Criterion and Fox / MGM / Universal

[knives]

Some possibilities that I think Criterion would be interested in out of Focus's catalogue:

Lost Highway (current DVD has no special features)

I really doubt Lost Highway considering their adherences to directors, and well you know Lynch by now. Same reason we'll never see any Allen.

[kaujot]

There's no way it'll happen, but I'd jump all over a Criterion Lost in Translation, especially if Murray participated (in a commentary, perhaps?).

[Jeff]

Cookie's Fortune (out of print)

Cookie's Fortune does indeed seem like the most likely possibility. I hope that Criterion would be willing to use the commentary that Altman recorded for the earlier disc.

[jaredsap]

I really doubt Lost Highway considering their adherences to directors, and well you know Lynch by now.

Lynch is not against supplements. Have you seen the TWIN PEAKS box?

[flyonthewall2983]

I heard somewhere else that David had some issues with Criterion while they were working on an edition of Eraserhead, which ultimately didn't get released.

[Tribe]

I really doubt Lost Highway considering their adherences to directors, and well you know Lynch by now.

Lynch is not against supplements. Have you seen the TWIN PEAKS box?

Lynch may not have had much of a choice in that regard.

[oldsheperd]

Speaking of Allen "Deconstructing Harry" was on IFC last night. It would be a good addition to the CC. I'm sure there wouldn't be much in the way of supplements perhaps a visual essay on this and the comparison with "Wild Strawberries".

[swo17]

I heard somewhere else that David had some issues with Criterion while they were working on an edition of Eraserhead, which ultimately didn't get released.

I think you may be referring to this interview.

The biggest disappointment for all of us right now is Eraserhead, which is a title that we never announced. We were in year-long conversations with David Lynch. And it's one of these things where David Lynch is a very particular person. He has very peculiar ideas about how he wants to do things. And he doesn't want to be rushed to make up his mind. And he wants to do what he wants to do, in the way that he wants to do it. He doesn't want his privacy infringed, and he doesn't want to be reading about himself. We were in very protective conversations with him about Eraserhead that were all positive, over a long period of time. Suddenly, there's a rumor on the web that we were actually doing it, and had announced it. At some point, I even saw street dates posted for it. You know, this is something that never even made it on to our actual production load. It had been, at one point, penciled into a schedule -- if we could finish up negotiations in time. But that's as close as it ever come. We had certainly never announced anything about it. That's upsetting.

[flyonthewall2983]

That sucks, if for just that all the work Criterion did in keeping good harmony with David was destroyed by rumors floating on the web.

[ianungstad]

Some Mulvaney responses regarding Focus stuff:

1. Thank you for your email! To the best of my knowledge, we do not have any plans to release either "21 Grams" or "Broken Flowers".
2. Thank you for your email! To the best of my knowledge, we do not have any current plans to release "Brick".

[domino harvey]

What would Brick, a loaded DVD which sells for under seven dollars nationwide, possibly gain from Criterion treatment?

[jaredsap]

2. Thank you for your email! To the best of my knowledge, we do not have any current plans to release "Brick".

Probably nothing but the addition of the word "current" in the second response is interesting. Any thoughts on that?

My thoughts are I'll be collecting $10 US from domino harvey if BRICK is ever released by Criterion.

[CSM126]

What would Brick, a loaded DVD which sells for under seven dollars nationwide, possibly gain from Criterion treatment?

A Wacky C and the hard-ons of obsessive collectors everywhere

[Cronenfly]

With the Focus door open, one title that would seem very likely is Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration, which would go well with the already-mentioned The Idiots as a Dogme two-fer.

[domino harvey]

And Mifune is OOP from Sony. Could we get a Dogme 95 box port?

[knives]

(don't think that Fox/ Universal actually has the rights to this) Speaking of Danish films, I'd love to see an OAR release for Adam's Apples.

[Harmonov]

And Mifune is OOP from Sony. Could we get a Dogme 95 box port?

Bring it on.

[ianungstad]

Focus also has Abel Ferrera's The Addiction, which has never been released on dvd in North America and seems like the kind of film Criterion would be interested in. They also have Ferrera's The Funeral, which was released in a now OOP pan and scan featureless dvd. I have not seen either but quite like Ms.45 and Bad Lieutenant and am curious about his other work.

[swo17]

I'm not a huge Ferrara fan, but The Funeral is probably the most I've enjoyed one of his films. The P&S DVD of it though certainly needs (sorry) a funeral of its own.

[colinr0380]

It would certainly be good to have another Lili Taylor film in the collection after Short Cuts (and if they went for The Funeral, Chris Penn's best performance, similar in nature to but surpassing the one from the Altman film), as well as another 90s take on the vampire myth to accompany Cronos.

The only other independent vampire film from the time that springs to mind as being 'Criterion worthy' would be Nadja, with Elina Löwensohn, Martin Donovan and Peter Fonda. I'm not sure if Criterion could get their hands on that one but if they did that would also provide another fine addition to a '90s vampire' collection. There would also be the Slacker connection since the vampire point of view sequences were filmed using the Fisher Price Pixelvision camera, the same as the nightclub sequence from the Linklater film (I'm not sure whether any other films before or since have used that method).

[ianungstad]

Another possible title from Focus Features that Criterion could pick up is Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill which has never had a dvd release. (It should be part of the Grammercy catalogue still...thus in control of Focus Features)

[knives]

That makes sense, but I doubt it would be announced until the fall.

[DrBanan]

... Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill which has never had a dvd release.

It has been out in R2 land for a while. It is a good transfer of a wonderful film, definitely worthy of a Criterion release IMO.

[ianungstad]

Peter Greenaway's Baby of Macan was a Polygram release as well. It should be with Focus now unless the rights have reverted back to the production company (unlikely, as it would have been released by now if it had. I could see Focus sitting on this indefinitly)

There are so many interesting possibilities when you take a look at the catalogues of the various indie studios that were bought and consolidated under the Focus banner. I hope Criterion has a lengthy licensing agreement with Shamus and crew, as I don't see Focus putting out titles like Baby of Macan, King of the Hill, Wedding Banquet, The Addiction, etc.

[mikeohhh]

...and let's not forget Rosetta in these discussions, which would be my #1 pick from the Focus pool.