Third Window Films Discussion Thread

[EvilAsh77]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

Hiruko has been remastered and we're in talks with it.

Uzumaki, we were in talks with Toei about it, and it seems to have made them decide to make a new master, but only after raising funds from international sales and I don't think my offer was enough for them. though for sure it'll get released by various companies within the next year or two

Over your dead body - UK rights still held by Yume pictures as they released it on DVD only 5 year ago.

I'm sure Visitor Q and the other Miike titles will at some point get released by Arrow or someone like that.

For Sono, we tried to acquire WDYPIH years ago, but were quoted ludicrous price so couldn't afford it. Suicide and Norikos don't have HD masters

Japan is very behind the times with everything, and it's very hard to get decent materials on older titles. In the West, VOD has been a starting point for many studios to remaster their back catalogues, but since VOD has not taken off in Japan it's kept them from remastering a lot. Plus the way Japanese films are made (film committee system) can make it complicated for the rights of older films and because of that it's even harder to get things digitized. Also, there aren't really many places that do digitizations in Japan, and they're a LOT more expensive than overseas, yet the Japanese companies won't also allow their prints to go overseas to be scanned, so it's a bit of a catch 22.
The Tsukamoto films are a very rare case in which he owns the license for the majority of his titles, so easy to deal with working together with just 1 person to remaster and release, but the majority of japanese films are super complex and if not, then super expensive!

Thanks Adam. Detailed answer and an interesting insight into the background of the world of Japanese films!

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by gap

With which distributor do you get the biggest cut, Adam? If you are at liberty to say, that is.

I know I don't mind paying a little more if it means you get a larger slice of the take.

Can't really go into specifics, but they're all around the same to be honest! The best though would probably be Terracotta, but they don't have that much stock in. I need to send more over their way!
2nd best would be Arrow's site as while they take a huge chunk of the sale, it's just a 'single' commission, yet for places like Amazon they take their big chunk then Arrow take an extra % off that so I end up with well less than 50% in the end

[repulsed]

Is Han Gong-ju on BD pretty much gone? Any site have any stock or should I just give up looking?

Some things you wait on and a decade later they are still available. Others you wait a few months and it's gone. The crazy world of collecting.

[roguejp]

Originally Posted by repulsed

Is Han Gong-ju on BD pretty much gone? Any site have any stock or should I just give up looking?

Some things you wait on and a decade later they are still available. Others you wait a few months and it's gone. The crazy world of collecting.

It's been out for about 5 years now?

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

Any chance of releasing producer Shinya Kawai's drunken wager/challenge Duel Project (Aragami & 2LDK)? This would be right up Third Wndow's street.

I followed this up and spoke to the film's production company, but it would seem, like in the case of the Tsukamoto films VITAL and NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE, that the UK rights were bought on long licenses by companies which are now bankrupt (Tartan Films and Weinstein company respectively). Despite the companies not being around, it's super hard to get rights back, so need to wait until they expire in 2025 or so...
This also explains why no blurays are out for many films like Bittersweet Life and others which were owned by Tartan.
They used to negotiate super long licenses for films and it has killed the chances for many UK blurays.
Though, actually both 2LDK and ARAGAMI are in the process of being digitized due to a US company buying the rights, so they'll have US blurays out (relatively) soon

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by repulsed

Is Han Gong-ju on BD pretty much gone? Any site have any stock or should I just give up looking?

Some things you wait on and a decade later they are still available. Others you wait a few months and it's gone. The crazy world of collecting.

To be honest, this was such a poor seller that I decided it wasn't really worth even manufacturing it again. Took around 6-7 years to sell 1000 copies.
With the license expiring soon it's not worth even a limited pressing either.

[Richard A]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

To be honest, this was such a poor seller that I decided it wasn't really worth even manufacturing it again. Took around 6-7 years to sell 1000 copies.
With the license expiring soon it's not worth even a limited pressing either.

Shame to read that Han Gong-ju hadn't sold well. It's quite a tough watch but a very fine film without doubt. I'm having a bit of a mini Korean season at the moment so I think I'll give my BD another spin soon.

[gap]

Originally Posted by repulsed

Is Han Gong-ju on BD pretty much gone? Any site have any stock or should I just give up looking?

Some things you wait on and a decade later they are still available. Others you wait a few months and it's gone. The crazy world of collecting.

It's one of two that I need to have a complete collection but can't seem to find it anywhere (regardless of price).

And before people post about it being released years ago, Third Window weren't on my radar.

[gwailosforever]

Originally Posted by gap

It's one of two that I need to have a complete collection but can't seem to find it anywhere (regardless of price).

And before people post about it being released years ago, Third Window weren't on my radar.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174574299516?

[ASLAN]

Originally Posted by repulsed

Is Han Gong-ju on BD pretty much gone? Any site have any stock or should I just give up looking?

Some things you wait on and a decade later they are still available. Others you wait a few months and it's gone. The crazy world of collecting.

There's one on ebay at the moment.

[gap]

Originally Posted by gwailosforever

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174574299516?

Originally Posted by ASLAN

There's one on ebay at the moment.

Thanks, both. I check regularly and can never find a copy. I got that one, however, which is great.

Only Confessions to go. If anyone has one to sell, PM me.

[Arrowheadrevisited]

Originally Posted by gap

Thanks, both. I check regularly and can never find a copy. I got that one, however, which is great.

Only Confessions to go. If anyone has one to sell, PM me.

I set up an alert on eBay to find my copy, worth doing for those elusive titles.

If in the UK it's also worth registering for alerts at CEX - scored quite a few OOP titles this way, and boutiques tend to be in decent condition.

[gwailosforever]

Originally Posted by gap

Thanks, both. I check regularly and can never find a copy. I got that one, however, which is great.

Only Confessions to go. If anyone has one to sell, PM me.

Welcome! Glad you picked it up. Will keep an eye out for Confessions for you

[Modus Pwnens]

Looks like the Easter sale got extended until April 19.

[Yurakucho]

Why have so many modern Japanese classics like Shall We Dance?, Linda Linda Linda and Juzo Itami films (besides Tampopo) not been released in the UK?

Shall We Dance? in particular I thought would do reasonably well... Not really a TWF film though.

Any plans for 4K releases? How much more expensive is it to release 4K than Blu-ray? Battle Royale 4K coming out in 2 weeks - as far as I can tell it's the first live-action Japanese film released on 4K in the UK. I just looked on HMV's domestic Japanese website and Raya and the Last Dragon on bog-standard 4K Blu-ray is 6930yen (£46). Blu-ray 4950yen (£33). Yikes!

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by Yurakucho

Why have so many modern Japanese classics like Shall We Dance?, Linda Linda Linda and Juzo Itami films (besides Tampopo) not been released in the UK?

Shall We Dance? in particular I thought would do reasonably well... Not really a TWF film though.

Any plans for 4K releases? How much more expensive is it to release 4K than Blu-ray? Battle Royale 4K coming out in 2 weeks - as far as I can tell it's the first live-action Japanese film released on 4K in the UK. I just looked on HMV's domestic Japanese website and Raya and the Last Dragon on bog-standard 4K Blu-ray is 6930yen (£46). Blu-ray 4950yen (£33). Yikes!

because they're owned by major studios who charge a fortune for the rights. All these studios have minimum prices they will not go below (no matter the size or potential of the film), so it puts off the distributors who may be willing to handle them.

films like Battle Royale have huge, PROVEN potential, so distributors can afford to pay the prices they're asked, but films like Shall We Dance, Linda Linda, etc don't have nearly the same reach, yet would cost a fortune.

Plus 4K is way too expensive for us to take on. All the costs increase massively, and we barely scrape by on bluray.
Though, in all honestly (and maybe its because I'm from the VHS generation), do you really need 4K for low/mid budget japanese films?? Is there that much a difference over bluray when the original source isn't great. To be honest, I don't actually believe most of the titles I've handled really even need bluray when DVD upscaled in a bluray player would be pretty decent.
2/4k scans onto bluray discs vs them released in 4k is only going to matter to a small group of people, and won't matter at all for the type of films we release.

[CelestialAgent]

Even in Japan 4K seems limited for big blockbuster studio titles like Shin Godzilla, King Kong vs Godzilla, Your Name, Weathering with You. Japan doesn’t seem restoration focused enough to do new 4K scans and HDR passes

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Even in Japan 4K seems limited for big blockbuster studio titles like Shin Godzilla, King Kong vs Godzilla, Your Name, Weathering with You. Japan doesn’t seem restoration focused enough to do new 4K scans and HDR passes

It's just super expensive in Japan because there's barely any places to get it done. In fact, 2K scanning here is more expensive than 4K elsewhere.
Plus, the audience doesn't really care otherwise.
remember that Japan, while being advanced in the making of new technology, is full of people who are quite analog. Cinema releases are still are the majority of income for a film, and video rental (in shops) trumps digital. And that video rental is predominantly DVD.
Remember that in places like Tokyo, which is the film-centre of Japan, people have very small apartments, so having big TVs and setups are quite rare. Even 'collectors' in Japan are more focused on the product itself over the format, so I think people don't have the same 'needs' as they seem to do in the West

[Magyalmar]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

I would do terrible, terrible things for a Linda Linda Linda Blu-ray. Itami too.

I'm so desperate I even made a homemade

[Yurakucho]

How about a Kickstarter?
The Kickstarters for Lowlife Love and New Directors were to fund/make films no-one's heard of - is it possible to do one and just say "help me buy the rights!"?