think there's any point to it in the current market, for all the reasons already stated repeatedly - both by myself and others.

Now, if Criterion jumps into 4K Blu-rays and T2 is one of the first in that line - well, then...

[Bolo Seagull]

Originally Posted by kylec123

Unrelated to anything being talked about currently, but I'd probably shit my pants if Christiane F. (Uli Edel) got a Criterion release.

Easily one of the best pieces of German cinema from the 80s. No English friendly BD release exists.

I wrote them to request this title and they did not seem interested doing it.

Just to be clear, I have received encouraging responses from them for some of my suggestions which later actually did happen (The Virgin Suicides, The Tin Drum / die Blechtrommel)

But we can keep hoping.

[mja345]

I wonder if Criterion would consider releasing Jean Eustache's "The Mother and the W**re". I don't believe it's ever been released on disc. It would be a great addition to their library.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by mja345

I wonder if Criterion would consider releasing Jean Eustache's "The Mother and the W**re". I don't believe it's ever been released on disc. It would be a great addition to their library.

I thought I heard the rights holder is asking a big price.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

I thought I heard the rights holder is asking a big price.

Must be. Shame the film doesn't even have a decent home video release.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

And if they do "look like poop," Cameron authorized those transfers and wouldn't ever allow Criterion to do their own transfer, as others have pointed out. So, a Criterion release has no reason to exist whatsoever - and I think it would be a surprisingly low-seller because previous editions have been $5, so who is going to pay $20-$40 for a Criterion edition? Even I wouldn't.

Breakfast Club is a different situation entirely, and such a bad argument by whoever posted it, because the Criterion version comes with never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes, which is a huge deal for fans. T2 has nothing even close to being that enticing.

How do you know? Criterion could add great extras to a new T2 release. You can't deny that there wasn't much to add to Breakfast Club. Same with Dr. Strangelove, and people ate that up too. If Criterion released T2, it would sell. It doesn't have to sell as well as the cheap Lionsgate editions to be a success for them.

[hoytereden]

Personally, I would be happy with nothing but upgrades for a while.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Personally, I would be happy with nothing but upgrades for a while.

I could probably live with that too provided they weren't all upgrades of other blu-rays

[jw007]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Personally, I would be happy with nothing but upgrades for a while.

I know, right!

What would it take for Criterion to just completely upgrade their entire DVD catalog all at once? Would that be fiscally impossible due to their small production staff? I sometimes wonder if its even realistic to upgrade the remaining DVDs (and there are hundreds of them) to Blu-ray.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by octagon

I could probably live with that too provided they weren't all upgrades of other blu-rays

Agreed. I hope that's not a trend.

Originally Posted by jw007

I know, right!

What would it take for Criterion to just completely upgrade their entire DVD catalog all at once? Would that be fiscally impossible due to their small production staff? I sometimes wonder if its even realistic to upgrade the remaining DVDs (and there are hundreds of them) to Blu-ray.

I can't image that they could remotely come close to that. The cost, plus the availability of better elements, etc. Have they ever done something like letting folks vote on a list of different titles to upgrade?

[jayj15]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Have they ever done something like letting folks vote on a list of different titles to upgrade?

They had a vote on facebook a few years back. If I remember correctly "Le Samourai" had the most votes.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

How do you know? Criterion could add great extras to a new T2 release. You can't deny that there wasn't much to add to Breakfast Club. Same with Dr. Strangelove, and people ate that up too. If Criterion released T2, it would sell. It doesn't have to sell as well as the cheap Lionsgate editions to be a success for them.

Depends on the licensing costs and the money they would potentially put into extras. It will never happen, but it also doesn't mean it would be some automatic success just because it has the "C" on it.

[Mothravka]

Originally Posted by mja345

I wonder if Criterion would consider releasing Jean Eustache's "The Mother and the W**re". I don't believe it's ever been released on disc. It would be a great addition to their library.

There is a Japanese DVD that was released several years ago. But yeah, I agree that a nice Blu-ray release would be great.