Calvin wrote:
Rights to
Vaghe stelle dell' Orsa are with Sony, which means that it's only available to Indicator or Criterion in the UK. I did notice recently that Hollywood Classics, who Arrow and MoC mainly licence their studio titles through, now rep (some)
Sony Pictures titles which might mean that they're open to licensing more indiscriminately in the future but we'll have to wait and see.
Not necessarily just Indicator or Criterion. I wouldn't say Eureka have folded quite yet on the Sony front, not least because Indicator haven't managed to sign several key titles yet. I have sent lists to Indicator to ask if they happen to have any of them planned in the near future, and was most recently told only one of these ten were locked in:
Our Man in Havana (Carol Reed)
The Swimmer (Frank Perry)
Fail-Safe (Sidney Lumet)
Shampoo (Hal Ashby)
Beat the Devil (John Huston)
Nightfall (Jacques Tourneur)
Modern Romance (Albert Brooks)
Used Cars (Robert Zemeckis)
To Sleep With Anger (Charles Burnett)
Most likely of those is Nightfall, but Our Man in Havana, The Swimmer, Fail-Safe or Beat the Devil wouldn't feel out of place either (well, none of them would be really, but one or two might end up going to Criterion in the long run; e.g. Shampoo, Modern Romance).
I also know of at least one UK boutique who are looking to sign a few titles from Sony soon, and last I heard they were close on finalising a deal. So sounds like Indicator and Eureka are no longer the only UK-based label seizing the opportunity to source from a newly available catalogue (from a studio who scarcely sub-licensed to the likes of them before now). Arrow could well be doing the same, especially with Indicator already looking into other studios' catalogues (e.g. Universal).
PS: also worth noting that Indicator have not yet licensed anything
not in the English language, so the Visconti title is more likely going to go to Eureka (assuming they're interested; possibly Arrow Academy or BFI if they manage to set up their own deals with Sony). I do hope Eureka dip into the Sony catalogue again, as they might also be able to get Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (to go with Drunken Master), and possibly The Big Gundown or Mothra too. I'd also be interested in Kusturica's Time of the Gypsies and Clouzot's La Verité (the latter could be with Criterion though).
Calvin wrote:
Clue for this week's Arrow Academy announcements:

Roger Donaldson's
Sleeping Dogs might be too obvious. I'd love for it to be an Arrow restoration of Robert Downey Sr.'s
Pound.
I did suggest Sleeping Dogs on Facebook, but reckon that'd end up being Arrow Video. I also suggested it previously when they had a picture of a dog as a clue (ditto Renoir's La Chienne). Reckon there are some canine enthusiasts working at Arrow, at least those in charge of the visual clues.