The Complete Kubrick

[beamish14]

With regard to A Clockwork Orange, he asked Warner Bros to withdraw it from UK distribution in 1973, and two decades later the Scala Cinema was sued for copyright infringement for hosting an illicit screening—but the plaintiff was Warner Bros, not Kubrick.

So I’m not actually aware of any legal action specifically initiated by this allegedly “highly litigious individual”, but maybe you can fill me in.

He famously sued to block the release of Fail-Safe. He sued the producers of Space: 1999 for being too similar to 2001. He threatened legal action to block a bio in 1970. He threatened to sue HP because they gave sole credit for 2001’s FX to Doug Trumbull in an ad. The ACO lawsuit against the Scala had to go through WB because they owned it and withdrew it from circulation at his behest, but the suit was definitely at his direction.

Wasn’t Trumbull involved with a documentary on 2001 shortly before his death that was unable to be completed? God, what a litigious man

The Space: 1999 suit reminds me of George Lucas suing the makers of the original Battlestar Galactica

[Drucker]

At least one boutique seller, Jesse at DiabolikDVD, won't be selling the set:

My 2 cents about the Kubrick boxset....I think it is a boxset that is priced knowing full well that no one is going to buy it at that price and they need to get at least the BN sale price to make it profitable. Also the reason I won't be carrying it

I know it's not apples to apples, but given how strong the market has been for deluxe box sets of albums over the last 15 years, I don't think this is going to have any trouble selling at all. The idea that this is too expensive or and is at risk of not being profitable seems delirious to me.

People paid $200 for a deluxe edition box set of Black and Blue by The Rolling Stones.

[domino harvey]

I think he means at the price he’d have to sell it at (ie not 50% off) it won’t be profitable for him (because people will buy from BN or Criterion direct instead to get half off). And he’s likely correct

[MichaelB]

Yes, if everyone knows that it'll be sold at half price almost immediately after release date, and if Jesse can't do that without taking a financial hit, why on earth should he get involved?

Obviously, it's going to sell regardless.

[JSC]

Releasing a set like this definitely makes sense from a business perspective, but I have to admit I'm
ambivalent about it (even at half price).

[kekid]

If most people never buy at the MSRP of $600, why don't Criterion set the price at a more reasonable level ($500?) and have promotions set at 30 percent discount? The actual selling price will be the same as 50% off the higher price, but will allow more boutique sellers to participate. I used to buy mostly through Amazon or B&N in the past, but these chains have little knowledge or interest in supporting this niche business, so now I use Orbit or Diabolik whenever possible, because they understand better my needs as a customer.

[mfunk9786]

the big pull here extras wise is new commentaries on 2001 and The Shining by Michael Benson and Lee Unkrich, respectively. I haven't read either book that these gentlemen have written, but knowing Unkrich from Pixar I trust that these will be fantastic tracks

Really hoping they've gone to the effort to include commentary tracks on every film here. Not optimistic, but hoping. These seem like the hardest ones to get WB/the Kubrick estate to approve tracks for, so maybe?

[tenia]

It's much more attractive to have a higher price but with a bigger discount. That's why in France, annual clearance sales are heavily surveiled by authorities : because some shops would artificially increase the supposedly-original price to claim it's getting a bigger discount, when it actually was never sold at the original price.
That's just how our brains function, and is a known cognitive bias.

The issue with Criterion is their lack of more dynamic and frequent sales, meaning that once you get that you can simply wait out for their twice-a-year 50%-off sales, there are few reasons to pay any of their release more than this. I've picked this decades ago, and ha e pretty much since only bought their stuff at this period (especially since their UK pricing brought so little relief on this domain).

[mfunk9786]

At least one boutique seller, Jesse at DiabolikDVD, won't be selling the set:

My 2 cents about the Kubrick boxset....I think it is a boxset that is priced knowing full well that no one is going to buy it at that price and they need to get at least the BN sale price to make it profitable. Also the reason I won't be carrying it

Meanwhile, if this movie were some 80s juvenilia packaged with a bunch of action figures, they'd have no issue selling it. This attitude is why I don't buy my stuff from Diabolik

[MichaelB]

It's much more attractive to have a higher price but with a bigger discount. That's why in France, annual clearance sales are heavily surveiled by authorities : because some shops would artificially increase the supposedly-original price to claim it's getting a bigger discount, when it actually was never sold at the original price.

I don't know if this is true now, but certainly when I worked in retail forty years ago there was a British rule that you could only advertise something at half price if it had provably been on sale at full price for a minimum of 28 days beforehand. I remember when we took delivery of stuff that we all thought was outrageously overpriced we knew for certain that a 50% offer would be brought in the following month, although fortunately it was so glaringly overpriced during the 28-day window that hardly anyone ever bought the items in question.

Meanwhile, if this movie were some 80s juvenilia packaged with a bunch of action figures, they'd have no issue selling it. This attitude is why I don't buy my stuff from Diabolik

That's a really bizarre take. Jesse's been very clear about why he's not stocking it, and it's completely reasonable to me. And he's much more privy to sales figures and profit margins than we are.

[DimitriL]

Wasn’t Trumbull involved with a documentary on 2001 shortly before his death that was unable to be completed? God, what a litigious man

The Space: 1999 suit reminds me of George Lucas suing the makers of the original Battlestar Galactica

Yeah, Trumbull did a gorgeous proof-of-concept but WB didn’t move forward. Though Trumbull himself sometimes had a bristly reputation - I got to have an extended conversation with him once and found him warm and fascinating - I got the feeling that he still had very fond feelings toward Kubrick as the years went on and he was a little heartbroken more than angry.

The Galactica lawsuit is exactly what I was thinking of too.

[DimitriL]

I know it's not apples to apples, but given how strong the market has been for deluxe box sets of albums over the last 15 years, I don't think this is going to have any trouble selling at all. The idea that this is too expensive or and is at risk of not being profitable seems delirious to me.

People paid $200 for a deluxe edition box set of Black and Blue by The Rolling Stones.

I think this is correct. I’m not gonna critique anyone who chooses to carry or not carry a product, we’re not in their shoes. But there are a decent amount of people who are preordering it right now, and they would pay to have their large investment shipped safely and securely.

[flyonthewall2983]

I’m curious to see if there’s more footage from the making of Full Metal Jacket

[Lowry_Sam]

That's why in France, annual clearance sales are heavily surveiled by authorities : because some shops would artificially increase the supposedly-original price to claim it's getting a bigger discount, when it actually was never sold at the original price.

Tech bros are following that model only using technology to change the price for individual shoppers based on their purchase/credit history and calling it "dynamic pricing." Would dynamic pricing be illegal in France? If so I may move.

The issue with Criterion is their lack of more dynamic and frequent sales, meaning that once you get that you can simply wait out for their twice-a-year 50%-off sales, there are few reasons to pay any of their release more than this.

People with large collections might do this, but then there are the fanboys who have to pick it up when it gets released and don't care about the difference between a smaller discount for pre-ordering on Amazon and a full 50% off in several months. That's a classic Economics experiment (Marshmallow Test), children who can wait for 2x as many marshmallows also tend to fare better in life (higher academic scores, longer life...), so consider yourself lucky!

I will probably hold off on buying this until the actual discs have been reviewed. I learned my lesson from Trainspotting and The Wiz, as well as several recent Arrow releases. I was able to hold off on the Pasolini in hopes there's be a UHD upgrade for a while, but broke down at the last sale as an upgrade/second pressing with better design doesn't seem to be coming soon (and I had a coupon to use).

[Noiretirc]

This is all very exciting, but unlike the Bergman and Varda boxes...I already have most of these films. So I need to be convinced that the extras here are truly outstanding.

But if I (and many of you) wait for details / reviews / sales, it done be gone.

No?

[Finch]

I'm going to hold off too until next February or later still. I have other Criterions prioritized and may not be able to spend $300 on a single release this year.

[FrauBlucher]

This from Mifumefan from Bluray.com:
All but BARRY LYNDON will be encoded by FiM

Here

[nowhereisaplace]

Bummer about Fear and Desire not including the shorter cut....

[domino harvey]

This is all very exciting, but unlike the Bergman and Varda boxes...I already have most of these films. So I need to be convinced that the extras here are truly outstanding.

But if I (and many of you) wait for details / reviews / sales, it done be gone.

No?

The one thing Criterion still has in its favor over other boutique labels is that they don’t capitalize on FOMO by only issuing limited releases at the outset. So you can absolutely wait a year to buy this if you want

[Roger Ryan]

Bummer about Fear and Desire not including the shorter cut....

That makes this film’s inclusion even a little more surprising given that the shorter version is the one Kubrick preferred (at one time anyway). Having finally seen the initial longer cut via the Kino release, I think that version has a slight edge over the shorter edit: somehow having more of the weird pre-“Twilight Zone” moralizing and philosophical digressions fits what the film’s attempting to do whereas Kubrick’s re-edit tries to minimize those digressions which doesn’t make the film any less amateurish or less pretentious; it just dilutes the original intentions.

[swo17]

I believe the MoC edition has the shorter cut, yes? (Long OOP, granted, but I already have it.) And my impression is that the Kino 4K has serious issues. So I should maybe resist the temptation to sell off the MoC?

[Matt]

If most people never buy at the MSRP of $600, why don't Criterion set the price at a more reasonable level ($500?) and have promotions set at 30 percent discount?

I think we have a skewed perspective here because we all know about the 50% off sales and presume everyone else does too. But many Criterion buyers are normies who don’t know about them or their timing. They’re going to be buying this as a birthday or Christmas gift for the film buff in their life. And maybe they’re shopping 1-2 days before the event and affluent enough not to worry about the sticker price.

[Adam X]

… or they don’t live in the US.

[Finch]

This from Mifumefan from Bluray.com:
All but BARRY LYNDON will be encoded by FiM

Here

Oh fucking hell.

[Noiretirc]

This is all very exciting, but unlike the Bergman and Varda boxes...I already have most of these films. So I need to be convinced that the extras here are truly outstanding.

But if I (and many of you) wait for details / reviews / sales, it done be gone.

No?

The one thing Criterion still has in its favor over other boutique labels is that they don’t capitalize on FOMO by only issuing limited releases at the outset. So you can absolutely wait a year to buy this if you want

Great. Thanks Dom.