Godzilla Films on Blu-ray (U.S. and International Releases)

[dwk]

Originally Posted by Scarface32

Yeah, that’s why they originally didn’t want to do any more, because of Toho.

Criterion has been dealing with Toho for decades and they seem to know how to keep Toho happy. If I'm recalling correctly, one of the big headaches on the Godzilla release was they had to get approvals from one or two other companies, in addition to Toho. Hopefully, since they licensed these directly from Toho, it'll be a bit smoother sailing.

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Toho seems overly protective of their kaiju franchises. The one thing that worries me is Toho's track record for their bd scans has been absolutely atrocious. I know they're working on new 4k scans of their kaiju movies so hopefully they do a good job with them and allow Criterion access to those in their upcoming big G boxed set.

Toho let Criterion do a new scan for their Godzilla release, so I don't expect them hold back the new scans. (but the possibility of Toho being Toho is always there.

[hanshotfirst1138]

I’m assuming we won’t be seeing the AIP dubs, or do we not know yet?

[monwobbbo]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

I’m assuming we won’t be seeing the AIP dubs, or do we not know yet?

likely will depend on rights issues and how much effort Criterion wants to put into securing them.

[Killer Meteor]

Am I right that Toho now has a proper remaster of King Kong vs Godzilla? The BD was mostly fine, but it had a few sections early on where they had to resort to their very, very, very old laserdisc master.

[monwobbbo]

Originally Posted by Killer Meteor

Am I right that Toho now has a proper remaster of King Kong vs Godzilla? The BD was mostly fine, but it had a few sections early on where they had to resort to their very, very, very old laserdisc master.

toho always had a proper master for KK vs G but for the Japanese version not the american. Universal owns that outright as well as the US rights to that title. not on the Criterion list for that reason.

[Killer Meteor]

Originally Posted by monwobbbo

toho always had a proper master for KK vs G but for the Japanese version not the american. Universal owns that outright as well as the US rights to that title. not on the Criterion list for that reason.

I was referring to the Japanese version.

I can forsee Criterion liasing with Toho and Universal to give it a release, but wouldn't like to bet on it!

[monwobbbo]

Originally Posted by Killer Meteor

I was referring to the Japanese version.

I can forsee Criterion liasing with Toho and Universal to give it a release, but wouldn't like to bet on it!

i kind of doubt that will happen as again Universal owns the rights in North America outright. Toho can't license it in the US at all. since Universal alrady s making money from the blu i doubt they would want to share it with anyone.

[deltatauhobbit]

Originally Posted by monwobbbo

i kind of doubt that will happen as again Universal owns the rights in North America outright. Toho can't license it in the US at all. since Universal alrady s making money from the blu i doubt they would want to share it with anyone.

That hasn’t stopped them from licensing out titles to Shout/Scream that Universal themselves have already put out, sometimes with only a short window beforehand. Criterion would need to deal with Universal for any inclusion which I’m sure would not be too difficult for them to do considering they’ve made deals with Warner Bros who keep their titles really guarded.

[monwobbbo]

Originally Posted by deltatauhobbit

That hasn’t stopped them from licensing out titles to Shout/Scream that Universal themselves have already put out, sometimes with only a short window beforehand. Criterion would need to deal with Universal for any inclusion which I’m sure would not be too difficult for them to do considering they’ve made deals with Warner Bros who keep their titles really guarded.

King Kong has always been tough for anyone to license and Universal tends to hang tight with that. this also plays into Legendary who is doing the up coming Godzilla vs King Kong. there is no upside for them to do this. figure they may spring for a release of their own to coincide with the up coming movie. from a business standpoint giving to someone else for a a smaller piece of the pie doesn't make sense. don't see them doing this.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by monwobbbo

toho always had a proper master for KK vs G but for the Japanese version not the american. Universal owns that outright as well as the US rights to that title. not on the Criterion list for that reason.

No they didn't. They had to patch together a version using the negative, which had been brutally chopped down for the Champion festival, and the laserdisc. The US version is the one that had a proper master. The Toho BD of KKvsG is a mess. I don't know much about this 4K version, I'm not sure how they'd have secured a new version unless it's off something other than the negative (or they found all the chopped-out scenes in someone's basement somewhere).

EDIT: Wikipedia actually has a lot of info on this:

The original Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla is infamous for being one of the most poorly-preserved tokusatsu films. In 1970, director Ishiro Honda prepared an edited version of the film for the Toho Champion Festival, a children's matinee program that showcased edited re-releases of older kaiju films along with cartoons and then-new kaiju films. Honda cut twenty-four minutes from the film's original negative, and as a result, the highest quality source for the cut footage was lost. For years all that was thought to remain of the uncut 1962 version was a faded, heavily damaged 16mm element from which rental prints had been made. 1980s restorations for home video integrated the 16mm deleted scenes into the 35mm Champion cut, resulting in wildly inconsistent picture quality.[65]

In 1991, Toho issued a restored laserdisc incorporating the rediscovery of a reel of 35mm trims of the deleted footage. The resultant quality was far superior to previous reconstructions, but not perfect; an abrupt cut caused by missing frames at the beginning or end of a trim is evident whenever the master switches between the Champion cut and a 35mm trim within the same shot. This laserdisc master was utilized for Toho's 2001 DVD release with few changes.[61]

In 2014, Toho released a new restoration of the film on Blu-Ray, which utilized the 35mm edits once again, but only those available for reels 2-7 of the film were able to be located. The remainder of video for the deleted portions was sourced from the earlier Blu-Ray of the U.S. version, in addition to the previous 480i 1991 laserdisc master.[61] On July 14, 2016, a 4K restoration of a completely 35mm sourced version of the film aired on The Godzilla First Impact,[66][67] a series of 4K broadcasts of Godzilla films on the Nihon Eiga Senmon Channel.

[RalphoR]

Would love to see the 4k version. I think it's been shown on Japanese tv a few times. Maybe someone was lucky enough to dvr it.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Would love to see the 4k version. I think it's been shown on Japanese tv a few times. Maybe someone was lucky enough to dvr it.

I pretty closely monitored the usual sources for such a thing when I heard it had aired, and nothing! I guess I should look again. You'd think someone somewhere would at least have reported on it!

[Gargus]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Toho seems overly protective of their kaiju franchises. The one thing that worries me is Toho's track record for their bd scans has been absolutely atrocious. I know they're working on new 4k scans of their kaiju movies so hopefully they do a good job with them and allow Criterion access to those in their upcoming big G boxed set.

Funny how over used kaiju is now and no one ever used it till Pacific rim and del Toro used the word multiple times. Now it's kind of used like someone trying to sound snobby and an authority on big monster movies, same way the same people dont use the word movie and have to call movies films instead.

[RalphoR]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

I pretty closely monitored the usual sources for such a thing when I heard it had aired, and nothing! I guess I should look again. You'd think someone somewhere would at least have reported on it!

For sure! Where's our Japanese friends when we need them??

[RalphoR]

Originally Posted by Gargus

Funny how over used kaiju is now and no one ever used it till Pacific rim and del Toro used the word multiple times. Now it's kind of used like someone trying to sound snobby and an authority on big monster movies, same way the same people dont use the word movie and have to call movies films instead.

This is probably true. For me it's easier to use the word "kaiju" so I don't have to differentiate between the Godzilla/Gamera/other giant monster fanchises. I can lump them all together.

[monwobbbo]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

No they didn't. They had to patch together a version using the negative, which had been brutally chopped down for the Champion festival, and the laserdisc. The US version is the one that had a proper master. The Toho BD of KKvsG is a mess. I don't know much about this 4K version, I'm not sure how they'd have secured a new version unless it's off something other than the negative (or they found all the chopped-out scenes in someone's basement somewhere).

EDIT: Wikipedia actually has a lot of info on this:

my bad.

[Pulp Hero]

Originally Posted by Gargus

Funny how over used kaiju is now and no one ever used it till Pacific rim and del Toro used the word multiple times. Now it's kind of used like someone trying to sound snobby and an authority on big monster movies, same way the same people dont use the word movie and have to call movies films instead.

That's not exactly accurate. It's true that the general public is far more aware of the term "kaiju" nowadays but fans of Japan's giant monster movies and tokusatsu shows (EG Ultraman, Super Sentai, etc.) have used the terms "kaiju"/"daikaiju" for decades now.

Prior to PACIFIC-RIM the terms "kaiju"/"daikaiju" were pretty much just used within the fan communities. Even then fans use the Japanese terms inter-changeably with the English versions "monster"/"giant monster". And in my experience, when talking with people who aren't fans the English terms are used more often than not.

[hasslein]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

http://www.godzilla-movies.com/news/...lms-dvdblu-ray

I found this today for under $30, now I know why - Still listed for $300 + on Amazon

[RalphoR]

Originally Posted by hasslein

I found this today for under $30, now I know why - Still listed for $300 + on Amazon

Nice find! I have the single dvd version of Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla. It's one of my most precious movies and handle it with tender loving care It's my most anticipated Criterion bd.

[cakefactory]

Yeah, I have that set too. I'm tempted to offload it while it's still worth 300 bucks, but for all we know the Criterion discs won't come out for another two years.