'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.2

[Tribe]

On the Criterion Facebook page, someone asked about the status of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. The response:

Not looking good at the moment...

Actually, the original question asked also about other Greenaway films, in addition to The Cook, The Thief...so it's not clear whether the response applies to both or just the other.

[onedimension]

Facebook is for hipsters?

Re: Vigo v. Bay etc. - the Internet makes it possible to forget how esoteric most of our beloved films are for the majority of people, even educated ones.

the projection room no one uses = my soul

[Minkin]

Rory L. Aronsky: If the legal matters were ever to be settled, would the Criterion Collection consider releasing "Dick Tracy"? To me, it would be perfect for a Criterion release, especially with Warren Beatty's participation

The Criterion Collection: Not in the cards

Possibly one of the nicest ways Criterion could have told Rory off.

[ianungstad]

C'mon guys. I'm sure they don't mind a few good questions every couple of days but flooding their facebook page is a pretty good way to make sure that NONE of them get answered IMO.

Anyways, I emailed Detour asking about a possible TAPE as part of the IFC deal, no go:

Hi Ian,

There are currently no plans to do a new TAPE DVD for Criterion. I think SubUrbia is next for us and Criterion, but nothing has moved forward with that yet.

Best,

Kirsten McMurray
Assistant to Richard Linklater
Detour Inc.

[StevenJ0001]

They're doing a very good job of keeping up with the Facebook questions so far! The direct responses from them are much appreciated (and I'm going to limit my questions to one a month or so.)

Here's my little Q&A:

Hi Criterion! Any chance that you could release any of the key Chinese 5th Generation films? Yellow Earth, in particular, isn't available on DVD anywhere in the world as far as I know, and it's an incredibly significant film.

We'd love to, but it's been difficult to pin down rights. The Yellow Earth thing is killing us too.

[ianungstad]

On the Warner deal : We don't usually announce or talk about deals, and as far as we can tell, most of the buzz about this one started on various forums, not from anything we said. We'd love to have a working relationship with Warner, but at the moment there is no such thing as "the Warner deal." Once there is, and there are actual titles to announce, you can be sure we'll let you know.

I find that amusing considering Kirsten re-confirmed SubUrbia less than an hour ago! They probably don't want further leaks and risk pissing Warners off.

I've already asked Cri too many questions but if anyone wants to ask about some of the MIA Wilder titles like Fedora, Five Graves to Cairo, Foreign Affair, be my guest! :-"

[Arthur House]

More Good News from Facebook:

any plans on weekend and vivre sa vie?

The Criterion CollectionYes, but no schedule

We knew about Vivre Sa Vie, but now Weekend as well. I've been slowly going through Godard's 60s films in reverse order and had forgotten how crummy New Yorker's disc was.

[Jeff]

If that is confirmation of Weekend, it means so much more...like they may have picked up a chunk of the New Yorker library!

[kaujot]

I thought it was rumored that they had picked up Week-End well before the New Yorker library.

[souvenir]

On the Warner deal : We don't usually announce or talk about deals, and as far as we can tell, most of the buzz about this one started on various forums, not from anything we said. We'd love to have a working relationship with Warner, but at the moment there is no such thing as "the Warner deal." Once there is, and there are actual titles to announce, you can be sure we'll let you know.

Actually, news of "the Warner deal," I believe, was first brought to light by Criterion producer Kim Hendrickson's comments at the Wexner Center in Ohio. Everyone here learned about it from this post.

[domino harvey]

To be fair, Kim Hendrickson posts here under the name oldsheperd

[justeleblanc]

I thought it was rumored that they had picked up Week-End well before the New Yorker library.

That was my guess as well. Their DVD went out of print about a year before NYer went under. I'd love to know if they sold the film to Criterion/Janus, if NYer lost the rights, or if it was something else entirely, but there's no way to ever find this stuff out I don't think.

Is there a list of other NYer titles now rumored to be in hands of Criterion. I only know of Resnais's My American Uncle.

[Arthur House]

I'll buy that. Looking back at the DVDs, I'm willing to hypothesize that New Yorker had already lost the rights from Gaumont (who owns the film) before they got shuttered. The recent stateside non-Criterion 60s Godards (Chinoise, Gai Savior & Married Woman ) were all licensed by Gaumont to Koch Lorber, the former two while NYer was still in business, but (IIRC) after their Weekend went OOP.

[kaujot]

Is there a list of other NYer titles now rumored to be in hands of Criterion. I only know of Resnais's My American Uncle.

The Bresson films, or at least A Man Escaped.

[LQ]

...and to my query about La Dentellière & Entre Nous:

Entre Nous is a possibility... Lacemaker maybe less so, but also not out of the question.

Happy to have even the most vague response finally, as I have been emailing about the two of them for months now to no avail.

[Tribe]

On the Criterion Facebook page, someone asked about the status of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. The response:

Not looking good at the moment...

I asked for clarification whether the comment "not looking good" applied to The Cook The Thief or only any additional Greenaway titles. The response was a "yes," which I take to mean none of it is looking good.

[fdm]

...and to my query about La Dentellière & Entre Nous:

Entre Nous is a possibility... Lacemaker maybe less so, but also not out of the question.

Happy to have even the most vague response finally, as I have been emailing about the two of them for months now to no avail.

I still have a spot reserved on my shelf for that Kurys box they're going to be putting out... some day... at least it's a "possibility".

[kaujot]

I asked for clarification whether the comment "not looking good" applied to The Cook The Thief or only any additional Greenaway titles. The response was a "yes," which I take to mean none of it is looking good.

Sad Christmas.

[Napier]

Someone should ask them what's taking so long to come up with with an exchange program for those flimsy cardboard cases for the early Blu-ray releases.

[JAP]

Actually, news of "the Warner deal," I believe, was first brought to light by Criterion producer Kim Hendrickson's comments at the Wexner Center in Ohio. Everyone here learned about it from this post.

And lets not forget that Warner admitted there were talks for a limited number of (contemporary?) titles to be (eventually) licensed to Criterion on this year's live-chat hosted by the Home Theatre Forum (full transcript):

<Tor_Hestad> Any truth to the rumours regarding a licensing deal with Criterion? If true, could
you elaborate, and are they/you releasing SEs of Zabriskie Point and/or Badlands? Thanks for making the WBArchive titles available worldwide!

<warnerbros> Since it was 'leaked' through the internet, we have had discussion with Criterion
regarding a limited group of titles at the behest of their respective directors.

[Brian C]

Have there been any rumors about a Criterion release of THE PAWNBROKER? Seems like a likely candidate if they're working on a Lumet. It's more well known than widely seen, it's only been released in R1 (as far as I can tell) in a bare-bones release, and a Criterion partner (Lionsgate) apparently now owns the rights.

[ianungstad]

My guess is The Deadly Affair from Sony. Never been released on DVD, based off a John Le Carre Novel, has Smiley and other characters that were used in The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. Suppose to be a pretty good British spy film.

I'm sure there are other good options for Lumet too..

[Finch]

Criterion confirmed on FB that they're working on Kiarostami's Close-Up ("not the easiest master") and chances for a Blu of 8 1/2 are "50-50".
Suzuki fans might be interested to hear that a Branded To Kill remaster is planned though not on the schedule as yet. Personally bummed that they won't touch The Insider.

[swo17]

chances for a Blu of 8 1/2 are "50-50".

Actually, the question someone asked was about the chance of getting Blu-rays soon of Seven Samurai or 8 1/2. Criterion's response was 50%. Clearly, they are just messing with us at this point.

[Antoine Doinel]

What is the progress of those movies you announced oh so long ago. Like the rumors of Cronos or Che.

We never announced them. We're just working on them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpj0t2ozPWY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WTF.