Third Window Films Discussion Thread

[Yurakucho]

Suicide Club isn't very Third Window-y.
I recall you said there's no HD material for Noriko's Dinner Table, and it's very long (so high BBFC costs), so a double-feature unlikely.
Is everything okay with Funky Forest/Warped Forest? Personally I'd use one of those Toyoda digipaks, stick The Taste of Tea on there and charge £40-60 for it.

[Ste7en]

Originally Posted by NormanicGrav

The Terracotta website has been redesigned, looks like the Points system is gone.

Points? I always checkout as a guest

[Rutger Lundgren]

Originally Posted by Yurakucho

Suicide Club isn't very Third Window-y.

I don't know, I'd say that it would fit in quite nicely with some of the other films that TWF has been releasing. I didn't care for Suicide Club myself, so I can tell you that it's at least not very Rutger Lundgren-y. But I'd give it another chance, it's been a while since I first saw it.

Personally I'd use one of those Toyoda digipaks, stick The Taste of Tea on there and charge £40-60 for it.

Only if we're given an option to get just the new films, without The Taste of Tea. I didn't like having to buy One Cut of the Dead twice, and I also don't like having to buy Hanagatami twice, so I definitely wouldn't want to see that trend continued.

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by Yurakucho

Suicide Club isn't very Third Window-y.

I know that kind of J-horror era interests Arrow as well but given how eclectic Sono's output is I don't see it as too unusual to have another from TWF alongside the 7 or 8 they've already done. I'd also assume it would be a big seller so I'd rather the cash go to TWF after all the label has done to support Sono's less famous works.

[thuata]

Originally Posted by Cinematt

I know that kind of J-horror era interests Arrow as well but given how eclectic Sono's output is I don't see it as too unusual to have another from TWF alongside the 7 or 8 they've already done. I'd also assume it would be a big seller so I'd rather the cash go to TWF after all the label has done to support Sono's less famous works.

I really wouldn't call it J Horror (it has none of the tropes or themes associated with the genre), in fact I wouldn't even call it horror at all, and within this range of slightly avant garde and surreal drama it's not too different from movies like Kotoko or Love Exposure.
A perfect fit for TWF in my opinion and as you stated it would also go nicely with their other releases of his work.

[giome]

Originally Posted by Yurakucho

Is everything okay with Funky Forest/Warped Forest? Personally I'd use one of those Toyoda digipaks, stick The Taste of Tea on there and charge £40-60 for it.

The US distributor for Funky Forest/Warped Forest is supposed to announce their specs and release date next month. I'm guessing we'll hear something from Third Window around the same time.

[giome]

Originally Posted by giome

The US distributor for Funky Forest/Warped Forest is supposed to announce their specs and release date next month. I'm guessing we'll hear something from Third Window around the same time.

I guess I should be paying more attention to their social media, because Third Window posted the exact same message yesterday too:
https://twitter.com/thirdwindow/stat...22934423171083

[Terminator3001]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

Only if we're given an option to get just the new films, without The Taste of Tea. I didn't like having to buy One Cut of the Dead twice, and I also don't like having to buy Hanagatami twice, so I definitely wouldn't want to see that trend continued.

I completely agree. It's very frustrating having to buy sets with films you already own. Even worse when Hanagatami was released pretty recently. I usually buy all of Third Window releases but these price hikes have put me off these sets as well. The TOSHIAKI TOYODA: 2005-2021 set is too expensive imo. I paid £20 for the first set and the new one has far too many short films to be paying £50 for it.

[Yurakucho]

Crazy Thunder Road details up on Terracotta's shop:


https://shop.terracottadistribution....er-road-bluray

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

I don't know, I'd say that it would fit in quite nicely with some of the other films that TWF has been releasing. I didn't care for Suicide Club myself, so I can tell you that it's at least not very Rutger Lundgren-y. But I'd give it another chance, it's been a while since I first saw it.

Only if we're given an option to get just the new films, without The Taste of Tea. I didn't like having to buy One Cut of the Dead twice, and I also don't like having to buy Hanagatami twice, so I definitely wouldn't want to see that trend continued.

Don't worry, the Funky/Warped set will just be a 2 disc set in a similar packaging to the UJICHA set (slipcase covering bluray box which has reversible sleeves and 2 blurays inside).

Regarding Hanagatami, that was a situation with the fact that when I first acquired it I had absolutely no plan to release the trilogy. The trilogy actually came around due to me spending a year trying to acquire a bunch of his 80s films, but having so many issues with the licensor that I quit, but since I had put so much work in I decided to pickup the other titles in the trilogy as they were easy to license.
Since they were a trilogy I thought it was best they'd be boxed together, plus because of the length of the films some extras needed to be split over separate discs (the Seven Weeks interview is on the 'Casting Blossoms' disc as the Seven Weeks making of is 75 mins long) and that wouldn't have been as easy to do if the films were sold separately.

To balance this, I've purposely made the Terracotta pre-order price low to make it not too much a difference if buying all 3 separately. I think the box itself is fantastic and at 2000 units is quite a limited edition, plus includes a booklet, so £40 for that is not exceedingly high considering the massive costs manufacturing the box plus the rights costs of the films and extras.
Though, when the box sells out the discs will be released individually, so you're more than welcome to wait until then if you don't want to have bought another disc of hanagatami.

[thirdwindowfilms]

Originally Posted by Terminator3001

I completely agree. It's very frustrating having to buy sets with films you already own. Even worse when Hanagatami was released pretty recently. I usually buy all of Third Window releases but these price hikes have put me off these sets as well. The TOSHIAKI TOYODA: 2005-2021 set is too expensive imo. I paid £20 for the first set and the new one has far too many short films to be paying £50 for it.

The new Toyoda set was incredibly complicated and expensive to make as it required all films to be licensed from separate companies, while in the first set all 3 films were from the same company. Those things increase costs.
Plus since I released the first set Arrow tripled their commission costs, plus with the pandemic many other costs have gone up (Brexit VAT, Sony manufacturing costs, etc), so it would be impossible to sell at such cheap prices. Let alone the amount of work put into acquiring and preparing 6 films (all with new extras) and all the contract work for so many different companies.

Though all in all, the Toyoda was at £40 as a pre-order price for ages, which for 6 films (even with some being shorts) I don't think is that expensive, especially considering they're the only way in the world to see those films and all have new extras. We're not talking about the 10th re-release of some genre film here just milking the audience, but quite an exclusive and limited package.

[Rutger Lundgren]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

Don't worry, the Funky/Warped set will just be a 2 disc set in a similar packaging to the UJICHA set (slipcase covering bluray box which has reversible sleeves and 2 blurays inside).

Regarding Hanagatami, that was a situation with the fact that when I first acquired it I had absolutely no plan to release the trilogy. The trilogy actually came around due to me spending a year trying to acquire a bunch of his 80s films, but having so many issues with the licensor that I quit, but since I had put so much work in I decided to pickup the other titles in the trilogy as they were easy to license.
Since they were a trilogy I thought it was best they'd be boxed together, plus because of the length of the films some extras needed to be split over separate discs (the Seven Weeks interview is on the 'Casting Blossoms' disc as the Seven Weeks making of is 75 mins long) and that wouldn't have been as easy to do if the films were sold separately.

To balance this, I've purposely made the Terracotta pre-order price low to make it not too much a difference if buying all 3 separately. I think the box itself is fantastic and at 2000 units is quite a limited edition, plus includes a booklet, so £40 for that is not exceedingly high considering the massive costs manufacturing the box plus the rights costs of the films and extras.
Though, when the box sells out the discs will be released individually, so you're more than welcome to wait until then if you don't want to have bought another disc of hanagatami.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. The trilogy does look like a fantastic release, and I'll definitely try to squeeze the pre-order in, although this December turned out to be a very expensive month for me.

[Richard A]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

... Since they were a trilogy I thought it was best they'd be boxed together, plus because of the length of the films some extras needed to be split over separate discs (the Seven Weeks interview is on the 'Casting Blossoms' disc as the Seven Weeks making of is 75 mins long) and that wouldn't have been as easy to do if the films were sold separately. ...

Fine by me (I'll be passing my single Hanagatami BD to some friends by way of evangelising Japanese film).

Not trying to ingratiate myself here but the various TWF related podcasts and interviews that I've heard have made it very clear that it's a tough world out there for an independent label (esp. in Japan). Sitting multiple clones of yourself around a boardroom table to have long term product planning meetings is never going to be an option.

[OK Nikkatsu]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

The trilogy actually came around due to me spending a year trying to acquire a bunch of his 80s films, but having so many issues with the licensor that I quit...

I've got my fingers crossed that you can eventually make this make happen.

As I think I've said before on one of your insta posts when you mentioned this, The Rocking Horsemen is one of my favourite films and I'd love to see TW put out a BR of it. But really the more Obayashi that you smuggle out of Japan the better. Most folk would have come to to him through House, but my first exposure was through fan subbed copies of his sweetly nostalgia inflected 80's flicks of the Onomichi trilogy. Criminally underappreciated (or perhaps more appropriately, just not very well known) getting these gems to a wider western audience would be a real coup.

[thirdwindowfilms]

if i am able to pickup the release as per before, it would be for school in crosshairs, her motorbike his island, girl who lept through time and island nearest paradise.
though it's crazy hard negotiating with the copyright holders for them.

Originally Posted by OK Nikkatsu

I've got my fingers crossed that you can eventually make this make happen.

As I think I've said before on one of your insta posts when you mentioned this, The Rocking Horsemen is one of my favourite films and I'd love to see TW put out a BR of it. But really the more Obayashi that you smuggle out of Japan the better. Most folk would have come to to him through House, but my first exposure was through fan subbed copies of his sweetly nostalgia inflected 80's flicks of the Onomichi trilogy. Criminally underappreciated (or perhaps more appropriately, just not very well known) getting these gems to a wider western audience would be a real coup.

[Yami]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

if i am able to pickup the release as per before, it would be for school in crosshairs, her motorbike his island, girl who lept through time and island nearest paradise.
though it's crazy hard negotiating with the copyright holders for them.

Those would all be amazing. His Motorbike, Her Island is just a stone-cold masterpiece and perhaps my favourite Obayashi that I have seen.

Not sure what's going on with the rights to Bound for the Fields, the Mountains, and the Seacoast and Exchange Students as even the Japanese releases seem ancient but they're two other fantastic ones.

[carbls]

Originally Posted by thirdwindowfilms

if i am able to pickup the release as per before, it would be for school in crosshairs, her motorbike his island, girl who lept through time and island nearest paradise.
though it's crazy hard negotiating with the copyright holders for them.

Thanks for all your work Adam! I've really enjoyed the Toyoda sets and the new podcast - I would buy the hell out of those Obayashi flicks should it come to fruition!

[Richard A]

TWF trailers up for Funky Forest: The First Contact and ...

Funky Forest: The First Contact ナイス�森 trailer - YouTube

[Richard A]

... The Warped Forest:

The Warped Forest �����森 trailer - YouTube

Very much looking forward to these.

[dbvsh]

Oooh, just got a shipping notification and tracking number from Terracotta for Nobuhiko Obayashi's Anti-War Trilogy. Release date is 13/12 so that's a week early