tenia wrote: ↑Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:52 am
This looks like a logical reasoning, but aren't import/export of BD releases somewhat limited in quantities anyway ? I remember Nick saying that nothing replaces a domestic release anyway, so you'd think Criterion don't have anything really to protect outside of the States because the utmost majority of the US market buys US releases anyway. I'd also suppose that because of how the market plunged, it might be even less interesting to venture into something like this now, even if it's logistically simpler, that just doing NTSC DVDs 10 years ago that fits both the UK and and the US.
Right, so it's not so much about importing or exporting as it is about expanding territory. I think you (and Nick) are likely right that most people do not import, and I think there were and are several reasons for Criterion to expand into the UK, but the fact is that Arrow expanded into the US in 2015, and based on their UK catalog, Criterion knows that Arrow would have an interest in many Criterion titles. That's why I don't think it's just coincidence that Criterion came into Arrow's home territory of the UK a year after Arrow came into Criterion's territory of the US. As I said, it's entirely possible that Criterion may have been considering entering the UK for several years, but I think Arrow's move into the US probably caused Criterion to fast-track any plans they may have had.
tenia wrote: ↑Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:52 am
I also suspect regarding some power play with Arrow that technically speaking, their line-ups are so different that I'd have a hard time thinking Criterion can feel threatened by Arrow. Arrow US are currently mostly Video releases, thus titles Criterion would never have released, with only a few titles playing as overlap (Distant Voices Still Lives, Black Venus or A Fish Called Wanda). Maybe they prefer to act now than letting Arrow take more market and grow furthermore, but I doubt they would overlap more, simply because Arrow's customers want Arrow to do Arrow stuff, not Criterion.
I would have to disagree. It's pretty clear that Criterion don't feel threatened
enough by Arrow (or anyone else in the UK) enough to start up a fully-fledged UK division and acquire UK-only titles, but I think they view Arrow as a growing concern regardless of the fact that Arrow's Arrow Video horror titles are their most popular ones. So far, I think the response to Arrow Video US has been pretty positive, and they seem to have grown quite a bit since 2015, and they added Arrow Academy to the US in 2017, which is a pretty obvious threat to Criterion. Just look at the list of
Arrow Academy US releases in 2017 and 2018--most of those titles would probably fit well with Criterion, and I'm sure they probably specifically wanted at least a few of them. Certainly, almost all the directors represented by the US Arrow Academy line have also been in the Criterion Collection. But, the most concerning issue for Criterion is probably that Arrow have many more overlapping titles in the UK that they could potentially outbid Criterion for in the US in the future, like the Fassbinder films, for example. Also, other labels are obviously watching what is going on, so another concern for Criterion would be that not "answering" Arrow's move in to the US might embolden other labels from the UK, Australia or even other territories to stake out a claim in the US video market. Remember, Carlotta in France appears to have tried this (with distribution assistance from Kino), and I think they pretty much failed, but as Arrow succeeds, other companies may try, too.
tenia wrote: ↑Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:52 am
Regions ? Technically, most of Europe was Region 2 for DVD, just like they're Region B now. Criterion could just have pored through France, Germany, and a few other markets with a DVD R2 release already at the time.
But again,
tenia, producing a DVD to a different picture standard is probably more work than simply porting an the contents of an entire Blu-ray Disc. The point of Criterion UK seems to be that the work has already been finished for the US release, and all Criterion need do is pay Sony for UK distribution, and simply as a side-effect of the larger Blu-ray regions, Criterion could potentially reach more customers (mainly in Australia, I suppose) than they could with R2 PAL DVD anyway. I very much doubt that Criterion care about expanding beyond the UK, but just having fully-compatible Region B discs means more people in that region will import those discs, anyway, as a sort of bonus.
tenia wrote: ↑Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:52 am
Now however, what bothers me more are the purely technicalities of these silly drawbacks.
For instance, how Criterion choose which title they want to "protect" ? We've seen in the recent past they were able to select a title that ended up un-releasable and it took them no time to find another one to replace it.
Why bothering doing all this if it's to miss the simpler thing like : who has the rights for this movie there ? You'd suppose anybody they subcontracted to handle this thing in the UK know this stuff, but seemingly, they hired the persons who actually don't.
These are questions I also have, and it's why I feel like Criterion UK is really only meant to buy up UK licenses of films Criterion has already released on Blu-ray in the US. It makes little sense to enter the UK with barely (if any?) physical presence. Do they even have an office in the UK? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't and everything really goes through Sony UK. It makes even less sense to enter the UK without releasing DVDs, and certainly, it makes no sense to announce titles and then pull them after they are already available for pre-order, but that's happened twice in two months now.