Criterion "Bottle Rocket" and "Royal Tennenbaums" (1 Viewer)

[Seth Paxton]

Yes, but Vince I'm talking about REPRESENTATION of the artist. 3 of 3 would be what we might call being "on his jock".
5 Hitchcock's is a drop in the bucket of his career.
And Bruckheimer at least has a long career although I think The Rock was good enough to represent the B&B style within the collection and I see Armageddon as a total waste of their efforts, at least in terms of assembling a collection of great filmmaking across eras and styles.
Sure we would all like Criterions of our favorites and everyone that loves Armageddon is thrilled. Hey, I love Wes and the news excites me.
But it just doesn't fit in with the "library" concept that I thought they had.
Just recently I had put in requests there for "A Man Escaped", "Death by Hanging" and "Zentropa".
No Bresson is in their catalog.
No Oshima is in their catalog.
There is 1 von Trier, but Zentropa would be a critical addition and has no DVD release yet.
Since they seem to specialize in foreign, forgotten, and hard to find films, usually of importance, I find having all 3 Anderson films in their catalog a bit surprising.
Again, I'm not pissed or anything because WA is one of my favs. Just seems a bit out of place to me.

 

[Marty Christion]

I think the answer is obvious.
Criterion is in the business of releasing films on DVD. As a business, they have to turn a profit. To turn a profit, they have to release films people will buy. But the tricky thing is, they don't make films!
With this in mind, they have to acquire films to release on DVD. They can do this in three ways:

1. Contact a studio and try to license a film that the studio doesn't want to release themselves.
2. Find a film in the public domain that has commercial viability.
3. Sit and wait for a director to come knocking on their door, asking them to "Criterionize" their film(s).[/list=1]
   I think it's fairly well established that Michael Bay and David Fincher have done number 3, and it's entirely possible that Wes Anderson has done the same. Now, if you were Criterion, and had a film offered to you that you know would turn a profit, why would you turn it down?
   I can just see it now:
   (Criterion receptionist: )
   "I'm sorry Mr. Anderson, but our catalog is starting to look a little "Wes Anderson" heavy right now. We'll call you in the future if any of your films look like they might fit into our schedule. May I recommend another DVD production company that might be interested in your little movies?"

 

[Alex Spindler]

It would be even funnier if it went like this:
(Criterion receptionist: )
"I'm sorry Mr. Anderson, but our catalog is starting to look a little too much like we're 'on your jock'. Could you please contact us later when we're confident that people won't speak about us behind out back?"
Seriously, I think Wes' movies are a great match for the Criterion label. They've been critically well received, but haven't received the attention of awards cereonies or huge box offices. They've universally garnered some incredible talent, and the team behind it have (thus far) been very eager to provide supplemental materials. Plus, they're a hit with the enthusiast crowd, which is just the people who understand and appreciate the Criterion name. If you had to settle with the non-Blockbuster slate from the studios, I couldn't think of a better set of titles.
Man, I can't wait for The Royal Tennebaums. I've really got to calm down or I will ruin it for myself.

 

[Sam E. Torres]

do we have anything close to confirmation on this? has anyone tried to contact criterion? where can i get in touch with them?

 

[Robert_eb]

Any new news on Bottle Rocket? Was this filmed at 2.35:1?

 

[Sam E. Torres]

bottle rocket at shot in 1.85:1 and it has a dvd out there now with great video and audio if you ask me.

 

[LukeB]

Criterion would love to work with Wes Anderson again and we are doing

are best to make this a reality. However, I have no information on

possible Criterion editions of BOTTLE ROCKET or THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

at this time.

 

[Robert_eb]

Luke, who is Mr. Mulvaney?

 

[LukeB]

Luke, who is Mr. Mulvaney?

Criterion's resident expert, Jon Mulvaney.

 

[Kenneth Vestergaard]

Just posted on The Digital Bits:

We've got word on what to expect on Criterion's upcoming DVD version of The Royal Tenenbaums. Look for a new anamorphic widescreen digital transfer supervised by director Wes Anderson, audio commentary by Anderson, the featurette With the Filmmaker: Portraits by Albert Maysles, outtakes and deleted scenes, The Peter Bradley Show with cast interviews, The Art of the Movie in-depth art direction and production design featurette, theatrical trailers, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio options and collectible multi-panel booklets with set-design drawings, director introspective and DVD guide. Street date is TBA.

Crossing fingers it holds true...

 

[Greg_Y]

Some may disagree, but that's enough for me to hold off buying the Columbia version. I'd probably watch it once or twice and then end up selling it for the Criterion.

 

[Matt Stone]

God I would be so excited to see Bottle Rocket Criterion!

 

[Sam E. Torres]

any updates on bottle rocket criterion?

 

[Jeff Shynky]

I recently emailed criterion about a Bottle Rocket Criterion edition, and they replied stating that there are no plans whatsoever in releasing a criterion edition of Bottle Rocket, because they do not own the rights to this movie. I have checked my email for a copy of the message, but I actually have deleted, but you can email them for yourself if you like, they usually respond within 48 business hours I believe.
I hope they do release it one day, but as of right now, I wouldn't hold my breath. :frowning:

 

[Sam E. Torres]

where is it that wes was quoted saying that they were working on it? i think it was aint-it-cool-news.

 

[Derek Miner]

Emailing Criterion to ask what titles they are working on doesn't always yield a full answer. Even if they're doing the title, they won't tell you until it's ready to be announced. I believe they will say "no plans at this time."

Did they actually say "no plans whatsoever?"

 

[Jussi Tarvainen]

It's also good to remember that Wes Anderson and even members of his cast may always have known that a Criterion edition of "The Royal Tenenbaums" would come out eventually since there's an easter egg on the second disc that has Ben Stiller welcoming the viewer to the Criterion edition of the film... while shooting the film!

Either this is a joke (i.e. they were hoping that Criterion would want to release the film eventually) or Criterion always trusted Anderson to make a masterpiece and acquired the DVD rights early. Who knows?

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Remember that Criterion said the same "Not planned" thing about Royal Tennenbaums up until the day it was formally announced.

-Vince

 

[Carlo_M]

Having now watched and loved both Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums (Criterion editions) I sure hope that a Bottle Rocket CC comes out, I will purchase it sight-unseen. I guess I can hold off buying the regular edition for a while. If it gets too long I'll just rent it.

 

[Sean Patrick]

any update on Bottle Rocket?