Best Sellers, Worst Sellers

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#101 Post by **mfunk9786** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:49 pm

Since some of these are newer titles though, I'd say it's as accurate a representation as we're going to get.

#102 Post by **swo17** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:59 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Since some of these are newer titles though, I'd say it's as accurate a representation as we're going to get.

Well, it's selling now about as well as it ever will. So I think the one thing we can conclude from this exercise is that Border Radio is no higher than the 426th highest selling Criterion of all time.

Narshty · #103 Post by **Narshty** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:05 pm

It's a pity because I found Border Radio rather charming, with very fine supplements.

HelenLawson · #104 Post by **HelenLawson** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:06 pm

Hmm...from that list one can conclude that very few people are fond of 80s Altman; Criterion should've stopped their samurai output with spine #2; and films with talking gorillas and Glenda Jackson are more popular than we think.

#105 Post by **mfunk9786** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:30 pm

Hopscotch is the #23 best seller on Amazon!

Cinephrenic · #106 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:37 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Hopscotch is the #23 best seller on Amazon!

Well it is a mainstream comedy, but is this bestseller of all DVDs on Amazon?

#107 Post by **mfunk9786** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:38 pm

Nah, just Criterions. But still, with that reputation...

HelenLawson · #108 Post by **HelenLawson** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:41 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:Nah, just Criterions. But still, with that reputation...

Maybe people are confused and think they're actually getting House Calls.

tryavna · #109 Post by **tryavna** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:27 pm

HelenLawson wrote:Hmm...from that list one can conclude that very few people are fond of 80s Altman; Criterion should've stopped their samurai output with spine #2; and films with talking gorillas and Glenda Jackson are more popular than we think.

Good point. The samurai films, in particular, probably did fairly well upon initial release. By the same token, however, it's interesting to note that they don't have the staying power of Kurasawa's.

Tom Hagen · #110 Post by **Tom Hagen** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:09 pm

Artistic considerations aside, in the case of Samurai II and Samurai III, the existence of the box set probably doesn't help the bottom-line sales figures for the individual titles . . .

Zumpano · #111 Post by **Zumpano** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 1:10 am

HelenLawson wrote:from that list one can conclude that very few people are fond of 80s Altman...

We can also conclude that the chances of seeing "Come Back To The Five & Dime Jimmy Dean", "H.E.A.L.T.H.", and the like released unlikely.

Cosmic Bus · #112 Post by **Cosmic Bus** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:15 am

It's a bit disheartening to see Schizopolis on that listing, as I think it's one of the best things (both film and supplement-wise) in the collection.

GaryC · #113 Post by **GaryC** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:42 am

I would have thought By Brakhage would have had a more specialised appeal than most...but not so specialised as those twenty-five! (And I own some of them.)

Doctor Sunshine · #114 Post by **Doctor Sunshine** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 5:44 am

At least I know I'm pimping the right ones. Whenever I manage to convince non-film people to watch one of my DVDs it's usually Tokyo Drifter, Branded to Kill, Schizopolis or Fishing with John. The worst one to see as a worst seller is Pepe le Moko, though; I'd rank it amongst the best in the collection. A little surprised to see so much Suzuki on there but that might explain why I've never met another fan in the flesh (however, I have had at least one conversion for Tokyo Drifter).

Tommaso · #115 Post by **Tommaso** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:06 am

I'm almost shocked to see "Indiscretion of an American Wife/Terminal Station" being second on the worst-selling list. Well, so much for our hopes for more De Sica....

Harmonov · #116 Post by **Harmonov** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:23 am

Color me crazy here as I'm no statistician, but these figures aren't historical figures, are they? These figures must come from a certain snapshot in time, a year or something like that. Since there have been so many more films and TV series being released on DVD, this has likely pushed Criterion releases further down the channel, yes? Titanic is listed as #3,605 on the bestseller list and as we know, people fiended for that movie when it came out (granted, it sold very well on VHS and there are no numbers represented for video sales on Amazon).

The Fellowship of the Ring is ranked #7,504 and we all know that blew out of the stores when it was released. The extended edition of that particular title is only ranked #2,140.

Even Spider-Man has a ranking of #3,380 and that set records for DVD sales at the time of its release.

I'm not sure so much stock can be put into the rankings on Amazon.

Also, Mala Noche sold far less (rank #48,079) than Clean, Shaven (rank #19,572) as did Walker (rank #36,932) as well as others (Cria Cuervos, WR: The Mysteries of the Organism, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, etc).[/i]

s.j. bagley · #117 Post by **s.j. bagley** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:50 pm

amazon's sales ranking are pretty much meaningless, to be fair.

Cinephrenic · #118 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:58 pm

Tommaso wrote:I'm almost shocked to see "Indiscretion of an American Wife/Terminal Station" being second on the worst-selling list. Well, so much for our hopes for more De Sica....

Not necessary, De Sica is more known for his neorealist films in which Criterion has Miracle in Milan and Gold of Naples comedy coming.

Tommaso · #119 Post by **Tommaso** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:02 am

Oh nice, I knew about "Miracle" being a distinct possibility, but hadn't heard "Naples" was coming, too.

zeroism · #120 Post by **zeroism** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 3:34 am

Tom Hagen wrote:Artistic considerations aside, in the case of Samurai II and Samurai III, the existence of the box set probably doesn't help the bottom-line sales figures for the individual titles . . .

also, Sanjuro is the lesser known half of a most likely very popular set.

i have to say i'm a bit surprised to see the Rebel Samurai boxset on that list, i always thought samurai action films sold pretty well in general in terms of Criterion releases.

Adam · #121 Post by **Adam** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:19 am

Amazon sales list is current - maybe the past week or two. all this debate about which of these is worst selling ever is silly.

#122 Post by **swo17** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:15 pm

Dammit, which one of you bought Border Radio? It's moved up the best selling Criterion list from 420-something to 298.

#123 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:58 pm

Maybe someone needed a gag gift for an office party

pianocrash · #124 Post by **pianocrash** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:19 pm

It's threads like these that make Christmas shopping for the collective board that much easier.

Mr Pixies · #125 Post by **Mr Pixies** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:52 am

swo17 wrote:Dammit, which one of you bought Border Radio? It's moved up the best selling Criterion list from 420-something to 298.

domino harvey wrote:Maybe someone needed a gag gift for an office party

you guys know that for every one person who watches a film, metaphysically two more people are compelled to watch the same film. I vow to watch Border Radio five times a day, every day, and soon enough all of you will be watching it every day!