NEWS ! - Criterion affected - Home Vision bought by Image Entertainment (1 Viewer)

[Sean A]

Do you think by any chance this might have the effect of lowering the prices on the Criterion DVDs ? Of course, they have marvelous stuff, but it would be great if their prices were more in line with the rest of the industry. I understand they had higher prices due to the costs of licensing, but my wallet these days can't handle it !
(The funny thing is, back in the LD days of the 1990s, I'd routinely spend $40-$50 on ONE disc. But my life has cahnged, and so has the market )

 

[Damin J Toell]

No, they also acquired rights to films through a partnership. HVE and Criterion releases with a "Classic Collection" logo on the back are titles acquired together by both companies. It's not necessarily clear yet whether, in addition to reacquiring HVE's distribution deal shortly before the Image buyout, Criterion also acquired HVE's interest in The Classic Collection. If Image inherits the stake in The Classic Collection, then Image will, down the road, acquire some films jointly with Criterion for release by one of the companies. Further, Image will also own an interest in the rights to some Criterion releases.

DJ

 

[Matt Stieg]

What's all this protest about the quality of Image discs? I have plenty of Image discs and I can't say I have a problem with any of them.

 

[Gary Tooze]

Hi Matt,

You will own your DVDs, most likley, a lot longer than your current system (tube?) and the flaws discussed at DVDBeaver (combing in non-progressive transfers, PAL->NTSC ghosting etc.) will become far more apparent to you at the time of upgrade - in some discs shockingly so.

HVE were not as superlative as Criterion (or even Warner) but they were generally better than most of Image Entertainments output.

Our only fear is that quality will lose the battle against $'s (as it always seems to). Some would like to pay less for a disc and throw it away in a few years (a symptom of modern Hollywood cinema too!), but others don't mind paying more and own a DVD that they can cherish for years. To each his own. I feel my options have just become more limited in that regard.

Criterion may benefit from this in a monetary sense and I hope that will be good for us too, but I'll miss HVE's dedication and eclectic output.

Best,

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

{shudder} Those are two movie titles I never thought I'd see mentioned in the same sentence.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

Now, Image used to distribute Criterion collection LDs some of the time, so it's not an entirely new arrangement for either. Shine was one example -- that particular one was pulled on the first day of sale and replaced with a new pressing, because of an error at the mastering plant, actually, but aside from the mechanics of replacing the whole stock that had little or nothing to do with Image.
Image occasionally used to put out Special Edition LDs of their own, too -- Les Vampires for instance. I suspect, since [from what I understand] they mostly deal with pre-existing transfers, that the quality of their material is limited primarily by the sources they have access to; that would explain its variability, anyway, and accords with observed fact.
Anyway, I doubt there will be a "chilling effect" on Criterion.

 

[Ike]

Generally, they are. You can get Au Hasard Balthazar and The Phantom of Liberty for the same price as Napoleon Dynamite or Coach Carter. Even their special editions aren't outrageous-compare The Rules of the Game to Master and Commander. Criterion has really gotten pretty much in line with everyone else. They charge a slightly premium price for a premium version of a niche title.

 

[Jon Martin]

Yes, but many of the discs put out by Anchor Bay, Blue Underground or other third party companies are even more feature packed than Criterions, have just as good transfers, sell even less copies, and still are cheaper.

And I'm someone who used to buy the $100 movie only Criterion laserdiscs, so I'm not some jaded newbie.

I think in some ways Criterion is just aware that many people buy all of their titles just for the spine numbers and don't want to change their business strategy. Like Paramount with the Star Trek fans, they continue to release $100 seasons of the TV series when most seasons go for $60.

 

[Brian PB]

Very true. Recall that, in the early days of DVD, Criterion occasionally released barebones discs priced at $39.95 (for example, David Lean's Great Expectations). This soon ended, and the company worked at adding value to its $39.95 releases. Starting a few months ago, Criterion appeared to change its pricing structure even more dramatically. Now, it seems, the only releases priced at $39.95 will contain 2 discs (e.g. The Man Who Fell to Earth, Harakiri, Naked). New releases featuring commentaries, new interviews, or short documentaries are consistently priced at $29.95 now, where they would've occupied the $39.95 price point a few months before (e.g. Crazed Fruit, The Browning Version).

Thus far, Criterion has not lowered the prices of its previously released discs, but their new pricing policy looks very promising.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Yes I have and they don't come quite as close to Criterion levels of restoration. Seasons 1 and 3 in particular look like they were dragged on the floor on the way to the telecine at times.

 

[GuruAskew]

Looks like Lion's Gate is interested in buying Image. Here's hoping for "Reservoir Dogs: The Criterion Collection" with a better transfer and a soundtrack with all the dialogue. The source is the Hollywood Reporter:


Just think of all the stuff from the Lion's Gate/TriMark/Artisan library that would be available to Criterion. Sure, most of it is cheesy direct-to-video crap but there are several gems that would be perfect for Criterion (the aforementioned "Dogs", "Bound", "Pi", "Requiem For A Dream", "Tape" and "Open Your Eyes" come to mind).

 

[Kevin M]

Jesus....aren't there laws about monopolys?
...... ....yeah..right.

 

[GuruAskew]

I somehow doubt that a company who's claim to fame is annual "Rambo" re-releases would qualify as a monopoly.

 

[Kevin M]

Lion's Gate? They are huge now, they have bought out several companies and don't look to be slowing down, what are you talking about?
Does that constitute a monopoly? No but they are on their way to being a HUGE powerhouse in the industry....I like the idea of independent companies surviving without being "aquired" by huge corporations...that's not the way the system seems to work but it would be nice to think that you could survive without some huge conglomo-corp sucking your marrow dry.


But that's what Image has been doing so Life Feed's on Life..Feeds on Life..Feeds on Life...

 

[GuruAskew]

I know they're huge (I seem to remember Artisan having the largest video library in the world and that was before the Trimark & Lions Gate mergers) but there are still several other huge home video companies like Sony, Fox, Paramount, Disney, Universal, Warner Bros. and Anchor Bay. Most of these companies have several subsidiaries. I don't see why it would be considered a monopoly if Lions Gate owned Artisan, Live, Trimark, Criterion and Image when, until recently, Disney owned Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Dimension. Warner Bros. owns HBO and New Line, Sony owns MGM, Universal owns Polygram (and handles Dreamworks Home Video), etc. Is the number of seperately-operating home video companies diminishing? Yes, but it's far too early to start throwing the "M" word around.

 

[Kevin M]

Bill...I was being jaded about the whole corporate feeding frenzy, hence the smiley. No, I don't think it constitutes a monopoly...I was being facetiously cynical.

 

[Brian PB]

Just to be clear, Image doesn't own Criterion--it only has an exclusive distribution agreement with them. Whether or not Lion's Gate is able to buy out Image (a publically traded company), it will have ZERO impact on Criterion (a privately held company). Depending on how the distribution agreement is worded, Lion's Gate may not automatically gain the distribution rights to Criterion, either.

The fate of (what's left of) Home Vision Entertainment, however, may hang in the balance.

 

[Kevin M]

Yes, the only result in any of this for Criterion, either from Image or Lion's Gate or both, might be an even wider distribution for their product...that ain't a bad thing.