Criterion and StudioCanal

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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RSTooley
Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 9:35 pm

Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1051 Post by RSTooley » Fri Mar 27, 2015 9:05 pm

I emailed Jon Mulvaney concerning the StudioCanal titles appearing on Amazon and got this reply:
"If we should ever recover the rights to any of our out-of-print titles, we will happily re-release them. However, to the best of my knowledge, at this time we have no plans to re-release any of our out-of-print titles."
Conclude what you will. I am not surprised, but still disappointed.

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1052 Post by Minkin » Fri Mar 27, 2015 9:21 pm

RSTooley wrote:I emailed Jon Mulvaney concerning the StudioCanal titles appearing on Amazon and got this reply:
"If we should ever recover the rights to any of our out-of-print titles, we will happily re-release them. However, to the best of my knowledge, at this time we have no plans to re-release any of our out-of-print titles."
Conclude what you will. I am not surprised, but still disappointed.
That's the boilerplate response to anything with the words "out of print" in them. They most certainly do have plans to re-release some of their OOP titles (see Handmade Films, plus the WB titles most likely + some of the MGM films seem likely at this point, but at least the Handmade Films are a near certainty).

@captveg - Sorry, I meant the licensing agreement between Studio Canal and Lionsgate. I think it was originally for three years, and then they extended it /renewed it a year or two ago.

Seems like the "Studio Canal Collection" has been nothing but a disaster - what with nobody buying them, so they drop the MSRP in 1/2, and still the OOP Criterions sell better in most cases. That Lionsgate has passed up so many exciting films that you'd think any moron could make a buck off of (it isn't exactly difficult for Lionsgate - just Copy + Paste whatever the UK release is). I do hope that the timing of the Melville films is not just coincidental -as it seems to pair well with the mysterious Amazon re-appearances. That said, I could imagine the Hulu stream cutting into Lionsgate disc profits - since what do you think a consumer would most likely do: Buy the Criterion OOP movie; buy the often region-free UK alternative; watch the Hulu stream; youtube/torrent; or Lionsgate's shitty DVD-R?
Pierrot le Fou is now available on Amazon
Interesting! Perhaps Third Man sold so well as to be out of stock already; as if it was all just a mistake, it would be odd of them to keep adding films. Sorry Drucker, I know you don't enjoy any of this, but hell, its a Studio Canal + Criterion thread, its of course going to be full of idle speculations/hopes/dreams - If you don't want to trod through this for real news of OOP films officially coming back, I'll post the info in the Criterion OOP thread when it becomes a reality.

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Yaanu
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:18 am

Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1053 Post by Yaanu » Sat Mar 28, 2015 12:50 am

Minkin wrote:Seems like the "Studio Canal Collection" has been nothing but a disaster - what with nobody buying them, so they drop the MSRP in 1/2, and still the OOP Criterions sell better in most cases.
Personally, I've never even seen any StudioCanal Collection releases up for sale whenever I've gone out. Or do they not sell them at Barnes and Noble stores?
Pierrot le Fou is now available on Amazon
It's only the DVD edition, though. The BD is still unavailable.

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tenia
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1054 Post by tenia » Sat Mar 28, 2015 8:01 am

It could very well simply be Amazon warehouses having found some stock lost somewhere. It happened already in the past (that's how I bought the Carlos Saura Flamenco set).

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1055 Post by domino harvey » Sat Mar 28, 2015 1:00 pm

All of Criterion's OOP Essential Art House releases are back in stock at Amazon for $14.99 except Le jour se leve

Gervaise
Kapo
Last Holiday
Mayerling

EDIT: Sorry, I see these are all available from Marketplace sellers but fulfilled by Amazon

criterion10

Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1056 Post by criterion10 » Tue Apr 14, 2015 8:44 pm

So, the order I placed for The Third Man still shows no signs of shipping soon, not even an expected date. Thinking this was a fuck-up, and it's time I cancel my order and get my money back (I used a gift card, which was charged immediately). How about everyone else?

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CSM126
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1057 Post by CSM126 » Tue Apr 14, 2015 9:05 pm

My order of the Flamenco trilogy has an expected delivery date range on it (April 30 - May 14), but I'm still not holding my breath.

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Feiereisel
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1058 Post by Feiereisel » Tue Apr 14, 2015 9:35 pm

criterion10 wrote:So, the order I placed for The Third Man still shows no signs of shipping soon, not even an expected date. Thinking this was a fuck-up, and it's time I cancel my order and get my money back (I used a gift card, which was charged immediately). How about everyone else?
I saw that the expected date had vanished, yeah. My order is linked to a standard credit card, so I'm just going to let it ride until Amazon sends me a proper go/no-go email on the off-(off-off-off-off-off-)chance that it does happen to go through.

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DrunkenFatherFigure
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1059 Post by DrunkenFatherFigure » Wed Apr 15, 2015 4:01 am

criterion10 wrote:So, the order I placed for The Third Man still shows no signs of shipping soon, not even an expected date. Thinking this was a fuck-up, and it's time I cancel my order and get my money back (I used a gift card, which was charged immediately). How about everyone else?
This may be getting a little off-topic, but I had a similar experience a little over a year ago when Amazon had an out-of-print CD listed as available from them at an inexplicably low price, but "temporarily out of stock." I ordered it using a gift card, and a month or two later I received an email from Amazon saying that it was taking a long time for them to get new stock of it and asked if I wanted to cancel my order. I said no, and the order just sat there for several more months until some poor marketplace seller decided to undercut Amazon's price, presumably thinking that they were actually selling it at that rate. At that point I cancelled my order (getting my gift card balance back easily). All in all, my order had been "processing" for a good six months, and there was no indication that anything was going to happen with it any time soon. In this case, it was definitely a mistake on Amazon's part of thinking they could somehow get new stock. If these Criterions are a similar mistake, I imagine that these orders will play out the same way.

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pzadvance
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1060 Post by pzadvance » Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:57 pm

Just got this email:
Due to a lack of availability, we will not be able to obtain the following item(s) from your order:

"The Third Man (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]"

We've canceled the item(s) and apologize for the inconvenience. If you see a charge for the canceled item, we will refund you within 1-2 business days.
Some things are too good to be true...
Last edited by pzadvance on Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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solaris72
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1061 Post by solaris72 » Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:58 pm

Same here, order canceled by Amazon.

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Charles
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:06 pm

Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1062 Post by Charles » Fri Apr 17, 2015 8:00 pm

Yep.

Gotta wonder how many orders there were.

But also...and mainly... WTF happened in the first place?

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danieltiger
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1063 Post by danieltiger » Fri Apr 17, 2015 8:49 pm

That's super interesting because I ordered the Carlos Saura set and didn't get a cancellation. Instead I got "We're sorry to inform you that there is a delay in shipping your order. The new delivery date is indicated below. If you still want to receive this item, please let us know. We apologize for the delay."

With a shipping date of: "Not yet available. We'll e-mail you as soon as we have a delivery date."

And an option to continue or cancel. I'll continue and see what happens.

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zebpike
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:37 am

Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1064 Post by zebpike » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:41 am

The bizarreness continues.... I received a similar email, but neither my Third Man blu nor the Carlos Saura set were canceled, instead I was given the choice to continue: "Still want it? We'll keep on trying." Of course I said 'go ahead' - at this point I'm positive it was a mistake on their part, and they're hoping people will just accept their apology and cancel the order, but as long as they're giving me the option to hold out for a mysterious appearance of either...

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danieltiger
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1065 Post by danieltiger » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:24 am

I believe it was a mistake, but the thing is they're still claiming it, at least for the Carlos Saura set. If you search for it, it's still supposedly temporarily out of stock. They really need to update that.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1066 Post by hearthesilence » Fri May 13, 2016 1:18 pm

This is old, but here's the HD trailer for the 4k restoration's theatrical re-release. The color timing from the new BD is there as well - I think the unfortunate yellow and teal palette is the work of a revisionist colorist trying to "modernize" the film.

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Drucker
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Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1067 Post by Drucker » Fri May 13, 2016 1:22 pm

Interestingly, the trailer that was shown in theaters ahead of the re-release was definitely sourced from an older master. It strongly resembled the Criterion colors and looked very, very weak. I saw it shown a few times at Film Forum before the theatrical run.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1068 Post by hearthesilence » Fri May 13, 2016 1:30 pm

Huh, very strange.

FWIW, here's some info from Rialto's press release and to be fair, the grading was approved by one of the DP's (there were three). BUT, again, always tough with a film that's decades old (some DP's aren't going to remember what they did on a film thirty years ago, especially when they've done so many others in the interim - see Do the Right Thing), there may be the intention to change the original look (see director William Friedkin and the old French Connection BD), and even if they did try to preserve the original, one never knows if they looked at the original IP and judged a new print based off of that.
Ran has been restored in 4K by the French laboratory Éclair, under Studiocanal’s supervision. Based on an original negative, the majority of the restoration work was done manually image by image. Color grading was approved by Masaharu Ueda, one of Ran’s three cinematographers and a close associate of Kurosawa’s. The 4K restoration premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and was also screened at the 2015 New York Film Festival.


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mfunk9786
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1070 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Nov 16, 2016 11:33 am

It's almost as if they want to "cash in" on something, but I can't quite put my finger on it.........................

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1071 Post by domino harvey » Wed Nov 16, 2016 11:59 am

Excuse you but Buck Henry Fever has been alive and well for decades now

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cdnchris
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1072 Post by cdnchris » Wed Nov 16, 2016 12:12 pm

When I was younger if I saw Buck Henry in something I would actually put in the effort to watch it. I'm pretty sure that's why I first saw The Man Who Fell to Earth actually (and I was perplexed by it to say the least).

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NABOB OF NOWHERE
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1073 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:32 am

For anyone waivering on whether Criterion will revisit Le Corbeau, Studio Canal have surprisingly added english subs to their recent restoration blu

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dwk
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1074 Post by dwk » Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:07 pm

Juliette Hochart from StudioCanal was at Criterion's office and posted this on instagram

juliette_hochart: The best of #studiocanalcatalogue at the cinephilie temple #criterion

margauxinlondon: Mulholland Drive! Of course ✨

juliette_hochart: ... and Blood Simple. And many more soon!

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Brian C
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Re: Criterion and StudioCanal

#1075 Post by Brian C » Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:36 pm

There’s been a ton of wishful thinking about the SC titles coming back, but that’s the first genuine sign I’ve seen that it might actually happen.

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