Criterion and Sony

[kaujot]

Have you seen it before? Can you comment on it?

[domino harvey]

Have you seen it before? Can you comment on it?

I have seen Ricky Jay and His 52 Friends and it's great. It's just an hour long stage show with Jay telling very funny and entertaining stories and doing amazing card and slight of hand tricks. The cup and ball finale is jaw-dropping

[Applesauce]

Domino, it's 52 Assistants but yes, it is brilliant, although much more impressive on stage. At Mamet's Q&A promoting Redbelt at the Aero in Santa Monica last year, I couldn't muster up enough guts to ask "Whose dick do I have to suck for a Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants DVD release?"
That's enough derailed chatter from me.

[ianungstad]

I asked Mike at Sony about a few titles. He ruled out Fat City and Beat The Devil. He said to stay tuned regarding Housekeeping. I got the same reply from him a week ago regarding Repulsion. So those seem to be the two most likely suspects so far. Hardly confirmations but they are not denials like everything else.

He did say that they would be putting Beat the Devil in a Bogart boxset that should me out in 2 years. Yikes. Oh well. I'll keep my shitty PD copy tillt hen.

edit: He also said that Altman's California Split has been put back into print. He also said that they were going to be doing a special edition of Jason and the Argonauts sometime before 2013 but I got the impression that Sony were going to release that themselves.

[Murdoch]

He said to stay tuned regarding Housekeeping. I got the same reply from him a week ago regarding Repulsion.

[beamish13]

Is "Remember My Name" possible? Rumor has it that there simply aren't any good materials for it.

[jaredsap]

Is "Remember My Name" possible? Rumor has it that there simply aren't any good materials for it.

Where did this rumor come from?

[jaredsap]

Jared I need to jump in here, unfortunately.

I have a very bad P&S TV dupe of this from early 80s which I mentioned to some people in NYC a couple of years ago (via this forum in fact, during a thread on ALan Rudolph.) Somone came back and said they had heard Rudolph himself comment that he understood the negs for the movie were lost or had perished.

I can simply say no more than this, but I would be more than happy to hear some correction.

Interesting. I don't know about the elements, but I have good 35mm prints. I'll look into this.

[Cronenfly]

Nice to finally hear some good news about Remember My Name (because even if there's no DVD forthcoming, it's good to know there are at least some existing prints of the film). Sony doesn't own Welcome to L.A. too, do they, Jared? I only ask because, like Remember My Name, I always just assumed the rights were in limbo.

[onedimension]

Ishtar?

[beamish13]

Maybe Sony would consider licensing Beineix's "The Moon in the Gutter"...?

[justeleblanc]

Maybe Sony would consider licensing Beineix's "The Moon in the Gutter"...?

All of Beineix's films with the exception of Diva are getting DVD releases from another company, I forget the name, but there was an article in IndieWire about it.

[Perkins Cobb]

Cinema Libre is the rightsholder for those eight Beineix titles. Judging by their current catalog, it'll be a big step up for them, if they can get the transfers right.

[jaredsap]

Sony doesn't own Welcome to L.A. too, do they, Jared?

Nope. MGM does.

[beamish13]

I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one, but I'd love to finally see a cleaned-up "Happy Birthday, Wanda June". I've never understood the critical derision it received when it was first received, nor can I understand why Kurt Vonnegut would disown it, especially when it's such a faithful adaptation of his play.

[mikeohhh]

The most important thing to license from Sony is MURDER BY CONTRACT.

[AfterTheRain]

Jared, any news regarding Edward Dmytryk's The Sniper? I've heard it's coming in one of the forementioned noir sets.

[jaredsap]

Jared, any news regarding Edward Dmytryk's The Sniper? I've heard it's coming in one of the forementioned noir sets.

No news, but that's a safe bet.

[Oggilby]

I really wish Sony would license Andrei Konchalovsky's The Inner Circle to Criterion. Brilliant Stalin-era drama with Tom Hulce and Lolita Davidovich. Hulce is a projectionist hired to be Stalin's personal one.

[LightBulbFilm]

What are the chances of Criterion putting out The Pumpkin Eater?

[jaredsap]

What are the chances of Criterion putting out The Pumpkin Eater?

I'll tell you it's not in the first batch. Sony restored THE PUMPKIN EATER and I've heard a Sony box set idea tossed around that includes it, but you never know...

[ianungstad]

Hopefully someone will be able to clarify something for me...from talking to Mike at Sony it seems that Columbia Pictures and Sony Picture Classics are ran as independent branches within Sony Pictures. Wouldn't a licensing deal with Criterion be limited to either Columbia or Sony Classics and not a mix of the two? I ask because I'm remembering the New Line deal...which only happened because it was ran independently from WB's. Additionally Mike seems to know what titles have been licensed to Criterion but when I've asked about films like The Spanish Prisoner and [Safe] he mentioned that they were Sony Classics properties and he doesn't deal with those films.

I hope this post makes sense?

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Makes sense to me -- Sony Pictures Classics has a great deal of autonomy within the Sony organization (for example, they handle their own theatrical distribution instead of doing it through Sony Pictures) and it wouldn't surprise me if they control the licensing of their own library separate from the rest of Sony.

[LightBulbFilm]

What about Henry Jaglom's A Safe Place, it's owned by Columbia and a great extra would be the documentary "Who Is Henry Jaglom?" I could see it happening as Criterion has an affinity for Z Channel favorites and director's first features.

[Narshty]

Twentieth Century has to have been on some sort of wishlist. No idea if they'll be able to top the current transfer - I imagine the original elements are trashed, due to Columbia's practice of striking release prints straight from the original negative back in the 30s (and 40s?). But any material involving Hawks, Barrymore, Lombard, or Hecht & Macarthur would be very welcome.

Also Husbands and Wives - I heard they were gunning for this back in the laserdisc days but got no cooperation from Woody; maybe they might try releasing a directorless special edition, ala Days of Heaven?

They're both in print, but I don't think Sony would consider $40 boutique editions muscling in too hard on their market territory.