Radiance Films General Discussion & Wishlist

[pzadvance]

Sony is phasing out physical discs for the PS by 2028, assuring that the next generation of video game machines will not have disc drives, so I am not sure that there is 6 years left in the ability to press discs.

Games are huge now, and often sold without a disc at all. Some of them install at 200+ GB and they don't want to invest in 2-3 discs to accommodate that data. Would say that Playstation's decision isn't a harbinger of anything on the movie side, but maybe I'm just naïve.

I think it unfortunately is. According to The Verge:

Sony DADC president Dietmar Tanzer, told ORF Salzburg that the company’s Thalgau plant produces 600,000 discs every day, half of which are for PlayStation. But since it’ll only be making 10 percent of that volume in 2028, it’s planning to retrain all 300 employees to work on optical microlenses instead.

The plant effectively shutting down physical disc operations means that the 300,000 discs that weren't for PlayStation will also go away, from my understanding

[rapta]

Radiance already said a while back that they couldn't get A Colt is My Passport

They also said they couldn't get Visitor Q, Gozu, and a number of other titles.

I wonder if they can also get UK rights for A Colt Is My Passport whilst they're at it?

I take it you mentioned this one because you’re aware New Wave released it too?

Yes, it seems they are collaborating with New Wave Video on certainly titles and perhaps they could advise them in licensing it from Nikkatsu. I suppose the only thing potentially stopping Radiance is if Criterion is just sitting on the UK rights (as well as US ones). Then again, Criterion seemingly co-operated with Criterion for the first Radical Japan set, according to the transfer notes in the booklet, so who knows what's going on.

I hope Masumura is represented in one or more volumes.

I do too, there are plenty left to release and Arrow seem to have given up. I'd be passionate about a Shinoda set too, as mentioned above, but there were some issues licensing some of those IIRC (might be Criterion-related, yet again). More Oshima would be ideal, but is there enough available for another full box set (at least 6 or 7 titles)?

More Terayama would be great but some have speculated BBFC cuts might be an issue. Yoshida would of course be welcome too, but response to his work has been cautious, to put it mildly. It therefore might be beneficial to lean into more renowned names initially to get more casual collectors on board with purchasing this series of box sets, leaving some of the riskier stuff for later volumes. Then again I'm no expert, and Radiance are already making bold choices quite regularly with both box sets and individual titles.

Wakamatsu and Hani both feel like a likely bet at this point, if we're talking ATG filmmakers (along with directors already covered like Oshima, Imamura, Shinoda, Ichikawa, Masumura, Terayama, Matsumoto, Yoshida, Jissoji, Nakajima etc). Kuroki and Adachi seem quite interesting too, but don't know much about their work. I'd personally be curious to see more Shindo titles, as I've got such a strong impression of his work through just a few classic films, but dunno how likely that is to come from Radiance. Teshigahara would be my dream release, but unlikely until Toho come around (BFI and Criterion have more sway in that respect, but Eureka occasionally succeeded with some persistence).

[Calvin]

Radiance already said a while back that they couldn't get A Colt is My Passport

They also said they couldn't get Visitor Q, Gozu, and a number of other titles.

True but those were rights issues rather than someone else having the rights, which is the reason they gave for this one, not Nikkatsu being difficult. One would presume Criterion.

[Adam X]

Yes, it seems they are collaborating with New Wave Video on certainly titles and perhaps they could advise them in licensing it from Nikkatsu.

Or you could just get the release that already exists?

[Finch]

Then again, Criterion seemingly co-operated with Criterion for the first Radical Japan set, according to the transfer notes in the booklet, so who knows what's going on.