Criterion U.K.

[rapta]

One thing about them re-releasing titles that have already had a UK release is that they likely are part of bigger deals and they just happen to have those re-releases ready to go.

I think it is odd that they are hesitant to release UHDs in the UK.

That may be true in some cases, but Black Girl is surely sourced through the WCP like the BFI one was, so I dunno if a bulk deal is necessary with them.

My thinking on UHD titles is they are just cautious with the format in the UK, but not so much in the US (or they're testing the waters in the latter and may eventually do some in the UK as the format grows more popular). I didn't really think Criterion would release this many UHD titles to be honest, I thought it'd be a few at first (as BFI are doing).

[dwk]

Black Girl was licensed from Sembène's son Alain Sembène, not the WCP.

[MichaelB]

You're right though, perhaps I was foolhardy in stating choices as 'obvious' or 'logical', and hadn't considered the extras as well (and the booklets too, I assume).

They most likely own purpose-commissioned booklet essays outright (I honestly can't remember what formal arrangement we came to over my Fantastic Planet essay, but would be pleasantly surprised if a UK edition meant an additional fee) - but yes, archival material may well have only been licensed for the US only.

It's usually much easier to create simultaneous UK and US editions from scratch, as all the relevant licensing can be carried out in one go. Thus far, all the dual-territory Indicator editions have been similarly identical (aside from trivial cosmetic differences to do with barcodes and BBFC certs), although the only one with a release-date gap had its booklet updated to reflect the fact that The Triple Echo's director Michael Apted died since the UK release came out. But I can't see anyone going out of their way to import the US edition just for that!

[dwk]

BFI is giving away 18 recent Criterion releases to one winner

[dwk]

July's UK releases:
Okja
Summertime
Pink Flamingos

[MichaelB]

For those wondering about how Pink Flamingos would fare with the BBFC, given that they've extensively cut it in the past, it was finally passed uncut in 2008 for a release that never happened, and that decision can be carried over to the Criterion release. The chicken scene was the most contentious, unsurprisingly, but they deemed that it just stopped short of breaching the 1937 Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act.

Much more detail here (obviously riddled with spoilers, but I doubt that's really an issue here!).

[rapta]

Lost Highway and Forever a Woman have just been announced for this year's Cinema Rediscovered, so I'd be surprised if neither showed up on Blu-ray in the UK (amazed we have had Blue Velvet here yet, but perhaps another label has grabbed the rights...most realistically, Arrow).

Also the new price-point for UK titles seems to be £22.99, a whole £5 increase from the previous £17.99 standard price for regular Scanavo titles (£25.99 was the standard for digipacks and multi-disc titles, but Pink Flamingos is this new price despite being a digipack). I imagine this has been done to bring titles more in line with the US pricing (and perhaps introduce the 50% sales, if we're lucky), but it's bound to put a lot of collectors off paying full RRP as the general price for UK boutique releases is usually between £14.99 and £17.99. Was bound to happen at some point but it'll be interesting to see how this affects the label's popularity over here.

[rapta]

Great, a 2 for £30 offer has just started, so yes we're being expected to now pay more for Criterion titles in the UK. May look into importing wherever possible if this is going to be the new normal (might even resort to buying everything from third party sellers, or eBay).

Also a shame they barely added any new titles, so these are mostly all titles that have been 2 for £25 in the past (or even 3 for £30 and 2 for £20 at certain points). £15 per title seems less of a good deal; could get a brand new title from a different label for that price, so less blind-buying from me personally unless it's something outstanding.

Admittedly I probably would've got Written on the Wind from this offer had I not pre-ordered it before now (as it's the only Sirk melodrama available on UK Blu-ray as I write this). Othello is also in there which is a good deal, if anyone had failed to purchase it over the past 3+ years (it has been on offer before).

New to the offer seems to just be Written on the Wind, Dick Johnson is Dead, and Love and Basketball (I seem to remember One Night in Miami and The Damned were in the 30% off HMV offer some months back).

[torgones]

Great, a 2 for £30 offer has just started, so yes we're being expected to now pay more for Criterion titles in the UK. May look into importing wherever possible if this is going to be the new normal (might even resort to buying everything from third party sellers, or eBay).

Also a shame they barely added any new titles, so these are mostly all titles that have been 2 for £25 in the past (or even 3 for £30 and 2 for £20 at certain points). £15 per title seems less of a good deal; could get a brand new title from a different label for that price, so less blind-buying from me personally unless it's something outstanding.

Admittedly I probably would've got Written on the Wind from this offer had I not pre-ordered it before now (as it's the only Sirk melodrama available on UK Blu-ray as I write this). Othello is also in there which is a good deal, if anyone had failed to purchase it over the past 3+ years (it has been on offer before).

New to the offer seems to just be Written on the Wind, Dick Johnson is Dead, and Love and Basketball (I seem to remember One Night in Miami and The Damned were in the 30% off HMV offer some months back).

As someone who has never followed the import route, what would be the easiest way to carry this out? I’m pretty dismayed by these rising prices and would love to find a workaround.

[TMDaines]

Yeah, 2 for £30 is far less enticing. HMV weren't even promoting it in store yesterday. Didn't visit Fopp. Let's see what comes later this year. Very few new titles included anyway.

[Billy Beta]

I wonder why Criterion UK are so behind on announcing September's UK releases. Normally they get announced around 25th of the Month...It's nearly 2 weeks late.

[Dr Amicus]

Over in the forums on Bluray.com, it was confirmed that announcements should be tomorrow.

[FrauBlucher]

Over in the forums on Bluray.com, it was confirmed that announcements should be tomorrow.

The Great Dictator
Hearts and Minds
Buck and the Preacher

[dwk]

Looks like October's UK slate:
Lost Highway
Take Out
Eve's Bayou

[yoloswegmaster]

November's titles:

Infernal Affairs Trilogy
In the Mood for Love
The Power of the Dog

[ryannichols7]

well that completely kills the chances of an English friendly 4K edition of Infernal Affairs, I think most of us were expecting Arrow or Eureka to have scored that and do the proper treatment

[tenia]

Could it be that Criterion aren't releasing UHDs in the UK because we might see other labels doing so à la Kino, or is it just because Criterion releases are still handled there by a Sony temp ?

[dwk]

No, the MGM policy of licensing different format rights to different labels is not really done by anyone else. And Janus pickups tend to be for all rights (though there are some exceptions to this.)

[Finch]

well that completely kills the chances of an English friendly 4K edition of Infernal Affairs, I think most of us were expecting Arrow or Eureka to have scored that and do the proper treatment

Given the Germans' love of all things Asian cinema and HK in particular, it's at least possible one of their boutique labels releases Infernal Affairs on UHD and with a bit more luck, they might not be contractually obliged not to add English subs. But yeah, it's a bit disappointing that Arrow or Eureka either didn't show interest or were outbid by Criterion.

[dwk]

No the right thread for this, but looking at the caps of Infernal Affairs on Criterion's site and a number of them seem a little waxy/overly grain managed to me. Obviously the caps on the site aren't 100% representative of the masters, but I think they are close enough to assume a UHD wouldn't offer much of an upgrade. But I could be wrong (and, with In the Mood for Love getting a UHD with its overly grain managed master...)

[yoloswegmaster]

No the right thread for this, but looking at the caps of Infernal Affairs on Criterion's site and a number of them seem a little waxy/overly grain managed to me. Obviously the caps on the site aren't 100% representative of the masters, but I think they are close enough to assume a UHD wouldn't offer much of an upgrade. But I could be wrong (and, with In the Mood for Love getting a UHD with its overly grain managed master...)

I honestly thought I was the only one who seeing the strange grain management ever since the stills were uploaded to the Janus site but I just chalked that up to the images being overtly compressed. I also recall tenia saying that he was told by another person who had seen the restorations at the Lumiere Festival last year that the restorations had looked to be grain managed (he also said to take that with a grain of salt though).

[ryannichols7]

well that completely kills the chances of an English friendly 4K edition of Infernal Affairs, I think most of us were expecting Arrow or Eureka to have scored that and do the proper treatment

Given the Germans' love of all things Asian cinema and HK in particular, it's at least possible one of their boutique labels releases Infernal Affairs on UHD and with a bit more luck, they might not be contractually obliged not to add English subs. But yeah, it's a bit disappointing that Arrow or Eureka either didn't show interest or were outbid by Criterion.

that could for sure suffice (but now seeing the grain management comments, we may have another ITMFL situation). I think the other disappointment too is how well the Hong Kong titles (we will not mention W**g K*r W*i) have been treated supplement wise by literally every label so far, I know I'm not alone in praising how excellent the Shawscope supplements are, many of them arguably more enjoyable and endearing than the films themselves. I figured Arrow or Eureka would hit the trilogy and do a really blown out edition with commentaries and such, but instead we just get Criterion using a lot of archival stuff and a mere one new interview

[dwk]

The Shawscope extras are mostly archival stuff, with the first box having around 10 or so newly produced special features.

Archival stuff can often be better than newly produced feautes with someone not involved in the production/industry. First hand knowledge vs someone regurgitating something they read.

[yoloswegmaster]

Don't forget that a lot of the Eureka H.K. releases tend to also only contain archival interviews with the main stars/directors. Even the commentaries that Eureka have tend to only come from Frank Djeng and Mike Leeder + Arne Venema, with the former being more suited for select-scene commentaries rather than full length ones and the latter being said to be sloppy and inaccurate.

[dwk]

This criticism is for all labels, I wish more effort was put into including critical voices from the country of origin. So more Japanese critics on Japanese films,more Hong Kong critics on Hong Kong films, etc.

I understand budget issues prevent this, but after 20+ years of this stuff, I'm tired of the European and American voices dominating the stories around these films.