Dick
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 22, 1999
- Messages
- 9,937
- Real Name
- Rick
I sent an email to Criterion regarding upgrades to their earlier DVD releases, and received the following reply. It is wonderful to actually hear back from someone in the know at a film distributor. Many thanks, Mr. Mulvaney, for taking the time to make it personal, which is practically a lost art these days.
Hello Rick,
Thanks for writing. We appreciate your email and we're aware of the many titles that have yet to be upgraded.
The titles that Criterion released on laserdisc were licensed for laserdisc release only, not for DVD and Blu-ray. Despite our efforts to renew/update these licenses, we were unable (It's definitely not for lack of interest!) If we should ever recover the rights to any of our previously released laserdisc titles, we will happily re-release them.
Additionally, we have have rights to many titles that we haven't yet been able to release on DVD and Blu-ray (or laserdisc), which is why we're happy to be able to have these titles available for streaming via FilmStruck (www.filmstruck.com). We hope to release and upgrade all of the titles we have the rights to on DVD and Blu-ray in the future, but there isn't enough time in the day and we're working as fast as we can.
Please feel free to write again with additional questions. We announce all our upcoming releases/upgrades on our website as soon as we can make them public. The best way to stay up-to-date on our future plans is to check our "Coming Soon" section and e-newsletter. You can find the newsletter sign up midway down our homepage, in the Newsletter block on the right, just below New Releases. I've included links below for your convenience.
All the best,
Jon Mulvaney
www.criterion.com
http://www.criterion.com/signup
On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 1:24 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello!
I have been an active member of Home Theater Forum, which I believe you quietly follow, for 12 years. With this email, however, I am not representing HTF. This is a personal plea, since I have been a supporter of yours since the Voyager laser disc days, and own several hundred of your releases.
This past year you have seemed to be turning a bit away from upgrading your older titles to Blu-ray (obviously with exceptions such as UGETSU) and leaning much more heavily on esoteric films that have never been released at all. Releasing such films, and thus exposing true cinephiles to unusual, largely unseen foreign and independent films, is admirable and important, and a boost to little-known filmmakers.
On the other hand, I grieve each month when your announcements appear and I see no word that you will be offering some of your laser/DVD titles that desperately need upgrades that have been on my wish list for many years:
SPIRIT OF THE BEEHVIVE
FIRES ON THE PLAIN
THE VIRGIN SPRING
BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER
SUMMERTIME/OLIVER TWIST/GREAT EXPECTATIONS
THE HORSE'S MOUTH
A KNIFE IN THE WATER
NIGHTS OF CABIRIA
THE RULING CLASS
THE MAGIC FLUTE
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING
Z
...and have you access to the remaining MGM-owned Truffaut films, like SMALL CHANGE and THE WILD CHILD?
I realize these are all personal preferences, and other people would have completely different wish lists to send you, and I also know that upgrading requires much better elements than those needed for DVD. Also, please do not view this note as any kind of complaint against the quality of your output -- I have perhaps thrice been disappointed with your Blu-rays (CHILDREN OF PARADISE, HOWARD'S END, and the first release of Kurosawa's YOJIMBO, which you corrected), and otherwise find them to be absolutely stellar. What I am sharing with you here is a hope that you will continue to have a regular upgrade program that does not drop in proportion to new-to-disc titles. Almost certainly a few in the above list are already on your drawing board, and I can't wait to see them pop off the page at me from your web site when new titles are announced in the coming months.
Many thanks for your ear.
A true fan,
Rick Sparks
Hello Rick,
Thanks for writing. We appreciate your email and we're aware of the many titles that have yet to be upgraded.
The titles that Criterion released on laserdisc were licensed for laserdisc release only, not for DVD and Blu-ray. Despite our efforts to renew/update these licenses, we were unable (It's definitely not for lack of interest!) If we should ever recover the rights to any of our previously released laserdisc titles, we will happily re-release them.
Additionally, we have have rights to many titles that we haven't yet been able to release on DVD and Blu-ray (or laserdisc), which is why we're happy to be able to have these titles available for streaming via FilmStruck (www.filmstruck.com). We hope to release and upgrade all of the titles we have the rights to on DVD and Blu-ray in the future, but there isn't enough time in the day and we're working as fast as we can.
Please feel free to write again with additional questions. We announce all our upcoming releases/upgrades on our website as soon as we can make them public. The best way to stay up-to-date on our future plans is to check our "Coming Soon" section and e-newsletter. You can find the newsletter sign up midway down our homepage, in the Newsletter block on the right, just below New Releases. I've included links below for your convenience.
All the best,
Jon Mulvaney
www.criterion.com
http://www.criterion.com/signup
On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 1:24 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
Hello!
I have been an active member of Home Theater Forum, which I believe you quietly follow, for 12 years. With this email, however, I am not representing HTF. This is a personal plea, since I have been a supporter of yours since the Voyager laser disc days, and own several hundred of your releases.
This past year you have seemed to be turning a bit away from upgrading your older titles to Blu-ray (obviously with exceptions such as UGETSU) and leaning much more heavily on esoteric films that have never been released at all. Releasing such films, and thus exposing true cinephiles to unusual, largely unseen foreign and independent films, is admirable and important, and a boost to little-known filmmakers.
On the other hand, I grieve each month when your announcements appear and I see no word that you will be offering some of your laser/DVD titles that desperately need upgrades that have been on my wish list for many years:
SPIRIT OF THE BEEHVIVE
FIRES ON THE PLAIN
THE VIRGIN SPRING
BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER
SUMMERTIME/OLIVER TWIST/GREAT EXPECTATIONS
THE HORSE'S MOUTH
A KNIFE IN THE WATER
NIGHTS OF CABIRIA
THE RULING CLASS
THE MAGIC FLUTE
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING
Z
...and have you access to the remaining MGM-owned Truffaut films, like SMALL CHANGE and THE WILD CHILD?
I realize these are all personal preferences, and other people would have completely different wish lists to send you, and I also know that upgrading requires much better elements than those needed for DVD. Also, please do not view this note as any kind of complaint against the quality of your output -- I have perhaps thrice been disappointed with your Blu-rays (CHILDREN OF PARADISE, HOWARD'S END, and the first release of Kurosawa's YOJIMBO, which you corrected), and otherwise find them to be absolutely stellar. What I am sharing with you here is a hope that you will continue to have a regular upgrade program that does not drop in proportion to new-to-disc titles. Almost certainly a few in the above list are already on your drawing board, and I can't wait to see them pop off the page at me from your web site when new titles are announced in the coming months.
Many thanks for your ear.
A true fan,
Rick Sparks
