Criterion announces first Blu-ray titles

Someone got this email response from the Chaplin estate:

"I'm not sure yet but I think that the first dvds to be released will be more or less the same as the Warner ones, unless Criterion are planning something we don't know about. New stuff including HD restorations will be on blueray, ?next year? year after?"

Sounds like it's pretty much a done deal. And sign me up for a City Lights Blu-ray....

Yes, it would be fascinating to see Chaplin on blu-ray. The Gold Rush, The Circus, and Modern Times would also be great titles. I saw A Woman of Paris once, long ago, and I thought it was interesting, but I missed the tramp...

my fav. Chaplin is The Kid =). still his most personal work =).

Hate to be a negative nelly, but it sounds like the Chaplin Estate knows about as much as I do about when Chaplin is coming on blu ray.

I don't get it. Do both Criterion and Beuna Vista still have rights to release Armageddon? Criterion has to be stupid not to get that done first. It would almost certainly outsell most of their other releases. Being the only anamorphic release available alone is worth a shitload of sales. I'd pay whatever the asking price was on release day without a second thought.

Some Buena Vista licensed titles to Criterion are simply Buena Vista authored discs with the Criterion label. Buena Vista has already done Blu-rays of The Rock and Chasing Any (arrives 11/17) that are essentially the Criterion discs on Blu. I'm sure Buena Vista will get around to Armageddon eventually, while (like The Rock and Chasing Amy) the Criterion DVD stays in print.

(This was also the deal Paramount had with Benjamin Button on DVD/BD - Paramount authored, Criterion label).

I've only seen the specs but it looks like all the Criterion-produced supplements (the commentary and the DVD intro) are not on the Chasing Amy Blu-ray so I don't think Criterion has any part of the new release. On the plus side, there's a new commentary, a documentary, a 10th anniversary screening Q&A with the cast and crew, the deleted scenes and outtakes and the trailer.

A new commentary makes sense as it was the old "Laserdisc is great, DVD sucks" commentary.

 Got my copy of The Third Man last night.  Hope to have a chance to revisit a classic later this week (wife is out of town for the week on business and my children are not quite ready for this movie).

From the latest Newsletter:



Looks like the next Brakhage set - which will include the four parts of Dog Star Man - will be on Blu as well as SD DVD.

Criterion's February 2010 blu-rays announced...
 

- Revanche (2008)
- Lola Montès (1955)
- Hunger (2008)
 

CC

Since Dog Star Man is already on the first set, I think this means the first set will be released on Blu (and perhaps the second set too).

Tentative line-up for the second set:

The Wonder Ring
The Dead
Two: Creeley/McClure
23rd Psalm Branch
Scenes From Under Childhood (Part One)
The Machine of Eden
Star Garden
Desert
The Process
Burial Path
The Domain of the Moment
Murder Psalm
Duplicity III
Arabic 12
Visions in Meditatiion 1-4
Unconscious London Strata
Boulder Blues and Pearls And
The Mammals of Victoria
From: First Hymn to the NIght - Novalis
I Take These Truths
The Cat of the Worm's Green Realm
Yggdrasill: Whose Roots Are Stars in the Human Mind
Ellipsis #5
Persians 1-3
Chinese Series

Most of these will be new to me (bolded the ones I've seen)

^ Great point. Probably will be both Vols. on Blu.

In addition to the 3 new Blus (with their DVD counterparts), the DVD-only releases in Feb are:

- Make Way for Tomorrow
- Eclipse Series 20: George Bernard Shaw on Film - Major Barbara / Caesar and Cleopatra / Androcles and the Lion

Love these covers!





Edited by Brandon Conway - 11/13/09 at 11:28am

Just Got Monteray BR set ,was sorry to see java loading crap ,theres no need for this

man if only Make Way for Tomorrow was Blu.  but still, exciting it's getting its home video debut in the states finally.

On their facebook page, Criterion pretty much confirmed that the first Brakhage set will be getting a Blu-Ray release

 

Some DVD Beaver reviews:

Gimme Shelter - http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews10/gimme_shelter_.htm
A Christmas Tale - http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews48/a_christmas_tale_blu-ray.htm
Gomorrah - http://criterionforum.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2