Arrow Announcements, Speculation & Wild, Irresponsible Conjecture

[therewillbeblus]

How Arrow's clues usually pan out, a UK Dressed to Kill UHD?

That would be too clever, I think Peacock might have this one

[dwk]

Yup it was for American Gigolo UHD. Mute Witness UHD has also leaked.

[Peacock]

First time I’ve ever guessed right!

That’s it - I’m predicting the complete works of Wakamatsu next!

[therewillbeblus]

It was a great guess. As soon as I read it, I knew that had to be right, though chris' was good too

[Maltic]

As I recall, Schrader says on the Light Sleeper commentary that he would still get free Armani underwear for everyone on that film, on the strength of American Gigolo.

[nicolas]

The new 4K restoration of American Gigolo was approved by Paul Schrader:
https://x.com/jamesflowerfilm/status...388281534?s=46

Not sure why Arrow wouldn’t state this in their description.

[Walter Kurtz]

They were afraid he would somewhere vote that description #1.

[swo17]

Other announcements include:

Withnail & I 4K
Madman 4K
Nightsiren

[What A Disgrace]

I still have that oversized schoolbus of a release of Withnail & I, I think I'll wait for the inevitable standard edition and pop it in that case. And Madman, while a definite guilty pleasure, I already have Vinny's 4K edition in the much more attractive slipcover, so I'll keep that one. Nightsiren sounds interesting, and American Gigolo is a must.

[nicolas]

Another interesting James Flower tweet regarding Madman’s encoding: https://x.com/jamesflowerfilm/status/17 ... 54974?s=46

I assume Engine House have now equipped themselves for UHD after doing many of their BDs over the years. Or did they equip Arrow with the necessary tech to produce encodes themselves “in-house”? I’ll trust James & Arrow enough that this isn’t a decision against FiM or cost-cutting in general but maybe this allows Arrow to release films like Madman which already have competent international releases on 4K (and therefore fewer potential sales) without having to invest all too much in external services. Looking forward to seeing this pan out and FiM maybe having more slots free for other labels that could use better encoding.

[Finch]

James Flower was on the Disc Connected podcast earlier today and let slip that Robert Rodriguez is working with them at the moment, so the long rumoured Mexican boxset including Desperado etc might still be happening. He also said that (paraphrasing here) "Warner have a good relationship with Shout and Criterion and now with us, too". Cliff MacMillan (who cut deals with WB for Shout) has been with Arrow since last November and today's April's Fool's social media post hinted at a new deal with one of the following: WB, Cannon, Disney and Full Moon. Between Cliff's hiring, James's podcast comments and today's tease, it's got to be Warner. Pedicab Driver, one of Sammo Hung's most celebrated films, would be a good fit with Arrow, especially with its extreme tonal shifts. They could also compliment Severin's Bruceploitation boxset with announcing Enter The Fat Dragon or, away from Bruceploitation, give some TLC to Tsui Hark's The Blade.

[dwk]

I would not hold my breath for any of WB's Golden Harvest titles. Brandon Bentley said last year that WB aren't licensing them and that Criterion had a difficult time convincing WB to license the two Vincent Zhao Once Upon a Time in Chinas to them.

[Finch]

That's a pity but thank you for sharing.

[JamesF]

Another interesting James Flower tweet regarding Madman’s encoding: https://x.com/jamesflowerfilm/status/17 ... 54974?s=46

I assume Engine House have now equipped themselves for UHD after doing many of their BDs over the years. Or did they equip Arrow with the necessary tech to produce encodes themselves “in-house”? I’ll trust James & Arrow enough that this isn’t a decision against FiM or cost-cutting in general but maybe this allows Arrow to release films like Madman which already have competent international releases on 4K (and therefore fewer potential sales) without having to invest all too much in external services. Looking forward to seeing this pan out and FiM maybe having more slots free for other labels that could use better encoding.

Definitely not a decision against FiM, whom we fully intend to work with on at least half of our UHD output. As you've said, this will just allow us to release more films on the format, especially as David's so heavily in-demand that we have already assigned some titles to Visual Data in the past anyway.

Just to clarify, Engine House Media Services is part of Arrow, not an external company. I have every faith in their UHD author Leroy Moore's abilities based on his Blu-ray work and the conversations I've had with him about the quirks of the format - he has absolutely done his homework and shows every sign of having the same curiosity and attention to detail as David, so I can't wait to see how his work develops.

[Maltic]

That's a pity but thank you for sharing.

Yours was still one of the best and most promising "how to get to ETFD/The Blade/Pedicab Driver" posts we've had on the forum in a long time.

[Finch]

[dwk]

US titles leaked:
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 4K UHD Limited Edition
Red Line 7000 Limited Edition Blu-ray
Nico Mastorakis Limited Edition Blu-ray Collection (The Time Traveller / Sky High / Terminal Exposure / Ninja Academy / The Naked Truth)

[jazzo]

Well. Those are certainly movies.

[cdnchris]

I thought The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was fun (one of the bigger surprises for me), but if they got that from Warner that's an odd one to go after.

[therewillbeblus]

That's a pretty funny clue for Red Line 7000 (though a pretty apt depiction of the "What I'm really like" in those memes)

[jazzo]

I thought The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was fun (one of the bigger surprises for me), but if they got that from Warner that's an odd one to go after.

Sorry. I was just being a jerk. I haven't actually seen any of these films.

[domino harvey]

Keep it that way for the Hawks

[dwk]

Even the posts at the Blu-ray.com forum are not as enthusiastic about U.N.C.L.E. as I assumed they'd be. Cliff MacMillan posted there that it was the first because WB had the 4k transfer ready. Hopefully that means more enticing titles are on the way..

[Finch]

I live in hope that Cliff somehow managed to sweet-talk Warner into letting Arrow have The Devils even if it's just a Blu-Ray of a newly restored UK theatrical version and a better looking copy of Mark Kermode's documentary.

[dwk]

I don't believe in hope, so yeah that isn't happening, especially as I can't see Arrow offering the supposed money losing fortune that Criterion offered WB for The Devils.