The Criterion Collection

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

The primary difference is that your examples were put out by major studios. Although I'm sure in some cases the cost of bringing them to Blu-ray may have been more expensive than the average Criterion disc, the cost will have been insignificant from the studios point of view. They rake in billions.

Criterion on the other hand, whilst probably the biggest independent art house label, operate on a much much smaller revenue. Couple that with the fact that a great many of their titles are pretty obscure and will probably only sell a few thousand copies, it's necessary they price higher.

And regardless of how you argue it, Criterion have been in this business for 3 decades. If pricing their titles lower would get them more profit, they would be pricing their titles lower. They're not stupid.

That small studio argument shouldn't matter. The only thing that changes is the scale, but the concept is the same. If Universal sells 50,000 units of a title at $20 or 100,000 at $12, they would be better to cut the price. Likewise if Criterion is dealing with 5000 units at $40 or 10,000 units at $25, it's POSSIBLE that the lower price point could generate more earnings for them.

Those are just hypothetical, I'm sure Criterion has studied their quite pricing a bit, and obviously the sales volume will vary from title to title. Of course the fact that MSRP is always the same across all titles regardless of how much or little it will sell, is a dead giveway that the MSRP pricing is a relatively arbitrary number.

I think it's pretty clear that part of the reason they maintain a high price, is they want to maintain a sense of exclusivity with their brand. Actually that might be the whole reason.

[tenia]

Criterion releases tend to be more expensive than your average movie, but you can mostly buy them much cheaper tahn the MSRP price, especially through Amazon or the twice-a-year B&N -50% sale.

As explained above, it is unfair to compare Criterion's releases with studios' ones. Don't forget Criterion only release for the US market (and the Canadian), where Blade Runner will be released worldwide.

Of course you can find Baby Jane or The little shop of horrors at $10 on Amazon.es, but it's definitely missing the point.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by retablo

They don't. Some are $29.99 MSRP, some are $49.99, $59.99 and up for box sets...

The $29.99 ones are with no extras, $49.99 for "2 disc" blu-rays, and for sets of 3 or more films it seems like they are slightly flexible. You can pretty much just read the extras and determine what it's going to cost without even clicking on their store to see the actual price.

Clearly they don't price in any way relative to sales volume, expense in bringing a particular film to the format, licensing cost, or any other factor. They just decided on an overall number, and are sticking with it. It makes pretty good sense for a "niche label" because they want to keep their brand exclusive. If they were dumping their into Wal-Mart bargain bins they would lose the exclusivity factor among geeks and film snobs.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Page14

I got a little nervous about finding Chungking Express at a decent price so I pulled the trigger on the current Amazon offer of $22.79.

It was still sitting on the shelf of my closest B&N store last week, but when I visited the store yesterday, somebody beat me to it, which was the only copy they had in stock. So I figured it would cost me more for the price of gas to find it than to just order it online. This is a total blind buy for me ... I'm only buying it now because of it going out of print. If I can believe the reviews, I think I'll like it.

[Show spoiler](Not that anybody really needs to know any of this. But the chances of somebody being able to relate to this is better in this forum than with any of my nearby friends. )

It's worth a lot more than that
It's a beautiful Wong Kar-Wai film and I'm sure you'll love it

[Page14]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

It's worth a lot more than that
It's a beautiful Wong Kar-Wai film and I'm sure you'll love it

FWIW, I didn't mean to make it sound like the film (Chungking Express) wasn't worth what I'm paying ... more like finding a decent price from the perspective of the current B&N 50% off sale going on, and that it can still be found on a few store shelves at that price (if you're fortunate enough to find it).

I'm anxious to see it!

[rkish]

Originally Posted by Page14

FWIW, I didn't mean to make it sound like the film (Chungking Express) wasn't worth what I'm paying ... more like finding a decent price from the perspective of the current B&N 50% off sale going on, and that it can still be found on a few store shelves at that price (if you're fortunate enough to find it).

I'm anxious to see it!

Well...the B&N website only has it listed with 3rd party sellers and the cheapest price is around $40. Amazon is the cheapest I've seen it lately. Unless your local store has it in stock, you won't get it for any cheaper than that.

Well Done!

[rkish]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

It's worth a lot more than that
It's a beautiful Wong Kar-Wai film and I'm sure you'll love it

Agreed...I remember buying it, right after the infamous "It must be OOP as no one is selling it now" scare of a year or so ago (I think they modified the packaging for it). It's a great film with a nice soundtrack and it got me interested in "In The Mood For Love", which I subsequently watched on Netflix and bought this past week.

BTW...Rashomon will be worth purchasing alone for the Donald Ritchie audio commentary.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I ordered my copy online, so I didn't receive it yet....

My Halloween night consisted of 1 Criterion BD, 1 previously Criterion held film's non Criterion BD, and a Red-Box rental.

Watched Hausu again, watched Silence of the Lambs, and via Red-Box I picked up "The Artist"

When I got "The Artist" the first thing I see when it spits it out is a Sticky-Note inside the case saying "DOES NOT PLAY" and I think "Great, that stinks" was going to rent a back-up copy, but thought screw-it......

Either way, I get home, toss it in the player, and it plays flawlessly (I checked for cracks, found none, and it was in immaculate shape)

Gotta love people who don't understand that either A) BD will not play in their DVD player, or B) Firmware should be upgraded every couple millenium!
e

Didn't mention how it was good to see you online...I hope you and family are well.

I decided to check out the classic horror films that TCM-HD were running that night. I've got to admit, this was the biggest addition to the DirecTV HD lineup this past year.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by Page14

I'm not sure why either. I guess I'm just used to going to the physical stores. Maybe it's the instant gratification. ???

I'm the same way...don't feel too bad! I do it for the immediate gratification, but also for quality control, as it satiates my OCD. Besides, I'm only about 15 mins. from one of two stores and one of them is on the way home from work for me. I usually buy from that store.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by TJS_Blu

You never can tell what you'll get with B&N. I'm pretty sure I was able to order Jan '12 titles in the Nov '11 sale, not working this time though (did pick up the Dec titles I wanted). I had pretty much given up on going to the stores because I was denied coupon stacking & so when I went into one during the July sale... they let me stack the coupons. So go figure.

I'm surprised that they are still honoring the early to mid-December releases. I guess it's good for customer relations.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by Cvalda

The Teshigahara set is fantastic! Desperately hoping they upgrade the whole set to Blu, though not holding my breath.

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

I rewatched The Face of Another a few times this week. So good.

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

Bought it this sale, still need to get it in my hands but I am REALLY anticipating it. This, Jeanne Dielman and the Teshigahara set are very high on my "to-see" list .

Thanks Guys! I had Pitfall in my Hulu queue and just added the other two films.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by rkish

I'm surprised that they are still honoring the early to mid-December releases. I guess it's good for customer relations.

Well.... Long story short, I went to a bar with friends to watch the game last night, and was given a free-raffle ticket, and I ended up getting $350 worth of gift-cards for a large local grocery chain.

A little bit of work (not much work, via self-scan checkout ) and I converted a decent amount to B&N gift cards (got Fuel-perks for that too !) and B&N let me Pre-order every upcoming title they had in their computer for 50% off, + my 10% membership discount, and a couple of coupons used too....

My collection is "complete" for the time being...... I pre-ordered the ones they didn't have via Amazon just for the instant gratification

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Well.... Long story short, I went to a bar with friends to watch the game last night, and was given a free-raffle ticket, and I ended up getting $350 worth of gift-cards for a large local grocery chain.

A little bit of work (not much work, via self-scan checkout ) and I converted a decent amount to B&N gift cards (got Fuel-perks for that too !) and B&N let me Pre-order every upcoming title they had in their computer for 50% off, + my 10% membership discount, and a couple of coupons used too....

My collection is "complete" for the time being...... I pre-ordered the ones they didn't have via Amazon just for the instant gratification

Wow, that's great!

[Hendershot737]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Well.... Long story short, I went to a bar with friends to watch the game last night, and was given a free-raffle ticket, and I ended up getting $350 worth of gift-cards for a large local grocery chain.

A little bit of work (not much work, via self-scan checkout ) and I converted a decent amount to B&N gift cards (got Fuel-perks for that too !) and B&N let me Pre-order every upcoming title they had in their computer for 50% off, + my 10% membership discount, and a couple of coupons used too....

My collection is "complete" for the time being...... I pre-ordered the ones they didn't have via Amazon just for the instant gratification

Awesome!

[Scottie]

How is Red Desert?

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by iScottie

How is Red Desert?

Dr. Atanasov provided a pretty good review that's worth checking out.

[joie]

Originally Posted by iScottie

How is Red Desert?

It interests me; some may consider it boring. It is Antonioni's first colour film. He actually painted vegetation (and more) to get some effects he wanted. Someday, I am going to watch it in B&W (desaturate the color) to see how it looks. Sets are uncluttered and many could learn a lot about photography by watching his films. For many, seeing Monica Vitti may be the main attraction.

There was a trilogy (la notte, l'avventura and l'eclisse) of alienation films made before "Red Desert." Criterion has at least two of those on DVD. Some might say that with "Red Desert" there is a tetralogy of alienation films. Anyway, Monica Vitti is in all of them, but she wasn't a blonde in la notte, the first.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by iScottie

How is Red Desert?

awesome

[rkish]

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

awesome

I was thinking about you when I added Veronika Voss to my Hulu queue. What can you tell me about it? Looks to take place around the same time period as Berlin Alexanderplatz.

[24framesasecond]

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

awesome

Pretentious and obtuse.