This is a sad, sad day. The Criterion Collection has announced that they have lost the right to publish a significant group of their titles. I’m aghast. From the sounds of things, all of these titles will now be a part of the Studio Canal/Lionsgate deal which has recently brought us the less-than-spectacular Blu-ray release of Akira Kurosawa‘s Ran. You might remember that Criterion was just about to release Ran on Blu-ray when the earlier part of this deal yanked the carpet out from under them. It’s so depressing to know that a superior transfer exists but until the current Studio Canal disc goes Out Of Print we’ll never see it. …sigh…
The most important thing to know right now, for you Blu-ray fanatics out there, is that Criterion’s recently released Blu-ray of Pierrot Le Fou is among the titles that are going bye-bye. If you love the film, are a Criterion Blu-ray completist or just want to show your support for the company you need to rush over to the Criterion store and pick it up ASAP (alternately, head to Amazon.com while their supplies last.) Sounds like these discs are starting to disappear quickly now that the word is out. You’ll find most back-ordered as of this writing. I’ll take a back-order over an OOP (Out Of Print) any day!
Here’s what Criterion has posted on their site, including the full list of titles they’re about to lose:
- “Dear Criterion collectors,
Our three least favorite initials: OOP. Since we launched the Criterion Collection more than twenty-five years ago, we’ve endeavored to keep everything we’ve published in print. But despite our efforts to renew rights, we are losing a large group of titles from StudioCanal at the end of March, and we wanted to give you advance notice that our editions will be going out of print. Until we’re out of stock, we will be offering these titles at an additional $5 off on our website. The titles are going to Lionsgate, and we don’t know when they may be rereleased. As ever, we will continue to try to relicense the films so that they can rejoin the collection sometime in the future.
Here are the titles that will soon be out of print:
Alphaville
Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy (Eclipse Series 6)
Le corbeau
Coup de torchon
Diary of a Country Priest
The Fallen Idol
Forbidden Games (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Gervaise (Essential Art House edition)
Grand Illusion (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Le jour se lève (Essential Art House edition)
Last Holiday (Essential Art House edition)
Mayerling (Essential Art House edition)
The Orphic Trilogy
Peeping Tom
Pierrot le fou (DVD and Blu-ray editions)
Port of Shadows
Quai des Orfèvres
The Small Back Room
The Tales of Hoffmann (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Trafic
Le trou
Variety Lights (Essential Art House edition)
The White Sheik
Take note: this may be your last chance to pick up spine number 1 from the collection.
Happy viewing!
The Criterion Collection”
Via: The Playlist
Via: Criterion Cast.com
[...] trailer for Studio Canal’s new line of deluxe Blu-ray releases. Those of you lamenting the loss of some of these titles from the Criterion Collection will want to pay close attention here. There are a few titles like Godard’s Breathless and [...]
[...] PPS: If you love Godard, as I do, rush out and grab up the Breathless Blu-ray as soon as it hits the shelves. It’s licensed from Studio Canal and, for all we know, could end up going Out Of Print sooner than we suspect, just as other Criterion titles have of late. [...]