The Official Criterion UK Thread

[Lutz]

Originally Posted by DavidGallow

I wonder what the spine numbering will do? Reset to 01?

Dammit, beat me to it, #importantquestions .

[crazyman]

Originally Posted by Lutz

Dammit, beat me to it, #importantquestions .

They'll be converted to the Imperial system.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by OgamiittoMcJ

be interesting to see what price these will be
also which films already out by Criterion US they will be allowed to release
like Videodrome, Scanners
would like Repulsion, Naked and Kes, so hope they get announced

Would be up for Naked and Kes, but titles like Videodrome have basically 100% of their content mirrored on the Arrow release. Same for stuff like Repo Man - besides the odd 20 minute interview, there's little difference. I'd much rather see the more obscure titles that have never really had much of a shot at the home video market.

Interesting times to have both Arrow US and Criterion UK.

And around the same time as the 4K launch too!

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by Buddy Ackerman

Dare I hope for the Wes Anderson back catalogue..?

(Am also hoping for Following, Godzilla and The Game from their current catalogue. The Anderson/Nolan/Fincher titles could be an interesting contrast to Eureka and Arrow who don't concentrate on the recent past)

BFI released Godzilla.

[wmermine1]

Originally Posted by DavidGallow

Similarly spitballing - I'm wondering if there's any chance of some of the OOP films from the States being available for licence here?

That's what I'm hoping for.

[moviegeek1992]

Was always contemplating importing Criterions, now I can hold off. I'm also glad that this will be an official Criterion range instead of Sony just chucking these titles in with the rest of their collector's series.

[CelestialAgent]

So, based on my Criterion wishlist...
What are the chances of All That Jazz, The American Friend, Anatomy of a Murder, Badlands, The Bridge, Broadcast News, Burroughs: The Movie, Cul-de-sac, Death by Hanging, The Fisher King, In the Mood for Love, Lord of the Flies, My Beautiful Laundrette, My Dinner With Andre, My Winnipeg, Orpheus, Persona, Repulsion, The Rose, Safe, The Seventh Seal*, Slacker, Something Wild, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Thin Blue Line and The War Room***

*not sure on this one as Tartan folded
**obviously some of these titles had UK releases back in the DVD days, but it's been almost a decade now for some of them so rights may have changed
***probably less likely as US politics but who knows?

[Kalvar]

It is slightly worrying that Zavvi have Grey Gardens currently listed as £27.99. Will be interesting to see how much the pre order price changes on webstores and subsequent price reductions later this year.

[moviegeek1992]

Initially in for It Happened One Night and Tootsie

[DJ KNIGHT XIII]

Great news but what do I do with the region A Blu Ray player I have only just invested in ?

[nitin]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I don't think they release much Warner stuff.

They have released quite a few lately, and are the only ones who have managed to do so (apart from one offs like TT and Heaven and Earth).

[nitin]

Originally Posted by crazyman

Hopefully this doesn't mean we're going to have to pay through the nose for titles we could have got for £5.99 (with superior encoding) if Sony released them themselves.

yeah cos Sony were clearly flooding the UK market with catalog releases.

[unicron73]

i was wondering about this.after many years of not collecting criterions i bought 10 last month on ebay and have since got 3 more on the way.i should have known this would happen..
at least i didnt get around to buying tootsie or macbeth..

what ever they release i will always support eureka and others that i already support.the criterions will wait for the sales unless they start releasing them as limited editions..

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by DJ KNIGHT XIII

Great news but what do I do with the region A Blu Ray player I have only just invested in ?

I think there's a chance that all this will just be a selection of Criterion titles (maybe only Sony ones?) and that you will still have a use for your region A player.

[NjabPhungula]

Both the Artificial Eye and Sony/Criterion listings of Ivan's Childhood are up on Amazon:

AE:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ivans-Childh...dp/B01AWK5PAC/

Sony:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ivans-Childh...dp/B01CJHLOOW/

So, I guess this means that Artificial Eye is going to have to cancel their blu-ray. Interestingly, though, the Sony (I assuming it's the Criterion) is listed as Region-Free.

[BigNickUK]

Fabulous news.....Kes asap please!!!!!

[CouncilSpectre]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

I think there's a chance that all this will just be a selection of Criterion titles (maybe only Sony ones?) and that you will still have a use for your region A player.

Two of the launch titles aren't Sony, so it looks like they'll go beyond just Sony.

The existing catalogue will obviously just fill gaps as existing labels will already have put out the rest. The worry is future titles, like Ivan's Childhood, where it's going to be Criterion vs UK Boutique label, and in this instance Criterion is probably always going to win out over AE, and titles where a UK boutique label just can't anywhere near licensing the title anymore, as Kevin has already confirmed in the Eureka thread.

Don't want to be a Debbie Downer on this as I'll definitely be interested in a lot of the coming titles, but it's certainly going to impact Eureka, BFI, AE, Arrow etc going forward. Hopefully not as much as we fear though, and ultimately, hopefully, we'll be the beneficiaries of this move, by way of MORE great titles coming to the UK, in great packages!

[Spiderwalk]

This is really terrific news!.

After going region free last year, I'm really struggling to fulfill my Criterion wishlist. To be totally realistic though, they're not going to dump their entire back catalogue onto the UK market.

I can definitely see them releasing titles like Bottle Rocket or The Last Picture Show, but titles like Hausu (owned by Eureka) or Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (owned by Second Run) are probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Hopefully they will fill in a few gaps, and won't trample on the other UK independent labels we've all come to love and support over the years.

[BarnDoor]

Any word on if they'll set up a UK site and store? If so, I would hope they have half-price flash sales a couple of times a year, as they do in the US. Would be wonderful if they sold their US releases on there as well, but I suppose that wouldn't be possible.

Does anyone have a list of all the Sony titles they've released to date? Clearly we won't be seeing everything get an equivalent release over here.

And while I really can't see this happening, it would be quite something if they embarked on UK-only releases. Sony not licencing out to anyone else over here certainly gives them an advantage in this regard.

[Pyoko]

Pretty cool and all, but I bet these will end up costing just as much if not more as importing the US releases at $22-25 so it's probably not going to make a huge difference for me.

There's also the encoding aspect to consider where the likes of Arrow have the edge, but hopefully things are improving at Criterion (The Graduate seems pretty decent.)