'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.2

[domino harvey]

More random, unfounded speculation :

On Facebook Criterion said there was another Sturges in the works. Any guesses as to what film it will be? I had asked about his unreleased Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend. That was shot down on Facebook, so we know it's not that one. (Not that it was a likely candidate anyways)

I think Jeff had mentioned that he thought it would be another upgrade of one of the titles from the Universal box, which makes sense. I'll also toss out another possibility, Paramount's Miracle of Morgan's Creek, which they discontinued back in Oct :

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=66748" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't know how good the supplements on the Paramount disc were but it did have two short featurettes. A 15 minute piece about the film and another 7 minute piece about the censors. I suppose there are still a number of supplements that could be added to it. I would be happy if it was any of the titles from the Universal box set too.

If it's not Morgan's Creek, it sucks that Paramount decided to retire the title. I don't see them revisiting it themselves anytime soon.

The extras on the Paramount disc were actually pretty good and a pleasant surprise-- full of interviews with those involved and it wasn't a total fluff hagiography piece on Sturges. Of course, if Criterion really wanted to do a deluxe edition, they'd throw Tashlin's Jerry Lewis remake Rock-A-Bye Baby on the second disc

[Tribe]

With Miramax now dead, will any of the rights to their films be released from Disney? Just curious.

From today's NY Times Media Decoder blog:

January 31, 2010, 3:13 pm
Disney Looking To Sell What’s Left Of Miramax
By BROOKS BARNES

The Walt Disney Company has been quietly shopping what remains of its Miramax film unit and has secured between seven and 10 interested bidders, according to a mergers and acquisitions expert with knowledge of the process.

The initial discussions indicate a price of over $700 million for the Miramax name and its 700-film library, which is essentially all that remains of the once-mighty art house label, according to the person involved who declined to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

The interest is sharply higher than a year ago, when Disney briefly floated a Miramax sale but reconsidered due to the recession, reflecting a loosening of the debt markets. It may also indicate renewed interest in investing in entertainment.

A Disney spokeswoman declined to comment.

Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, who founded Miramax in 1979, are not among the bidders – so far. The Weinstein brothers sold Miramax to Disney in 1993 but ran it until 2005, when they left to found the Weinstein Company.

One potential buyer is Summit Entertainment, the privately-owned studio that is awash in cash following its two “Twilight” blockbusters. Summit does not have a large library and, despite its success, could use the steady if diminishing DVD and television-resale income that comes from one.

Analysts estimate that the Miramax library generates more than $300 million in annual DVD and television revenue, but warn that Disney has never broken out a number. A Summit spokesman declined to comment. Deadline.com reported last week that Summit was kicking Miramax’s tires. Other interested parties include several private equity groups and at least one other independent studio, according to the person involved.

Disney expects to move forward with the more serious bidding inquiries in the coming days, according to the person involved, who added that a sale could come within a few months.

Miramax was more responsible than any company for ushering specialty films to the multiplex masses. The library includes such hits as “Pulp Fiction,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Chicago,” “Kill Bill,” “The Queen,” “The English Patient” and “No Country for Old Men.” The films in the Miramax library have been nominated for over 200 Academy Awards.

Disney has wanted to find a new home for the Miramax label for some time as it focuses more intently on big-budget, branded movies. But sale efforts were stymied by the recession and banking crisis.

Instead, Disney has spent the last six months paring the division to the bone. In October it announced that it would close Miramax’s offices and lay off about 50 employees.
The 20 or so employees that remained were integrated into Walt Disney Studios, which took over Miramax’s functions. Six Miramax films await release, including “Last Night,” a drama starring Keira Knightley, and “The Baster,” a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston.

The winnowing of operations likely made the library and brand more attractive; any buyer would most certainly have implemented similar staff reductions. Disney renewed its efforts to sell Miramax as financing became more available and it finished the $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment.

Specialty labels like Miramax were originally intended to tap a growing market for cerebral, low-budget films — and make their corporate owners competitive at the Oscars. But soaring marketing costs and a glut of art films dented the profitability and reliability of boutique divisions. Add in slumping DVD sales, and the economics are extremely difficult.

Disney is in the middle of overhauling its movie operation, which lost money in the last two quarters. The company installed a new chairman in October and has since jettisoned over a dozen top managers, including its top marketing and production executives.

Disney has its moviemaking hands full. In addition to Pixar and its own brand, Disney now has Marvel and a distribution deal with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks production company to mine.

[Flike]

If the Weinsteins don't get their flubby mitts on it, the library might end up with someone that'd be willing to license some pretty high-profile stuff...

[Harmonov]

Tribe -

This = great news to me. I hope somehow Criterion is able to get some of the Miramax titles into the Collection. Ian, perhaps The Crying Game isn't too far away from joining the Collection, which would make sense since I bought it about 6 months ago. That's usually all it takes for Criterion to release an edition of their own.

In a selfish way, even though its existing DVD is about as good as I think it could get, I'd love to see Swingers in the Collection, not for its contribution to the cinematical canon, but becuase it's one of the few films that makes me laugh every time I see.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Does this mean we can expect Chungking Express to go out of print?

[kaujot]

All existing contracts have to be honored. Whether or not Criterion can renegotiate the rights when their license expires is another matter

[Alphonse Doinel]

Exotica would be a nice choice, especially since its been oop for a while.

[swo17]

Exotica would be a nice choice, especially since its been oop for a while.

[Insert joke here about being very very excited about something.]

[Highway 61]

If Criterion does somehow get their hands on the Miramax catalogue, Kiarostami's Through the Olive Trees would be terrific.

[Cinephrenic]

Three Colors Trilogy?

[Harmonov]

Seeing that IFC picked up Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me at Sundance gives me hope that my Jim Thompson trilogy dreams may come to fruition providing that Criterion are able to acquire The Grifters from Miramax. It seems The Killing is highly likely already, yes?

I guess we could make it a quartet with The Getaway, but I'm not the hugest fan of either version.

[captveg]

If Criterion does somehow get their hands on the Miramax catalogue, Kiarostami's Through the Olive Trees would be terrific.

Criterion doesn't have a billion dollars laying around to buy the catalog. Their best chance is for a studio that has an interest in licensing the titles to purchase it and work out an agreement with them for specific films.

Personally, I don't see why Disney doesn't just keep it for themselves.

[Highway 61]

If Criterion does somehow get their hands on the Miramax catalogue, Kiarostami's Through the Olive Trees would be terrific.

Criterion doesn't have a billion dollars laying around to buy the catalog. Their best chance is for a studio that has an interest in licensing the titles to purchase it and work out an agreement with them for specific films.

Naturally, hence my "somehow," which I hoped would imply all the hoops that need to be jumped through in order to license titles in the Miramax catalogue.

Personally, I don't see why Disney doesn't just keep it for themselves.

Me neither. They just put out No Country for Old Men two years ago under the Miramax name, and that was a major critical and commercial success. Why they want to give that up is beyond me, but I'd speculate that it's because Hollywood is becoming increasingly conservative in response to the economic crisis. News that Sony is "rebooting" the Spiderman franchise with a new origin story-centered movie, a mere eight years after making a hugely successful one, seems to me the height of Hollywood's contempt for the public's intelligence and a sign of their complete disinterest in making original movies. And today I here Universal is doing the same for the Bourne franchise. It seems that the studios are thinking that if it's not a franchise, it's not worth the effort. And, of course, we've certainly seen the same trend in classic DVD releases.

[Flike]

Aware the mere mention'll be met with some groans, however, would Criterion have any interest in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? A friend was asking me today why this wasn't out on Blu stateside (which I'd assumed it was), and I didn't know it was with Focus. Thought it odd that they wouldn't rush such a high-profile film out on Blu, though I'm unaware of the DVD treatment. Not that something we deem unnecessary has ever stopped Criterion before...

[Mr Sausage]

Criterion OOP discussion here.

[zachhh]

Antonioni, Michelangelo - RED DESERT (Last Update: 11/08)

no updates on this? the recent R2 blu-ray looks INCREDIBLE though

Welles, Orson - MACBETH - ("possible") (Last Update: 12/09)

Polanski's Macbeth would be a much better addition

[Flike]

Red Desert (in Blu) was one of the titles hinted at in their Wacky New Year email, so I'd imagine they're confident it'll be out sometime this year.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

So a different source informed me that it looks like Criterion is putting out Terry Zwigoff's first film, Louie Bluie, and that there's an oft chance that they're putting out Crumb as well.

Louie Bluie makes sense as it's never had a home video release, but doesn't Crumb have a decent edition?

[Flike]

Crumb has an excellent Sony disc, yeah.

[ianungstad]

Maybe they'll do a special edition of Ghost World via MGM. The supplements on the current disc are nothing to write home about.

Good news if true. I know nothing about the film but I've liked everything by Zwigoff that I've seen. Even Bad Santa I thought was a great comedy and that seems to be his film that has had the most mixed reviews.

[zachhh]

Maybe they'll do a special edition of Ghost World via MGM. The supplements on the current disc are nothing to write home about.

it could even come with a mini version of the official comic

[HarryLong]

Can Beatrice have anything to say about The Scottish Film? It was a work-for-hire for Republic wasn't it? And Republic released the first VHS - which looked very good - before the label got sold, so I assume whoever currently owns the Republic libray (is it Lionsgate again?) owns the film. Snippets of the Voodoo version are on either THE BATTLE OVER CITIZEN KANE or IT'S ALL TRUE, so I don't see a rights issue regarding US release of that footage.
How I'd love me a three-disc sert of Welles' MACBETH.

[zachhh]

someone on IMDB said Zulawski's Possession was in the works for a CC edition [-o<

[tojoed]

Well, if IMDb says so, it must be right.

[zachhh]

it was his grandchild!