Criterion and Miramax

[eerik]

Pulp Fiction is coming out via LionsGate next month

No, it isn't.

[swo17]

I suspect that Criterion's Facebook wall will soon be covered with the following words: pulp, fiction, jackie, brown, tarantino

Actually, number of mentions of Pulp Fiction on Facebook so far: 0
Number here: 4 (now 6)

[Tom Hagen]

As long as they keep the old or record new Insdorf commentary, and do this blu, I will be delighted.

[headacheboy]

Kieslowski's Colour Trilogy would be astounding, but that would only cause me tremendous anxiety because I would then anticipate their releasing The Decalogue and the next thing you would know, I'd actually open a Facebook account and start misbehaving like an ill-informed, rabid Facebook fan, asking them daily, "Are you gonna get The Decalogue?" to the point they'd ban me forever. To paraphrase my imaginary girlfriend Tracyanne Campbell, "I would trade my mother to see Criterion release The Decalouge."

(edited twice by headacheboy due to the excitment of the possiblity of The Decalogue even being mentioned.)

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

[broken record]And Exotica![/broken record]

I'd love some Egoyan in the collection, too. It's his best film and I'm sure he'd do a stellar commentary.

[ianungstad]

Echo Bridge and Lions Gate have no interest in any of the foreign language and the more obscure art house titles. It's no surprise that Criterion has picked up some of these titles.

[Thomas Dukenfield]

Echo Bridge and Lions Gate have no interest in any of the foreign language and the more obscure art house titles. It's no surprise that Criterion has picked up some of these titles.

Echo Bridge's blu-ray business model, so far, seems to be pointed towards horror budget bins in chain stores. You can make money this way and still have subpar transfers and no extras, but not with "art house" titles.

[dwk]

I think it may be a bit premature to say that Criterion has licensed some films from the new Miramax owners. The Three Colors Trilogy may be from the same deal that got them Chungking Express or it may be a The Double Life of Véronique situation where Miramax no longer has the home video rights.

[mfunk9786]

It makes me furious that Echo Bridge picked up From Dusk Till Dawn. Will it ever get a decent release?

[AquaNarc]

...then it means we might finally be able to get the Koker Trilogy

don't get my hopes up

[matrixschmatrix]

It makes me furious that Echo Bridge picked up From Dusk Till Dawn. Will it ever get a decent release?

Have you seen the Canadian blu? I thought that was fine, as far as image goes- I just kept the old release for the features.

[manicsounds]

I was wondering who got the rights to this one. Very glad it wasn't anyone else but Criterion.

[ianungstad]

I think it may be a bit premature to say that Criterion has licensed some films from the new Miramax owners. The Three Colors Trilogy may be from the same deal that got them Chungking Express or it may be a The Double Life of Véronique situation where Miramax no longer has the home video rights.

I emailed mk2 and they confirmed that Miramax lost the rights to the trilogy. They also confirmed that they've licensed the rights to Criterion.

[Jeff]

I emailed mk2 and they confirmed that Miramax lost the rights to the trilogy. They also confirmed that they've licensed the rights to Criterion.

I believe that Mk2 is the owner of most of the supplements from the Miramax box too, so hopefully they will all be ported over.

[dwk]

I emailed mk2 and they confirmed that Miramax lost the rights to the trilogy. They also confirmed that they've licensed the rights to Criterion.

There you go. Miramax's new owners are dicks and I don't think we will ever see good releases for most of their catalog.

I wonder what other films Miramax lost the rights to?

[captveg]

I wonder what other films Miramax lost the rights to?

Hopefully a LOT.

[jsteffe]

I emailed mk2 and they confirmed that Miramax lost the rights to the trilogy. They also confirmed that they've licensed the rights to Criterion.

The reason why I'm excited about this is because it's likely Criterion will restore the subtitling to the passage from Corinthians that the chorus sings at the end of Three Colors: Blue. It's critical to understand the ending, and it always broke my heart that it was missing from the Miramax DVD.

[Tom Hagen]

Which passage of Corinthians were they singing?

I always understood the ending as one of the great humanist moments in cinema: despite our individual grief and mourning, our continuing connection to the living inescapably continues on. Indeed, above all else, this recognition is probably what most helps us overcome our own grief.

[jsteffe]

Which passage of Corinthians were they singing?

I always understood the ending as one of the great humanist moments in cinema: despite our individual grief and mourning, our continuing connection to the living inescapably continues on. Indeed, above all else, this recognition is probably what most helps us overcome our own grief.

They're singing 1 Corinthians 13. Here's the New International Version:

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

They may have made some cuts to the text, I'm not sure. But it's important for the audience to know in some way what is being sung, since it brings out the underlying spiritual dimension of the film. When I saw the film's ending properly subtitled in the theater, it left me stunned and in tears. You're right--it is one of the great spiritual (or humanist, if you wish) moments in cinema.

[Peacock]

So do you think Miramax let the rights drop for [Belle de jour] and then Criterion picked it up from Studio Canal; or could Criterion have struck a deal with Miramax? I just want to know if the Koker Trilogy could ever be a possibility!

[Harmonov]

Miramax

[Belle de jour] could bode well for other titles from Miramax, yes?

[Brian C]

Miramax

In perpetuity? I assume Miramax is licensing from SC, or does SC not have any US rights at all? Or would this be a potential Straw Dogs situation where Lionsgate is going to end up with it soon? Or does SC not care anymore, since their own StudioCanal Collection releases have all but ceased?

Questions, is all I'm saying.

[Jeff]

So do you think Miramax let the rights drop for this title and then Criterion picked it up from Studio Canal; or could Criterion have struck a deal with Miramax? I just want to know if the Koker Trilogy could ever be a possibility!

This could bode well for other titles from Miramax, yes?

So far the only titles that appear to have actually been licensed from Miramax are Chasing Amy and Chungking Express, and both of those deals were made when they were still owned by Disney. Other one-time Miramax titles released since then (The Double Life of Veronique, Europa, Three Colors Trilogy) have all come from European licensors after Miramax's U.S. rights expired. I would guess that Belle de jour is in the same boat, and that if we get any other former Miramax titles, they will be too. So, if I were guessing, I would say it bodes fairly well for the eventual release of stuff like Through the Olive Trees, Young Girls of Roquefort, and Purple Noon, but not as well for something like, say, Exotica.

I assume Miramax is licensing from SC, or does SC not have any US rights at all?

StudioCanal was never credited as the licensor to Miramax on this film. I don't think they ever had U.S. rights to Belle de jour.

In short, I'd say that any titles whose current U.S. rights belong to either StudioCanal or Miramax will almost certainly be coming from Lionsgate, not Criterion, and Belle de jour must have come from some place else.

EDIT: A little further research shows that Belle de jour was a production of Robert and Raymond Hakim, and the U.S. rights to their films appear to be held now by the France-based Plaza Productions International. Purple Noon was in the exact same situation, so I would bet on that coming eventually. Plaza Productions International has previously licensed Pepe le Moko, Casque d'or, L'Ecclise, and La Bete Humaine to Criterion.

[Gary Gnu]

So do you think Miramax let the rights drop for [Belle de jour] and then Criterion picked it up from Studio Canal; or could Criterion have struck a deal with Miramax? I just want to know if the Koker Trilogy could ever be a possibility!

Someone with better eyesight than I made out "Koker Trilogy" on one of those sheets in the 2012 Twitter teaser. I don't know whether or not to give that any credence, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[swo17]

I think that was me who identified it, and that was 90% using my imagination. It could just as easily have read "bread pudding."