criterionforum.org

A day later and still no news from Criterion about this, and it's still available on the official website. The last few OOPs have been preceded by an actual announcement from Criterion to give us a heads-up.

So I'm guessing packaging changes of some kind or something along those lines. Probably not worth a panic buy at a high price unless the digipack means a lot to you.

Brian C wrote:A day later and still no news from Criterion about this, and it's still available on the official website. The last few OOPs have been preceded by an actual announcement from Criterion to give us a heads-up.

So I'm guessing packaging changes of some kind or something along those lines. Probably not worth a panic buy at a high price unless the digipack means a lot to you.

Well, the original digipak. If the upcoming Tokyo Story release means anything, three-disc releases will be in digipaks, while two-disc releases will be in plastic cases.

Despite the hideous cover, this digipak is one of the best design jobs Criterion ever did, so I'd say it's one of the few worth going packaging fetishist over

So is the Criterion release of Breathless out of print or are they just between pressings?

rrenault wrote:So is the Criterion release of Breathless out of print or are they just between pressings?

I'd like to know the answer to this too. I went ahead and rushed to my nearest Barnes & Noble and grabbed their last in stock copy of the BD (at full retail but at least not a jacked up collector's price) even though the one time I saw this film, I didn't really get it.

What am I missing? Both versions, DVD and BD, show readily available on the CC website with their usual 25% discount, so why buy anything at full price at B&N?

The existing releases of Breathless and 400 BLows are out of print. If you check Amazon; they are now only available via third party sellers.

I think Criterion only lists a title as out of print when they lose the rights. I imagine both of these titles are going to be reissued in some form.

I emailed Jon Mulvaney and asked if Breathless and 400 Blows were out of print for good or if a Dual Format release may be in the works. Here is his somewhat non-specific reply:

Thanks for your email!

Generally when a Criterion title has gone out of print (OOP) it is because we lost the rights, and despite our efforts to renew, we were unable (It's definitely not for lack of interest!) If we should ever recover the rights to any of our out-of-print titles, we will happily rerelease them. However, to the
best of my knowledge, at this time we have no plans to rerelease any of our out-of-print titles.

I hope this information is helpful and please let me know if you have any more questions!

I don't know why, but for some reason, despite Mulvaney's non-specific e-mail, I'm still not convinced.

HitchcockLang wrote:I emailed Jon Mulvaney and asked if Breathless and 400 Blows were out of print for good or if a Dual Format release may be in the works. Here is his somewhat non-specific reply:

Thanks for your email!

Generally when a Criterion title has gone out of print (OOP) it is because we lost the rights, and despite our efforts to renew, we were unable (It's definitely not for lack of interest!) If we should ever recover the rights to any of our out-of-print titles, we will happily rerelease them. However, to the
best of my knowledge, at this time we have no plans to rerelease any of our out-of-print titles.

I hope this information is helpful and please let me know if you have any more questions!

That seems like an auto generated response to any email with the phrase "out of print. "

Sorry for not making myself clear in my earlier post. If you go to the CC website and order the Breathless BD by putting it into your cart it tells you that the item is in stock and ships immediately with the reduced price of $31.96. So while external websites may show it as out of print or out of stock, it can readily be ordered from the CC site (which I realize doesn't help those outside of the US or Canada).

vsski wrote:Sorry for not making myself clear in my earlier post. If you go to the CC website and order the Breathless BD by putting it into your cart it tells you that the item is in stock and ships immediately with the reduced price of $31.96. So while external websites may show it as out of print or out of stock, it can readily be ordered from the CC site (which I realize doesn't help those outside of the US or Canada).

The CC site has a tendency to sell OOP titles until their stock is depleted. If you look at The 400 Blows in the CC site, it says "Backordered."

HitchcockLang wrote:I emailed Jon Mulvaney and asked if Breathless and 400 Blows were out of print for good or if a Dual Format release may be in the works. Here is his somewhat non-specific reply:

Thanks for your email!

Generally when a Criterion title has gone out of print (OOP) it is because we lost the rights, and despite our efforts to renew, we were unable (It's definitely not for lack of interest!) If we should ever recover the rights to any of our out-of-print titles, we will happily rerelease them. However, to the
best of my knowledge, at this time we have no plans to rerelease any of our out-of-print titles.

I hope this information is helpful and please let me know if you have any more questions!

No plans to rerelease OoP titles, yet Criterion have confirmed on this forum they will reissuing OoP Jacques Tati titles

Mulvaney is sometimes kept out of the loop. He has a really big mouth.

So, now Criterion's listing for the film (after showing the blu-ray's status as "Backorder" earlier today) specifies this: Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this product for sale on Criterion.com. Please note that it is not out of print and is available at other retailers, like Amazon.com.

Anyone have any idea what the deal is?

jpx7 wrote:So, now Criterion's listing for the film (after showing the blu-ray's status as "Backorder" earlier today) specifies this: Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this product for sale on Criterion.com. Please note that it is not out of print and is available at other retailers, like Amazon.com.

Anyone have any idea what the deal is?

I've found it very difficult to purchase at other retailers.

I placed an order with B&N, which they accepted but then cancelled several days later.

I then placed an order with Amazon (not a third party seller), which they accepted but then cancelled.

I then went through a seller on ebay, which they accepted and then cancelled.

I then went through another seller on ebay, which they accepted and then cancelled.

Every time, they stated the item was out of stock.

I finally bit the bullet and bought for $45 through an Amazon third-party seller ... which has shipped.

I suspect that they may have to redo the packaging because Image no longer is going to be listed.

I just looked at my Blu copy, and I'm missing where Image is listed...

My copy is in storage, but as distributor there's usually something written on a crit mentioning them.

yeah, some of them have Image on the back, but I'm thinking that's when they've got the title from them. It doesn't seem that Image had anything to do with this beyond distribution - and so wouldn't that affect every in print title if they were going to get all mentions of Image out?

Once again, knives has invented a fact: The cover doesn't say anything about Image. I'm sure it's just being repackaged from digipak to plastic case, possibly as a dual-format release.

Matt wrote:Once again, knives has invented a fact: The cover doesn't say anything about Image. I'm sure it's just being repackaged from digipak to plastic case, possibly as a dual-format release.

I guarded myself this time with a usually. Though you did reiterate my point which was primarily that they were probably just redoing the packaging.

OR this is another Studio Canal doing....

SC in no way have the rights to Breathless in the states. There's no worry of that presently.

If that's the case (Dual Format reissue) it will be interesting to see how they handle the release, it's not technically a "new" release since both Blu and DVD were previously available. Will it just be put out for sale with no warning or will it be part of monthly announcements?