BDs That Are Out of Print (OOP)

[TravisTylerBlack]

La Dolce Vida is of course part of the Essential Fellini set that came out just a few months ago. Surely Criterion must have made some provision with Paramount for that?

[noiradelic]

Originally Posted by houseca

I remember them commenting on Chungking Express and I think The Man Who Fell to Earth going OOP soon, at the time.

The Man Who Fell to Earth was part of the second biggest StudioCanal batch that included 5 Luis Bunuel films among others, and it was officially announced.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by ShellBeacher

I just grabbed "Nashville" which for some reason I did not already have... Luckily I have all the rest except for "Don't Look Now"...which I've seen and honestly don't know if I'd want to watch again!

Even if you do, there's a superior UK disc for it.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by SpaceBlackKnight

If I were you, I'd grab War of the Worlds and Parallax View soon.

The War of the Worlds was released just six months ago. And The Parallax View was just released three weeks ago. I think they're safe for a while. The same with The Furies, which is scheduled for next month.

On the other hand, Criterion has been known to hang onto licenses for a while before actually doing anything with them. Still, I'd be more worried about the older Paramount titles of theirs, like Robinson Crusoe on Mars, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and Seconds. Or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

[thatguamguy]

Isn't the "Curious Case" disc produced by Paramount anyway?

[NR1]

Nice pick up at half price books today.

Short Circuit / Short Circuit 2 (1986-1988)

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

Isn't the "Curious Case" disc produced by Paramount anyway?

It was a Paramount disc from the beginning, just had some participation from Criterion primarily for marketing reasons. IIRC, all the supplements were produced independent of Criterion and even Paramount handled distribution (except for when Warner handled it briefly).

Similar situation how Disney actually distributed the DVDs for the Touchstone Wes Anderson and Michael Bay titles.

[erlinmeyer]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

Isn't the "Curious Case" disc produced by Paramount anyway?

Looking at Criterion spine #476, in the technical stuff under the Aspect Ratio, mine says " Under license from Paramount Home Entertainment Inc."

Same as Criterion spine #452 (The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) where under the Aspect Ratio it starts " Under license from Paramount Home Entertainment Inc."

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

It was a Paramount disc from the beginning, just had some participation from Criterion primarily for marketing reasons. IIRC, all the supplements were produced independent of Criterion and even Paramount handled distribution (except for when Warner handled it briefly).

That's what I remember too; something like Paramount and Criterion cut a deal where Criterion could license 9 movies, but the 10th one had to be a recent (last few years) movie, and based off the offered list, they selected "Benjamin Button". And that one was handled differently than the other nine, where Paramount distributed it and got it into actual stores that didn't generally care Criterion discs anymore.

Having said that, I will admit that I also seem to remember that 'Rosemary's Baby' was one of the 9, so I think it's probably part of the same deal. It just seems like, worst case scenario, Paramount will be able to print the exact same disc because Criterion didn't produce the disc and doesn't own the extras.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by erlinmeyer

Looking at Criterion spine #476, in the technical stuff under the Aspect Ratio, mine says " Under license from Paramount Home Entertainment Inc."

Same as Criterion spine #452 (The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) where under the Aspect Ratio it starts " Under license from Paramount Home Entertainment Inc."

Yep, the legal wording is standard, but as post #6931 explains, this was a unique disc, produced by Paramount, with the Criterion logo basically just slapped on it in a marketing arrangement.

[erlinmeyer]

Time to change all the reviews from 12 years ago.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

That's what I remember too; something like Paramount and Criterion cut a deal where Criterion could license 9 movies, but the 10th one had to be a recent (last few years) movie, and based off the offered list, they selected "Benjamin Button". And that one was handled differently than the other nine, where Paramount distributed it and got it into actual stores that didn't generally care Criterion discs anymore.

Not only that, but it was the first, and so far only, Criterion release with an O-sleeve. Well...except for the Eclipse releases, one could argue.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Not only that, but it was the first, and so far only, Criterion release with an O-sleeve. Well...except for the Eclipse releases, one could argue.

The first wave of Criterion BDs, in the cardboard digipacks, all basically had them too - The Last Emperor, The Third Man, Chungking Express, etc.

[jayembee]

D'oh! You're right.

[houseca]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

The first wave of Criterion BDs, in the cardboard digipacks, all basically had them too - The Last Emperor, The Third Man, Chungking Express, etc.

.... Bottle Rocket, The Man Who Fell to Earth.... yeah I had most of those. I remember going on the Criterion site and buying replacement art & cases for them for $5 each. Criterion did this due to all of the complaining about the cheap little digipaks that were prone to getting beat up. Of course Criterion still continues to issue some titles in Digipaks, but they are thicker and put them in slipboxes... the ones we all see today.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by houseca

.... Bottle Rocket, The Man Who Fell to Earth.... yeah I had most of those. I remember going on the Criterion site and buying replacement art & cases for them for $5 each. Criterion did this due to all of the complaining about the cheap little digipaks that were prone to getting beat up. Of course Criterion still continues to issue some titles in Digipaks, but they are thicker and put them in slipboxes... the ones we all see today.

I did the same thing! I replaced all my cardboard packs, I hated them.

I still hate all cardboard packaging, haha.

I was SO grateful when they euthanized those awful BD/DVD combos, since every single Criterion release was in a cardboard digipack for that span of about a year. And I still hate all cardboard packaging they do today. It's far too easily damaged by water, bumping, dropping, etc.

I still remember when Barnes & Noble by me got in the sets of Tati and Demy, and I searched through the shipping carton they received for the one or two undamaged sets out of 20-30 they got. Never happens with plastic.

Of course nothing matches the atrocious packaging for Sex, Lies and Videotape, where they have a thick, hard clear plastic O-sleeve designed to go over a digipack, and it's intentionally made too small, so it tears the paper digipack every time you put it on and take it off. I returned mine unopened, because it had been damaged during production when they slid the o-sleeve over it. I'm patiently waiting for a second pressing without this nightmarish packaging.

[ShellBeacher]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I did the same thing! I replaced all my cardboard packs, I hated them.

I still hate all cardboard packaging, haha.

I was SO grateful when they euthanized those awful BD/DVD combos, since every single Criterion release was in a cardboard digipack for that span of about a year. And I still hate all cardboard packaging they do today. It's far too easily damaged by water, bumping, dropping, etc.

I still remember when Barnes & Noble by me got in the sets of Tati and Demy, and I searched through the shipping carton they received for the one or two undamaged sets out of 20-30 they got. Never happens with plastic.

Of course nothing matches the atrocious packaging for Sex, Lies and Videotape, where they have a thick, hard clear plastic O-sleeve designed to go over a digipack, and it's intentionally made too small, so it tears the paper digipack every time you put it on and take it off. I returned mine unopened, because it had been damaged during production when they slid the o-sleeve over it. I'm patiently waiting for a second pressing without this nightmarish packaging.

True story: I ordered some Criterions from a Barnes & Noble sale a few years back... when the box arrived, it was pretty big. Among my orders was the Jacques Demy box set. In the box, there was a double-taped over/what felt like a half-rewrapped copy of 'Ride With the Devil' (that I did order) that had obviously been sitting in-store somewhere for-eva, a few other titles, and TWO perfectly pristine copies of the DEMY box set(!) Plus...a random DVD set of DANGER MOUSE cartoons...that I did not order!

I'm still wondering if the extra Demy set was a compensation for the 'Ride' packaging or simply a major error.

[houseca]

Originally Posted by ShellBeacher

True story: I ordered some Criterions from a Barnes & Noble sale a few years back... when the box arrived, it was pretty big. Among my orders was the Jacques Demy box set. In the box, there was a double-taped over/what felt like a half-rewrapped copy of 'Ride With the Devil' (that I did order) that had obviously been sitting in-store somewhere for-eva, a few other titles, and TWO perfectly pristine copies of the DEMY box set(!) Plus...a random DVD set of DANGER MOUSE cartoons...that I did not order!

I'm still wondering if the extra Demy set was a compensation for the 'Ride' packaging or simply a major error.

No it was not an extra gift to compensate you. The packing people are dumbasses and out to screw us all. For me, horribly packed boxes greatly outweigh the ones packed with care.

Congrats on the freebie Danger Mouse and Demy!

[James Luckard]

That Demy set was especially fragile, because it was a BD/DVD combo, so it was twice as big as it needed to be, and a lot of it was air, with the space betwen discs. The case itself was also made of lightweight cardboard.

I truly opened the box at B&N the morning they got them (they let me inspect them because they saw I was crazy, haha) and there were at least a dozen badly dented/crushed/damaged Demy sets inside. I found one of only two that were pristine.

[noiradelic]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I did the same thing! I replaced all my cardboard packs, I hated them.

I still hate all cardboard packaging, haha.

I was SO grateful when they euthanized those awful BD/DVD combos, since every single Criterion release was in a cardboard digipack for that span of about a year. And I still hate all cardboard packaging they do today. It's far too easily damaged by water, bumping, dropping, etc.

I still remember when Barnes & Noble by me got in the sets of Tati and Demy, and I searched through the shipping carton they received for the one or two undamaged sets out of 20-30 they got. Never happens with plastic.

Of course nothing matches the atrocious packaging for Sex, Lies and Videotape, where they have a thick, hard clear plastic O-sleeve designed to go over a digipack, and it's intentionally made too small, so it tears the paper digipack every time you put it on and take it off. I returned mine unopened, because it had been damaged during production when they slid the o-sleeve over it. I'm patiently waiting for a second pressing without this nightmarish packaging.

I don't like cardboard packaging either. I always like to have the option of replacing the case if there's damage. Those early digipacks were always cocked. But the fact is, most of their BD boxsets use the same digipacks, they're just housed in slipboxes, and most of them are cocked at least slightly too.