'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.1

[psufootball07]

Yeah, yeah, but who doesnt already own Pierrot? You should be shot if you raise your hand.

[Tom Hagen]

Pierrot on Blu!

This month's honorary recepient of the Kagemusha prize, given to the Blu title that's "close enough to the one we actually wanted to release, but subsequently lost the rights to."

[souvenir]

Le Jour se lève is up in the Essential Art House line

[Tom Hagen]

Glad they're making it available. As well as two other titles making their Criterion debuts on the Essential Arthouse line.

[kaujot]

Are we overloading their server? The site is slow as hell and not always loading their CSS files.

Edit: That Hamilton Woman

Edit(2): Homicide!

[Fiery Angel]

That's it? Don't tell me The NY Times was wrong about Wings of Desire!

[Daze]

So many pages to check now. I see 5 new titles and 2 new Blu-Rays:

New Criterion spine #s:
Homicide
That Hamilton Woman

Essential Art House:
Mayerling
Gervaise
Le Jour se Leve

Criterion Blu-Ray:
Complete Monterey Pop
Pierrot Le Fou

[kaujot]

I think at least one more will be announced later in the week.

[Cinephrenic]

Great, but they are stealing away from the mainline releases. We're down to two a month for the mainline, which is the creme-de-la-creme of the whole company. The focus should be if anything, Blu-ray releases. I still think the idea sucks or they need to expand their production by having more people on the job, keeping Eclipse/Arthouse Janus separate.

[denti alligator]

I'm really surprised there's no Eclipse.

Where are all those long-promised titles. Homicide. Great. Thanks. But at the rate of one per month we'll never get to ... People on Sunday or Wings of Desire.

[Cronenfly]

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the only other title planned for this month was Wings of Desire, and that The Human Condition's move to September means Wings is now going to be an October title...

[Highway 61]

Which makes you wonder what October release they pushed back to accommodate Wings. . .

Hope the three previously unreleased Art House titles are gems, because otherwise this is yet another dud month.

[Flike]

TCM fodder and a Mamet, oh boy.

[jbeall]

Pretty underwhelming, and it's becoming a trend.

[psufootball07]

August and September, no thanks, I'll pass. Thank god I have Seventh Seal, Last Year at Marienbad, and some Godard's I have yet to see to pass the time...

[fdm]

Great, but they are stealing away from the mainline releases. We're down to two a month for the mainline, which is the creme-de-la-creme of the whole company. The focus should be if anything, Blu-ray releases. I still think the idea sucks or they need to expand their production by having more people on the job, keeping Eclipse/Arthouse Janus separate.

Perhaps if more people were to buy rather than rent or borrow...

[Cinephrenic]

Janus Arthouse line has become another Eclipse as stated above, to release films that can't be paired. I wouldn't be surprised to see films like The Eternal Return, La Symphonie pastorale, Les Visiteurs du soir, other Bergmans released.

[kinjitsu]

I'm really surprised there's no Eclipse.

If I remember correctly, Nikkatsu Noir was announced rather late in the day.

[AisleSeat]

Great, but they are stealing away from the mainline releases. We're down to two a month for the mainline, which is the creme-de-la-creme of the whole company. The focus should be if anything, Blu-ray releases.

Don't you mean to say the focus should be mainline releases, i.e. non-Blu-ray releases?

I think at least one more will be announced later in the week.

While another mainline release may be announced later, I'm doubtful since they announced only two last month and now only two this month. Until the economy rebounds and DVD sales pick up, Criterion may be singing the Recession Blues. Has anyone heard of any staff reductions?

[Cinephrenic]

Great, but they are stealing away from the mainline releases. We're down to two a month for the mainline, which is the creme-de-la-creme of the whole company. The focus should be if anything, Blu-ray releases.

Don't you mean to say the focus should be mainline releases, i.e. non-Blu-ray releases?

Blu-ray is the new format and they usually (not always) couple them with new releases in the mainline. That is why I don't think it should be a seperate line. Most people are usually going for the Blu-ray for certain releases to avoid double-dipping later.

[ouatitw]

this is so boring, another month I won't be purchasing anything.

[Flike]

While another mainline release may be announced later, I'm doubtful since they announced only two last month and now only two this month. Until the economy rebounds and DVD sales pick up, Criterion may be singing the Recession Blues. Has anyone heard of any staff reductions?

But what of the diffusion line(s)? Surely they make very little back from them.

Criterion is just continuously diluting the label. We're getting worthwhile titles dumped into Essential Art House now, Eclipse releases are few and far between, they've scaled back to two mainline releases a month now, essentially licensing the label for use on stuff like Benjamin Button.

Off the top of my head, Che, Cronos, Monsoon Wedding, Revanche, Shanghai Express, and Wings of Desire have all been "confirmed" as coming this year, several (or most, rather) very recently. So, with the traditional single release month of December, how do they plan on playing catch-up? Are they just going to close the year out with a slew of contemporary releases?

The only title I've needed at release this year was the Painleve set and after The Human Condition I'm not sure what else they have up their sleeves that I absolutely need. The Blu-ray line has been pretty swell, updating stuff folks actually want, but otherwise this seems to be their worst year in several.

[ianungstad]

Yeah, they have announced a lot of titles for release this year. I think Downhill Racer, Silent Sternburg's, The Cook the Thief his Wife her Lover, and more Costa-Gavras was mentioned as well for 2009. With December not being a proper release month...that's a lot of titles to cram into two months. I'm sure several of these are going to be bumped to 2010 if not indefinitly. (So where are those special editions of The Red Balloon and White Mane? :-" )

[Thomas J.]

A month without quota, really*, and it's worse than with it. Go figure. ](*,)

*They shoved their French releases onto Essential Arthouse, so...

[Highway 61]

Most people are usually going for the Blu-ray for certain releases to avoid double-dipping later.

Definitely. I'd buy Homicide in a heartbeat, but I'll be holding out to see if ends up on Blu in the next year or two (frankly, I don't see why Criterion isn't releasing it on Blu right now, because unlike, say, Rossellini or Godard, Mamet has major appeal with the AICN and HTF demographics, so I'm sure it would sell very well).

I wonder if Criterion regrets pricing their Blu-rays equal to their SD counterparts? If they had charged an extra five or ten bucks for them, would they be able to put out more titles like the upcoming Godards, and thus guarantee sales on both the SD and HD fronts?