Ribs wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 1:17 am
I feel quite strongly that WB will be releasing it in the US themselves. Feltenstein said it took a lot of convincing over multiple meetings with executives to allow them to consider giving up something of the caliber of Citizen Kane to a licensor but he really felt it was a right fit considering Criterion’s history with the film (and while they’ve owned it many years, it wasn’t even a WB film to start with!). But Casablanca is not the same tier at all - it’s a movie that IS Warner Bros., the brand itself is in many ways still derived from the film. I don’t really see a good argument for why Criterion should be a better fit for it at all. Citizen Kane was not “the floodgates are open - expect every major WB title!” but a special exemption for a title I would not say WB has ever treated the same way as even things like Gone With The Wind and Singin’ in the Rain that they bought into somewhere along the way.
I agree with you about WB releasing
Casablanca themselves (although I'd prefer CC doing it). But this is different than the
Citizen Kane licensing. As my source told me back then, he had heard as far back as 2015 (during a
Chimes of Midnight restoration screening) that Criterion obtained the rights for the 3 Welles RKO releases from WB. That WB is much different than the Warner Discovery today, largely because the state of physical media is much different. What that means going forward time will tell. But I expect Criterion to land more old Hollywood titles going forward especially if they are willing to release in 4K.
bad future wrote: Fri Aug 12, 2022 12:54 am
I mean, it would still be a big WB release that got leaked by retailers ahead of schedule even if the reason they're waiting to announce it is because they're coordinating with Criterion. Maybe I'm missing something but that feels to me like it would fit within Feltenstein's usual concerns, with the Criterion clue being only incidental. Maybe that's not any different from what you're saying though; even if he's not intentionally wading into teasing Criterion's plans it would be cool to know those podcasts could have relevant info anyway about more than the usual WAC stuff
I don't really see Feltenstein teasing for Criterion. He hasn't done that before without mentioning Criterion by name. And I think that Criterion having not sent out a
Casablanca clue is pretty much an indication they are not releasing it. This is too big a title not to hint as it's coming