Criterion announces first Blu-ray titles

There could still be BDs. That's not an official announcement. Even still, they may hold off on additional BDs and release them throughout 2010.

Really, though, the only ones of those 25 that I see being possibly released on BD are:

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
High and Low (1963)
Ikiru (1952)
Rashomon (1951)
Red Beard (1965)
Sanjuro (1962)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Yojimbo (1961)

And even then some of those are long shots.

I say these'll be two years ahead of the others:

Rashomon (1951)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Yojimbo (1961)

I love The Hidden Fortress though. First we need a really good release of Ran... Is the Criterion better than the Japanese, I forget...

I don't think we'll see Yojimbo without Sanjuro... Criterion has always released these two simultaneously (and, with the last release, in an optional box set).  But I'd be shocked and appalled if Seven Samurai doesn't get the blu treatment sometime in 2010... and hopefully Rashomon too (actually, I'd prefer to see Rashomon first, but that's just me).

Ben, there's the DVD Beaver comparison for Ran:

http://www.new.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare2/ran.htm

...it appears Ran, along with three other Kurosawa titles (Rashomon, The Quiet Duel, and Madadayo), are available on blu-ray in a Japanese box set....

Criterion lost the rights to RAN, which is why the blu-ray was canceled and the DVD is out of print.

 I remember hearing that now. That sucks.Luckily for Region-B fans its still scheduled to come out on Amazon.co.uk etc. Here's hoping they were still able to use the Criterion port, as its guaranteed to be better than the japanese one.

Unfortunately it's released by Optimum, which means they'll be using the StudioCanal master, which is, frankly, rubbish as well.

Well, there goes my hope for a new transfer of Dersu Uzala. What's it going to take to get even a semi-decent release of this film?

Depends on whether they still have the rights. Most of the time those are issued for one format only, so rights have to be renewed to get a Blu-ray release.
But, for example, if Criterion simply owns the rights for the Director's Cut of Brazil, they could release that without many problems. Different cuts of a movie don't necessarily belong to the company that made the movie, if I'm correct.
I'm also still waiting for any more news on the Qatsi movies by Godfrey Reggio. The director said himself that Criterion was working on Blu-rays, and that's about all I ever heard about it. I hope it's not only a rumor. Those films deserve a good release.

Charade, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Brazil were all licensed from Universal.

Did Criterion restore or remaster Rashomon at all? It was one of their earlier releases and they have already rereleased a few of their Kurosawa titles they own.

Cynthia last I heard a major restoration of Rashomon was undertaken recently between american and japanese companies (I forget who), it was featured at a recent restoration festival. I think its safe to assume that one is coming to blu ray soon, though no official announcements have been made.

Packaging photos for "The Complete Monterey Pop Festival" and "Pierrot le fou" courtesy of criterionforum.org.

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Very classy.

I really hope they come through on their allusions of having mail-in replacement clear cases like the new releases for the earlier cardboard case releases. I have a few of those (The 400 Blows, The Last Emperor, The Third Man) and would like to upgrade 'em.

After some rumination, here would be my guesses as far as likelihood of some previously released DVDs getting the BD upgrade:

Confirmed

Gimme Shelter
Walkabout

Inevitable

Seven Samurai

Highly Probable

Au Revoir Les Enfants (amazon.com poll)
Down by Law (amazon.com poll)
Kwaidan (amazon.com poll)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (amazon.com poll)

Possible

Amarcord (recent remaster)
Andrei Rublev (remaster in the works)
Bicycle Thieves
Black Narcissus (BD released in UK)
Brazil (recent remaster; Universal might not re-license for BD)
Breathless
Diabolique (remaster in the works)
8½
High and Low (recent remaster)
Jules and Jim
The Lady Vanishes (recent remaster)
The Naked Kiss (remaster in the works)
Rashomon (new restoration; some stated interest in revisiting)
The Red Shoes (BD released in UK)
Sanjuro (recent remaster)
Shock Corridor (remaster in the works)
Yojimbo (recent remaster)

Perhaps

Army of Shadows
Beauty and the Beast (2 DVD releases; master notably older, however)
Black Orpheus (Oscar winner)
Charade (2 DVD releases; master notably older, however; Universal might not re-license for BD)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (recent remaster, but supposedly a low seller)
Days of Heaven (Paramount might not re-license for BD)
Dazed and Confused (Universal HD-DVD; might not re-license for BD)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Universal HD-DVD; might not re-license for BD)
Hamlet (Oscar winner)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese well represented on Blu; Universal might not re-license for BD)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Disney might not re-license for BD)
M (2 DVD releases; master notably older, however)
Nights of Cabiria (Oscar winner)
The Royal Tenenbaums (Disney might not re-license for BD)
Rushmore (Disney might not re-license for BD)
Spartacus (Universal HD-DVD; might not re-license for BD)
The 39 Steps (BD release in UK)
The Tin Drum (Oscar winner)
Tokyo Story
Traffic (Universal HD-DVD; might not re-license for BD)
Vagabond (recent remaster, but supposedly a low seller)
Wild Strawberries

Outside Chance (mostly due to being more well-known by the general public)

L'avventura
Contempt (definite if rights get straightened out)
Cries and Whispers
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Fanny & Alexander
Grand Illusion
Hearts & Minds
The Hidden Fortress
The Ice Storm
In the Mood for Love
M. Hulot's Holiday
Mon oncle (Oscar winner)
My Life as a Dog
Ran (definite if rights get straightened out)
The Rules of the Game
Le samouraï
Short Cuts
Solaris
Throne of Blood
The Vanishing

Of course, before they announced it I would not have expected Pierrot le fou, so this is a totally arbitrary list. They might decide to go with, say, a film like Onibaba, Pickpocket, or Elevator to the Gallows. I also think anything that has been released on DVD only since the first wave of BD titles (Nov '08) is essentially not coming, until they break precedent and show that they'd release such a title. That means this is limited to the non-OOP titles up through Spine #449 (Missing).
Edited by Brandon Conway - 9/10/09 at 11:03am

Criterion+BD is a marriage made in heaven =P

www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews22/jimi_plays_monterey_shake.htm

Jimi Pays Monterey / Shake! - DVD Beaver comparison

Quote:
No link yet, but according to AVS, Jon Mulvaney is confirming this via e-mail:

Thanks for that info, Jesse.

Brandon:

I noticed that you didn't mention Great Expectations out on BD in the UK, are you thinking that MGM will release in US?

Yeah, I'm not sure what the situation is with Lean's Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. While the Criterion DVDs are still in print, I thought MGM (or Disney via ABC?) had US rights now.

If Criterion can still release those I can see it happening.

Well, Universal didn't re-license Do The Right Thing to Criterion, so I'm not all that hopeful that future Universal titles will appear on Blu from Criterion. The Blu release of DTRT looks stellar and has MOST of the Criterion supplements onboard. A Criterion edition of Sparatcus on BLU (supervised by RAH) would be great, but for some reason, I don' think we'll be seeing this one anytime soon.

Also.....

It's interesting that ITV didn't release Oliver Twist on Blu when they released Great Expectations.

I don't know if any of these are on the radar from Criterion. Also, I Think that Nights of Cabiria is now oop.

Nights of Cabiria is not OOP. It went OOP for about 2 weeks but they re-secured the rights.

I have my doubts about Universal allowing certain titles to be licensed to Criterion for BD, which is why I added that note. Buena Vista (Chungking Express), Fox (Kagemusha), and Sony (Bottle Rocket) have already done so, so you never know. Maybe Universal will do so for the Gilliam films, but not the others. It will be interesting to see.

You're right. I was confusing it with Variety Lights, which has an OOP Criterion, but an in-print Essential Art House.

Well, scratch that one off my list of possible BDs, I guess.

Shame you didn't mention If... (1968)  I just saw it for the first time and loved the pants off of it. I was expecting to admire it, but I had no idea how much I would actually enjoy it. Thoroughly recommended.

Le Mepris, Ran, Last Year at Marienbad, The Elephant Man, Lost Honour of Katharaina Blum and The Deer Hunter, are all being released by Studio Canal on Blu in region B countries currently in Criterion-BD-esque digi-book packaging, so i'm not sure how that effects rights for Criterion in Region A, but hopefully it'll be a good thing not a bad thing for region A countries seeing a release (or re-release in the case of Deer Hunter) soon.

The Deer Hunter is owned by Universal in the US, and was released by them on HD-DVD, so I'd expect Universal to release it on BD eventually. The Elephant Man is Paramount in the US, and while it's possible Criterion could get it, I see Paramount keeping it.

Contempt and Ran were going to get Criterion BDs, but then they lost the rights.

Last Year at Marienbad is already out.

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum is an interesting possibility, however....

Criterionforum.org's "Jimi Plays Monterey / Shake!" review.

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With December titles likely to be up on the website tomorrow, here are my guesses for what will be released:

- AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa (DVD only box set; similar to Janus box set)
- Che (DVD and BD)
- Gimme Shelter (BD)
- Stagecoach (DVD and BD)
- Cronos (DVD only)
- Eclipse Series 19 - Either French New Wave or more Bergman

I'm probably 50% off. A lot of the newsletter clues have been getting delayed a month or two from what the clue indicated, so I can see Stagecoach getting pushed to Jan-Feb. Personally, I don't care as long as there's a BD.