Criterion Blu-ray titles! (2 Viewers)

[Charles Smith]

Certainly not in the "case" of Zatoichi.

 

[Peter Neski]

City Lights finally ,The cover is plain Dreadful!!!

 

[Derrick King]

The ZATOICHI set is a steal and would have cost the same without the DVDs. (A Japanese Blu-ray set of 18 of the Zatoichi films was also announced and it runs about $580 US)

 

[Ruz-El]

The ZATOICHI set is a steal and would have cost the same without the DVDs. (A Japanese Blu-ray set of 18 of the Zatoichi films was also announced and it runs about $580 US)

Yet according to the big guys like Warners, there's no profit in catalogue titles so series like the Bowery Boys go to the archives... they should maybe talk to Criterion and find out how to market things.

As far as the dual format thing goes, I could care less. If packing DVD's and Blus together leads to cheaper production costs and more profitability, then I'm all for it. They could do what the bigger studios do, which seems to be to offer a DVD only version, and then a DVD/Blu/Digital copy version at a much higher cost.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

No because then they still have to do separate packaging and case runs, DF eliminates that which is where their savings come in.The DVD product for Criterion I imagine is the thing that's not selling like it used to, so this way they can still offer the DVD to those that must have it without the dual inventory and additional production costs of creating 2 versions of booklets etc. The DVD disc is so cheap that its' basically just getting thrown in as a bonus for the Blu customer.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Hello Everyone!

I will be posting this message in a few of the Criterion threads today.

I want to apologize. These Criterion Press Releases don't come as early as they used to, so I ended up having to post all the release news rather quickly this morning before I could really examine the contents.

This message was included in the Press Release and I should have included it earlier today...
November marks the first month that all new Criterion releases are dual-format editions, including both Blu-ray and DVD. Note that all supplemental features will be available to users of both formats.

Frankly, if I can interject my opinion, I think this is great news, provided that there is no extra cost for the Blu-ray combo, from which I have gathered thus far, there isn't. If Criterion fans can have their favorite films on both Blu-ray and DVD without paying more, I see this as a good thing.

Hopefully that will be the case moving forward.

 

[Adam_S]

I wonder if the DVDs in Tokyo Story are just the Old DVDs repackaged with the new bluray. Not a single extra is different, and the major studios do love to repackage discs that aren't moving, so it'd make sense for Criterion to do that repackage if their DVDs aren't moving. I wonder if they'll start repackaging a lot of their existing releases into single packages, like My Life as a Dog, take the DVD disc, stuff it in a bluray figure 8 case with the bluray disc and boom, new product with no effort other than the labor (probably mechanical) of repackaging. Frees up lots of shelf space for retailers and frees up lots of bulk storage space for the warehouses in TN.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

No because the film itself is a totally new transfer, so new DVDs with the new artwork.Also, the discs silkscreen wouldn't match the new design.The only discs they could recycle would be ones of the current "Wacky C" design where the content is not upgraded at all. That would also involve destroying the whole DVD case which is the most expensive part of the package. Just replicating some new DVDs for a combo set costs pennies.

 

[Eerik Paal]

I wonder if the DVDs in Tokyo Story are just the Old DVDs repackaged with the new bluray.

This is Criterion, not Warner or MGM.

 

[Adam_S]

Fair enough, I suppose they could just replicate the existing disc master with new silk screening on the discs. I suppose you'd need to generate a new disc one dvd because of the new restoration, but the disc two dvd shouldn't have a single thing different, so just a new replication run with new printing on the disc art.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

The disc would have new menus that fit the new design.Criterion doesn't half-ass things

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

What's the problem? Don't like free stuff?

No, I don't like stuff I don't ask for, even if it's free.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Then throw it in the trash and let the rest of us enjoy a wonderful gift

 

[Professor Echo]

Then throw it in the trash and let the rest of us enjoy a wonderful gift

Even better, donate it to a public library and actually do something nice for other people.

 

[Adam_S]

The disc would have new menus that fit the new design.Criterion doesn't half-ass things

That doesn't really make sense, no one's going to see the menu except the purchaser and there's probably all of ten people in the world that care if the menu design is new or not on a disc identical to a previous release. But I suppose it could be called half ass, but redoing the disc with no content changes just to get a menu that matches current branding trends seems like a good way to flush some money and labor time down the toilet.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Have you met Criterion?They do things right on the whole because they have a quality standard to uphold. I would be SHOCKED if they recycled discs in the manner you suggest. For one it would involve opening and ruining existing packaging.Your assumptions are not valid when it comes to this company, Branding is a big part of what they do

 

[Adam_S]

hah. It's not a panty-twisting moment, I just start from the basis that a company is going to try to make an economically intelligent decision.

I guess there are five potential upgrades for bluray in the DF era

A) Completely new edition like Autumn Sonata, Seven Samurai, The Lady Vanishes, Amarcord. Everything changes.

B) Not really a new edition like Tokyo Story. Cover art/Branding changes, and the only new content is a new transfer/restoration/image harvest. Identical extras that don't take advantage of the new transfer.

C) Not really a new edition like My LIfe as a Dog. Cover art and Branding changes. Otherwise identical to the old edition.

D) Not really a new edition like Last Temptation of Christ. Branding change. Otherwise identical to the old edition.

E) Upgrade with no changes to anything, like Last Days of Disco.

I figure that Criterion would make new DVDs in scenario A and use existing DVDs in scenario B, C, D, & E. Particularly extras discs, like Tokyo Story's, because Criterion is never going to go through the extras replacing all the shots from the film with the same shots from the new image harvest.

I presume you'd agree that Criterion would reuse the existing DVDs of a title like Last Days of Disco if it were to become a dual format release. This is not necessarily to say that they're going to go demolish DVD packaging to get at the discs, but that they can replicate the existing DVD as is and put it in a DF case with your blessing.

Personally, I see no problem with replicating the existing DVD with no changes for most scenarios other than the complete do-over of A. But apparently the menu designs and disc art inside the case is all important and everything needs to match, if they're doing a new replication run, It seems reasonable for them to update the silk screening to make the collectors happy, but it seems silly to redo the entire disc just to make the menus match the current trends.

I don't see anything wrong with reissuing Last Temptation of Christ as a DF edition, and just putting the existing version of the DVD with it's disc art and menu intact alongside the Bluray edition.

But I also think it's reasonable for them to salvage the discs from the existing warehouse stock. If they wanted to remainder and recycle the dvd cover art and booklets, and keep just the discs, I could see the logic. But there's probably too much labor involved in a process like that to make it economical, so I wouldn't expect that to happen at all.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

The only scenario where Criterion would re-use a DVD master for new pressings is for a disc that is already done in the current design scheme where the menu and disc art are already "correct" and the content hasn't changed.All other scenarios would involve new discs being made. It's not the huge expense you seem to envision.

 

[Derrick King]

Bergman's PERSONA is up for pre-order on Criterion's iTunes channel. So, this will eventually get a Blu-ray from them.

 

[Ruz-El]

Criterion set the record straight on Dual Format:

http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2873-why-dual-format