A Large Number of Criterions are Going OOP at the end of March (1 Viewer)

[Derrick King]

I mentioned this yesterday in the High Def Software section, but since it is mostly DVDs that are going OOP, I figure it needs to be mentioned here.

Yesterday Criterion sent out the following message:
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1366
Dear Criterion collectors,

Our three least favorite initials: OOP. Since we launched the Criterion Collection more than twenty-five years ago, we’ve endeavored to keep everything we’ve published in print. But despite our efforts to renew rights, we are losing a large group of titles from StudioCanal at the end of March, and we wanted to give you advance notice that our editions will be going out of print. Until we’re out of stock, we will be offering these titles at an additional $5 off on our website. The titles are going to Lionsgate, and we don’t know when they may be rereleased. As ever, we will continue to try to relicense the films so that they can rejoin the collection sometime in the future.

Here are the titles that will soon be out of print:

Alphaville
Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy (Eclipse Series 6)
Le corbeau
Coup de torchon
Diary of a Country Priest
The Fallen Idol
Forbidden Games (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Gervaise (Essential Art House edition)
Grand Illusion (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Le jour se lève (Essential Art House edition)
Last Holiday (Essential Art House edition)
Mayerling (Essential Art House edition)
The Orphic Trilogy
Peeping Tom
Pierrot le fou (DVD and Blu-ray editions)
Port of Shadows
Quai des Orfèvres
The Small Back Room
The Tales of Hoffmann (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Trafic
Le trou
Variety Lights (Essential Art House edition)
The White Sheik

Take note: this may be your last chance to pick up spine number 1 from the collection.

Happy viewing!
The Criterion Collection
_____

And today, Criterion posted the following on their facebook page:
The Criterion Collection Just an update on the soon-to-be-out of print StudioCanal titles—many are listed as sold out on our website due to the huge response from all of you, but they'll be back in stock soon, and we'll honor all orders placed through the end of March.

 

[Tim Tucker]

It's unfortunate that the StudioCanal/Lionsgate deal requires pulling all of their licenses. I can't see Lionsgate doing anything with these other than sitting on them, just like they are doing with the Republic library.

 

[Tim Tucker]

The next question is: How many Criterion/StudioCanal titles are left that can potentially go out of print now?

I found the following list up in the HD Software section

Originally Posted by Brandon Conway

Yeah, this StudioCanal thing is gonna really gash the Criterion Collection. In addition to those titles and previously OOP titles (Nights of Cabiria, Third Man), there are many more potential titles that StudioCanal control under current license to Criterion, including but not limited to:

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Bid Deal on Madonna Street
Diary of a Chambermaid
Billy Liar
That Obscure Object of Desire
Bob le Flambeur
Hopscotch
Le cercle rouge
Touchez pas au grisbi
The Proud Valley / Native Land (from Paul Robeson box)
Army of Shadows
Last Year at Marienbad
The Man Who Fell to Earth

I understand SudioCanal is trying to rebrand themselves to the collector market with the StudioCanal Collection, but it still hurts the Criterion fanboy in me.

 

[Derrick King]

That list is missing a couple of titles:

244) Elena And Her Men
290) The Phantom of Liberty
325) Kind Hearts and Coronets (Anchor Bay)
381) La Haine (Universal)
402) The Milky Way
424) Mafioso
447) Le doulos

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Tim Tucker

It's unfortunate that the StudioCanal/Lionsgate deal requires pulling all of their licenses. I can't see Lionsgate doing anything with these other than sitting on them, just like they are doing with the Republic library.

It's obvious that Lionsgate is merely the distributor in the US for StudioCanal, which now wants to consolidate their (huge) library and license films to one distributor in each territory (in this case, Lionsgate) rather than the piecemeal approach they've previously done. In essence, they want to brand themselves globally as well as Criterion has. With that in mind, odds are that many of these titles will see releases within the next 2 years. The catch is that StudioCanal seems to be focusing their efforts on Blu-ray, which is not much different than most major distributors out there right now. Those with DVD only may indeed be in danger of losing these titles in R1 SD-DVD for quite a while. On the other hand, Peeping Tom and Grand Illusion are already on StucdioCanal's Blu-ray schedule.

 

[Tim Tucker]

From that perspective, it's an understandable business strategy to have only one distributor per territory. However, I am not optimistic that all of these titles will make the leap to Blu-ray. I can see the Fellini, Godard and Powell titles being released on Blu (as well as the Buñuel films once those licenses expire), but as for the rest, I just don't see a market for them without the Criterion imprimatur.

I've also made a consolidated list of the endangered StudioCanal titles listed above, along with their spine numbers. Please chime in if there are more that need to be added.

102. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
113. Big Deal on Madonna Street
117. Diary of a Chambermaid
121. Billy Liar
143. That Obscure Object of Desire
150. Bob le Flambeur
163. Hopscotch
218. Le cercle rouge
244. Elena and Her Men (from 241. Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir)
271. Touchez pas au grisbi
290. The Phantom of Liberty
304. The Man Who Fell to Earth
325. Kind Hearts and Coronets
373. The Proud Valley/Native Land (from 369. Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist)
381. La Haine
385. Army of Shadows
402. The Milky Way
424. Mafioso
447. Le doulos
478. Last Year at Marienbad

 

[Derrick King]

Some more StudioCanal titles are going OOP at the end of June:
102. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
117. Diary of a Chambermaid
121. Billy Liar
143. That Obscure Object of Desire
150. Bob le Flambeur
238. A Woman Is a Woman
271. Touchez pas au grisbi
290. The Phantom of Liberty
304. The Man Who Fell to Earth (DVD and Blu-ray editions)
325. Kind Hearts and Coronets
402. The Milky Way

The remaining StudioCanal titles (if you want any of these you should pick them up during Barnes & Nobles upcoming 50% off Criterion sale):
113. Big Deal on Madonna Street
163. Hopscotch
218. Le cercle rouge
244. Elena and Her Men (from 241. Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir)
373. The Proud Valley/Native Land (from 369. Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist)
381. La Haine
385. Army of Shadows
424. Mafioso
447. Le doulos
478. Last Year at Marienbad

 

[Craig Beam]

Wait ---- there's another B&N Criterion sale coming? When, by god, WHEN????? [/url]

The remaining StudioCanal titles (if you want any of these you should pick them up during Barnes & Nobles upcoming 50% off Criterion sale):
113. Big Deal on Madonna Street
163. Hopscotch
218. Le cercle rouge
244. Elena and Her Men (from 241. Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir)
373. The Proud Valley/Native Land (from 369. Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist)
381. La Haine
385. Army of Shadows
424. Mafioso
447. Le doulos
478. Last Year at Marienbad

[/quote]

 

[borisfw]

Is there really a B+N criterion sale coming ??

 

[Derrick King]

Supposedly July 20th

 

[Craig Beam]

Well, my Criterion collection tripled last time, much to my wallet's chagrin. I'd like to say I'll be more reserved this time around.... but in all honesty, I'll probably go crazy again.

 

[Eric Peterson]

I've been waiting to hear about the Criterion sale. Unfortunately, I broke down last week and ordered 3 titles in the Deep Discount sale. It never fails!!