Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[Glowingwabbit]

THE GUNFIGHTER

Fucking A right. Can't believe Criterion picked this up, in a good way. One of the best Westerns ever, what a great choice

The one bright spot out of those. Looking forward to it and hopefully its stacked. I'm fine with a light month considering the Varda/WCF sets and whatever boxsets they announce for the rest of 2020.

[mteller]

Whoa, what a weird coincidence, I'm in the middle of CLAUDINE right now.

[therewillbeblus]

I guess Parasite is their October-themed film? Weird

[domino harvey]

I feel so bad for Signal One right now

I sold my Fox box set with the film YEARS ago because it was allegedly coming. Signal One had their chance

[Glowingwabbit]

Titles are back up

[Bressonaire]

Criterion has had Claudine for a while. I had it on my May list after I stumbled on the photo credit here:

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2020/02 ... 970s-films

[Roscoe]

I was surprised to see THE GUNFIGHTER, and CLAUDINE -- were either of those on the radar?

[KJones77]

Well my German copy of The Gunfighter better start working on finding a new home.

[Drucker]

I was surprised to see THE GUNFIGHTER, and CLAUDINE -- were either of those on the radar?

Have to imagine Claudine is likely the first of what will be a continued push to release more work by black directors, given Criterion's commitment to social justice that they emailed about at the start of George Floyd protests.

[domino harvey]

Except that it is a Fox license, so they were planning to release it far before it became timely to do so

[domino harvey]

...and the director is white

[jwd5275]

Criterion has had Claudine for a while. I had it on my May list after I stumbled on the photo credit here:

https://www.idsnews.com/article/2020/02 ... 970s-films

But isn't the Criterion Pictures that the photo is attributed to a division of Fox and wholly different from the Criterion Collection?

[Ribs]

Also Criterion has been making a clear concerted effort to release films from underrepresented filmmakers for considerably longer than June.

[kcota17]

It’s surprising that Memories of a Murder wasn’t announced as well but maybe they still needed a bit more time on it. Maybe it’ll be Spine 1055 since Parasite is the latest at 1054.

[dwk]

Neon was going to do a theatrical run for Memories of Murder, so Criterion's release isn't happening until that happens.

[Minkin]

Sleepily approaching with our morning coffee, we find another Speculation Rodeo! (Oct 2020 edition)

Parasite - Confirmed multiple times (I didn't write down who/what/when though, sorry)

The Gunfighter - A surprise, no speculation!

Claudine - A surprise, no speculation!

The Hit - March of random upgrades

Pierrot le fou - Random Studio Canal Rescue + was on Criterion Channel with Janus logo
======================================================
225 potential upgrades remain
52 mainline titles are still OOP (the bulk of which are Studio Canal)
==================
As for today's All-Around Cowpoke, many competitors came in with equal showings, so its up to the judges to pick a winner based on extra fancy riding. So today's All-Around Cowpoke goes to:

movielocke

For being one of several to correctly guess Parasite. As always the golden lariat is available at the concession stand.


Until next month, the speculation rodeo will return, but its never too early to be prepared for Halloween!

[hadyn]

Neon was going to do a theatrical run for Memories of Murder, so Criterion's release isn't happening until that happens.

Could this possibly also apply to the WKW set? I remember the plan was for that to be a theatrical tour as well.

[senseabove]

If Neon is the US rightsholder and is licensing Memories to Janus, they probably have more say over it getting theatrical re-release before disc release, and want it to have one more keenly to due to recent Oscar winner carry-over audience, whereas Janus themselves are the rightsholders for the WKW movies (mostly), and no one will be worried about "from the Director of a Best Picture winner" getting a wider audience into theaters for them...

[Luke M]

If Neon is the US rightsholder and is licensing Memories to Janus, they probably have more say over it getting theatrical re-release before disc release, and want it to have one more keenly to due to recent Oscar winner carry-over audience, whereas Janus themselves are the rightsholders for the WKW movies (mostly), and no one will be worried about "from the Director of a Best Picture winner" getting a wider audience into theaters for them...

This is good to know about the WKW films. But Neon still holding onto a potential theatrical run during *gestures to all this* is disappointing to say the least.

[feihong]

If Pierrot Le Fou is a genuine upgrade, I wonder if there is potential for them to upgrade other early blu ray releases?

Black Orpheus is one I think really deserved a far better blu ray transfer than it received. The picture quality could have been much sharper; the color could have been a lot better delineated. And of course, Children of Paradise was robbed of just about every benefit of the medium.

[Ribs]

I’d imagine this was just serendipity of a newer resto being available and they happened to need to rerelease it rather than a new habit - though it remains odd still that Monterey Pop of all things was the one title to get such an upgrade outside of an OOP rescue or box set reissue. Janus was also going to tour the newly restored La haine (which I believe is getting a 4K disc in France) this summer, so would seem another pretty likely candidate if this were to become a trend.

[movielocke]

As for today's All-Around Cowpoke, many competitors came in with equal showings, so its up to the judges to pick a winner based on extra fancy riding. So today's All-Around Cowpoke goes to:

movielocke

For being one of several to correctly guess Parasite. As always the golden lariat is available at the concession stand.

yee haw! a shame my random ass guess of the Dreyer box upgrade didn't come to fruition too!

[HitchcockLang]

I’m often quite ignorant as to how rights work and who has what and what other complications exist, but does the recent cooperation between Criterion and Studio Canal bode well for spine #1 making it to blu-ray?

[therewillbeblus]

Isn't Lionsgate the U.S. rightsholder, and isn't their '12 blu-ray still in print?

[schellenbergk]

THE HIT was the other title. I'll be saving money in October, it seems.

Glad you said that. I'm a bit underwhelmed.