Criterion Collection coming to Blu-ray in October
By Richard Lawler 
posted May 7th 2008 10:26PM
posted May 7th 2008 10:26PM
The Criterion Collection's long-awaited HD debut -- delayed by that annoying format war -- finally has a date, as well as a list of the first movies getting a definitive release in 1080p. If that wasn't enough, try this bit on for size: They won't charge viewers extra for the privilege. That's right, according to the e-mail that went out to subscribers today, all Blu-ray releases will feature HD picture and sound (no word on what codecs, although we expect nothing but the best considering the company has been mastering and restoring all releases in HD for years now), all the supplemental content and a matching (unspecified) price to their standard DVD editions. The complete email and list of a dozen movies follows after the break, along with a note that The Last Emperor will also be released in its original theatrical version on both formats for $39.95, while Walkabout will be an all-new edition.[Thanks, Erik]
Dear Criterion Collection Newsletter subscriber,
We've got some exciting news for this fall, and we wanted you to hear it first.
Our first Blu-ray discs are coming! We've picked a little over a dozen titles from the collection for Blu-ray treatment, and we'll begin rolling them out in October. These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and they will be priced to match our standard-def editions.
Here's what's in the pipeline:
The Third Man
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Last Emperor
El Norte
The 400 Blows
Gimme Shelter
The Complete Monterey Pop
Contempt
Walkabout
For All Mankind
The Wages of Fear
Alongside our DVD and Blu-ray box sets of The Last Emperor, we'll also be putting out the theatrical version as a stand-alone release in both formats, priced at $39.95. Our Blu-ray release of Walkabout will be an all-new edition, featuring new supplements as well as a new transfer; we will also release an updated anamorphic DVD of Nicolas Roeg's outback masterpiece at the same time.
As a special thank you to our newsletter subscribers, we'd like to offer you all $10 off any order of $60 or more placed on on criterion.com through Monday, May 26.
Enjoy spring!
Glad they are going to be priced the same, since the movies are so expensive already. My copy of La Haine was probably $30, but totally worth it since you cannot get that movie anywhere else (in NTSC). So it's nice to know the High-def versions will be less than $50.
NIQUE LA POLICE
Hope this helps them soak up some of the debts they incur from the BOYCOTTED OLYMPICS.
-Free Tibet !
@Flashidiot
Are all these people who keep typing "Free Tibet" are all stupid? What does the Last Emperor have to do with China or Beijing profitting from the BR release of the movie?
Just because its on blu ray disc doesn't make it HD quality. Those movies don't have true HD quality and will probably look grainy as hell on blu ray.
@OneLove: Apparently you don't know anything about Criterion.
@OneLove: Apparently, you don't know much about Criterion at all.
@OneLove call me crazy but I thought the film was at a higher resolution than HD, 2k...
This is great news, Criterion Collection is a wonderful asset to home video.
Now I have a reason to buy a BR player. ;) The majority of my DVD collection is made up of Criterion releases.
still expensive and still a Bluray
What do you expect, HD DVD? Only losers or the rich pay full retail price.
Um, all Criterion releases have MSRP's around 40 dollars, including standard DVD's. They don't just get the rights to a movie and slap a cover on it and release it. They invest a lot of time and energy restoring films digging up screenplay notes, interviewing directors, etc..
If price is all you are concerned about I'm not sure you'd be buying any Criterion Collection discs anyway.
I have been waiting so long for this news... finally some blu ray discs worth owning.
flashpoint: go and free tibet! how do you know with Tibet?
Can't wait to get "The Royal Tenenbaums" on BD. Great film... highly overlooked.
The Last Emperor and Chungking Express are the only 2 worth buying for my BR from that weak list.
The Third Man and Wages of Fear are both excellent films, and Bottle Rocket can hold its own. But otherwise it is a kind of weak list, yes.
The Third Man is a great movie but not needed on BR at the moment. Right now I still have alot of DVD movies and I'm being very cautious of what to buy so pretty much I only will be picking up visually stunning/transfer movies for my BR collection.
Contempt and Walkabout weak? Ummm, I beg to disagree.
Anyway, I'm finally gonna buy a BR player just because of Criterion (and start expanding or replacing the 400+ Criterion DVDs already in my little collection). They are costly but highly enjoyable, thus worth the money.
Anybody who don't know that collection should check out their catalog at http://www.criterion.com.
I owned "For All Mankind" on LaserDisc. Absolutely mesmerizing film of the Apollo program, and on Blu-ray I can only imagine how gorgeous it will look. That will have a welcome place on my shelf.
Criterion's overrated and run by a bunch of dickheads.
Didn't see it on the list, but the original "Seven Samurai" is under these guys. That would be a must for me.
Yeah, Seven Samurai is going to really benefit from the HD treatment. That monaural soundtrack is going to sound great when it is remastered for 7.1 surround sound.
The Rock, please (I'm semi-serious)
Sweet! Can't wait to own some of my favorite Wes Anderson films on Blu-ray. There are only a few films that I would buy again and most of Wes Anderson's are on that list.
I wish they would acquire the rights to "Raise the Red Lantern". SIGH!
Excellent. They're doing the entire collection eventually right? Tokyo Drifter and Branded To Kill need an updated release (they're non-anamorphic right now, which is REALLY annoying), and I can see myself buying Contempt and Chungking Express.
Because of shifting licensing agreements, Criterion has lost the rights to many of their previous releases. Let's hope that they can put out as many as possible, while they still have the rights to them.
For All Mankind in Blu Ray? Sold!
While I can appreciate the efforts that Criterion puts into the restoring films and so forth, how much better are the Blu-Ray versions really going to be over DVD? I mean the source material in most cases is so old that the high quality just won't be there as compared to what we would see on a modern recorded film.
Are we just going to get high definition film grain as a result?
For me, and probably many film lovers, the best thing about Blu-ray is not necessarily the "eye candy" releases, rather it's that with higher resolution we can get closer than ever to the original film.
Hopefully, with Criterion's Blu-ray releases, we're going to end up with the most accurate representation of the original filmmakers' intent ever available for home viewing. If that means more prominent grain along with an increase in resolution, I'm all for it.
If you'd rather that all films be grain free for that "video" look that some people seem to love, then by all means stick to the DVD releases.
I don't really understand why everyone gets so excited about Criterion releases. Their full cut of Robocop on DVD was 4x3 letterboxed. Think about that for a minute... Revolting.
You do realize that Robocop was a very early release on DVD, right? The picture quality by all accounts was decent, although as you point out, not anamorphically enhanced (at the time of release, only a handful of other DVD releases were anamorphic). Where Criterion really shines, as they did on Robocop, was in the extras.
We've come a long way since 1998, and Criterion has been mastering in HD for awhile now. I have high hopes for the quality of their Blu-ray releases, but of course we won't know for sure until they're released.
Maybe you didn't know that the 1:66 to 1 aspect ratio of the transfer was done at the director's request?
And that because it's not the theatrical 1:85 to 1 ratio, it actually shows *more* visible picture area at the top and bottom of the screen?
Plus, you're talking about a DVD release that is TEN years old! Released during the infancy of the consumer DVD video format!
Yes, it's too bad that it's not anamorphic, but judging from the number of Robocop DVD releases that were subsequently released by MGM -- two in fact -- Criterion doesn't own the rights to put out a full HD quality remastered edition of their own.
Those are certainly valid points. Truth be told, I hadn't considered that the director would make such a request. I also hadn't realized just how long ago that specific release was published. Should have been obvious from the terribly dated menus!
Thanks to your informative responses, I will officially cease complaining about my copy of Robocop!
It's too bad they lost the rights to "Hard Boiled." Would've love to see that in HD.
The 400 Blows? Yes! The Last Emperor? Yes! Bottle Rocket? Yes! Brazil? AHHH! Where's Brazil?
-Free Tibet with the purchase of another Tibet at the same or higher value.
exactly! Where's Brazil?!
$40 for a movie? I'll pass. I'll keep watching HD and renting my BRDs until prices come down to reasonable points.
Yay, I just hope they also soon include the priceless works of Ingmar Bergman (Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries, and the lengthy version of Fanny & Alexander, among others)
Forget the list! When's Criterion gonna release SALO on Blu-Ray? Nothing like watching kids being forced by fascists to eat feces!
(Actually, I'm kidding. Although SALO is one of the rarest Criterion DVDs around.)
There's a good chance Salo will be released on BD before the end of the year.
The Pasolini estate and Criterion resolved the licensing disputes earlier in the year, and the original master of Salo has been re-scanned in 4K resolution for release in HD.
@OneLove:
Are you an idiot or something? Film is film, HD is HD. To say that a film does not have "true HD quality" makes no sense whatsoever.
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I hope they don't have region coding on their BluRay as Criterion has a Region-1-only policy. (I'm ware the BluRay regions are different, but the net effect for many is the same.)
This is amazing news, especially for some of the titles concerned! The Man Who Fell to Earth is one of my favorites, so I'm very excited for that. Perhaps just as much for Gimme Shelter, which was interlaced on DVD and will be an amazing experience on BluRay.