Criterion and StudioCanal

[SeanJoyce]

Well I'll be damned, headed to B&N today for the sale and Last Year at Marienbad was still sitting there on the shelf. I have no interest in it whatsoever, but I gave it to the guy to include in my "under-the-shelf" pile that will rapidly dwindle as the sale progresses.

Perhaps it's worth just buying the OOP disc for the sweet sale price and selling it down the road? Maybe...

[rrenault]

I found A Woman is a Woman with a white case at J&R in Manhattan a little over a year after it officially went out of print. And at around the same time, a cache of Rans turned up and was stocked in the store. This was summer of 2011. I bought three copies of Ran and sold two of them sealed on ebay but only wound up getting roughly MSRP for each one. I eventually wound up selling the third one I had kept for myself when I needed some cash. I still have A Woman is a Woman though. A B&N outlet would never wind up with a stash like that, but J&R tends to get that sort of stuff from time to time.

[dad1153]

^^^ But, since J&R relocated its block of stores to just one corner building (and their video section to a portion of the 2nd floor), I doubt extra stock inventory like OOP Criterions can fit into a space that's about 1/4 the space that was available on the old basement/top floor.

[rrenault]

When did this happen? I've been outside the US for quite a while. So what happened to the music section at J&R? So is it safe to say digital files and streaming are killing the DVD/Blu-ray industry already?

[dad1153]

About 3-4 months ago. The entire block of stores are now 'For Rent' and the corner building (the one closest to the church and nearer to Wall St.) that used to have the computers and videogames has the entire J&R stores in the upper floors. The music/CD section takes about 1/4 of one floor. The DVD/Blu-ray section is right next to the reduced-in-size TV section (only two of the salesmen remain), both of which had their own basements as of a few months ago (and which combined now take less half of what one of the basements would fit). Yep, lean and mean time for independent brick & mortar retailers like J&R. :(

[rrenault]

I always figured there'd be sufficient demand that at least one store of that nature could survive in the city, even if only one.

[rrenault]

So are SC Collection editions of Le Cercle Rouge and Army of Shadows not being released in the US, or will they be eventually?

[rrenault]

I'd say dinged corners are pretty much unavoidable for any digipak Criterion release if you're ordering it online.

Sad but true, although it didn't used to be that way. That's why I'm always dreading when another digipack is announced and wait until the next B&N sales, so I can personally inspect the packaging (and hopefully find one among 10 that is not dinged).

This may not necessarily apply to stand-alone releases, but at least when releasing box sets, like the Rossellini-Bergman set, wouldn't it solve their problems with dinged corners if they could package it the way they do the Eclipse sets with those thin plastic cases, or would that not be sexy enough? I'm afraid to order the Rossellini-Bergman set online, knowing just how fragile it would be if they package them in digipaks. I know this isn't related to Studio Canal, but still...

[jfish226]

Any word on whether StudioCanal will release Pierrot le fou on Blu-Ray?

[ianungstad]

Latest Criterion titles to go out of print:

Le Samourai
Killers (1946) / Killers (1964)

Killers will certainly be getting a duel format reissue. Isn't Le Samourai a Studio Canal title?

[dwk]

No mention of StudioCanal on the Le samourai packaging. It was licensed from Filmel, I think

[Cinephrenic]

Le samourai was announced in the New Years drawing, unless things have changed.

[Jeff]

Le samourai was announced in the New Years drawing, unless things have changed.

That clue was likely not for Le Samouraï.

[captveg]

Le samourai was announced in the New Years drawing, unless things have changed.

That clue was likely not for Le Samouraï.

Yeah, in retrospect it was almost certainly a hint for Zatoichi

[bdsweeney]

Discussion occurred two or so months ago on Breathless going out of print. As we all know, it was just a matter of replacing the separate DVD and blu editions of the film with the newly announced duel-disc version.

Considering the current version of Le Samourai isn't labelled as Studio Canal, it's more likely that the current DVD version is now out of print and that we'll see a duel disc in a few months' time.

[willoneill]

According to Facebook, the Paul Robeson set is going out of print on December 31st.

[falcone7401]

I just signed up here and am reading some of the recent oop news. So glad I got Le Samourai during the Barnes and Noble July sale now.

I have a question about an OOP I recently obtained. I purchased a "Used Like New" copy of Pierrot Le Fou recently and when I got it I noticed it wouldn't play on my PS3 unless I put the disc in with the station turned sideways. The other problem is when I would finally get it to play the movie froze mid-movie.

I tested other Criterion Blus and they played right away. Anything that might be able to help me possibly remedy this? Or is the disc defective?

[Minkin]

I just signed up here and am reading some of the recent oop news. So glad I got Le Samourai during the Barnes and Noble July sale now.

Uhh, Le Samourai is not OOP, nor is it Studio Canal. Its just out of stock on Criterion's website since we are very likely to get a new dual format very soon.

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.

Not sure what to say about your Pierrot le Fou disc. Is the disc seriously scratched on the bottom? Any other players you can try? I don't think I've heard of people complaining about their Pierrot discs before - so it's most likely just your disc. I'd say check for scratches (clean the disc if there are any) and/or check the disc out in another player, and if the problem persists contact your doctor/seller and return it.

[falcone7401]

I just signed up here and am reading some of the recent oop news. So glad I got Le Samourai during the Barnes and Noble July sale now.

Uhh, Le Samourai is not OOP, nor is it Studio Canal. Its just out of stock on Criterion's website since we are very likely to get a new dual format very soon.

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.

Not sure what to say about your Pierrot le Fou disc. Is the disc seriously scratched on the bottom? Any other players you can try? I don't think I've heard of people complaining about their Pierrot discs before - so it's most likely just your disc. I'd say check for scratches (clean the disc if there are any) and/or check the disc out in another player, and if the problem persists contact your doctor/seller and return it.

Oh thought I read earlier in this thread that Le Samourai went OOP. I checked the criterion site and it is only available on Amazon and not from the Criterion store. Guess they are planing a future rerelease then.

Yea there aren't any scratches on it. I am gonna try it on another blu-ray player and see what happens. Was kinda bummed when all this happened as I had been looking forward to seeing it(and spent almost 70 after shipping).

Now I just wait for my copies of Hard Boiled, The Killer, and This Is Spinal Tap and pray they aren't bootlegs.

[Mouse]

So, I've tried to look up info in regards to the situation with Studiocanal owning the Tati catalog and I can't find how Criterion managed to get the rights for the forthcoming box. The rumor being that the Tati estate asked for Studiocanal to go through Criterion in the U.S. seems a little strange to me. I mean, it just doesn't make sense to me that Studiocanal would break their exclusivity agreement with Lionsgate just because they were asked to stick with Criterion by the Tati estate, and does this mean that "Trafic" would come back into print with the box?

I guess what I'm asking is how the conclusion that most have about the Tati estate intervening came about?

[Ashirg]

Studiocanal may only own the titles in other regions and Criterion has an exclusive license for region 1 from Tati estate. I doubt Trafic will be included in this box since it's owned by Studiocanal from the beginning.

[Mouse]

I was under the impression they bought the world-wide rights.

[giovannii84]

Is there a list online anywhere of all the films Studio Canal have the rights to in the US?

[ianungstad]

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=18747" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hopscotch was discontinued today. I assume Criterion will be reissuing the film in a new edition in the near future. No reason for it to be going out of print otherwise.

[Cinephrenic]

So Studio Canal is just sitting on a bunch of rights in the U.S.? Why they not releasing the films?