Criterions Out of Print (OOP)

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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Zardoz
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:31 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#276 Post by Zardoz » Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:20 pm

Does anyone know the status of the Pearls of the Czech New Wave Eclipse set? On the website, rather than "Out of Stock" or "Out of Print" it reads "Not Available".

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#277 Post by fdm » Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:12 pm

Seems to be out of stock mostly everywhere (that I just looked), though B&N will sell you one for $67.13 today. Walmart has one left of 55.99. A couple on ebay.

ftsoh
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:59 am

Re: Criterion OOP

#278 Post by ftsoh » Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:28 pm

Likewise for The Taking of Power by Loius XIV.

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#279 Post by fdm » Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:30 pm

Pretty good chance if "Not Available" that they're just temporarily out of print. Criterion would have the real answer.

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danieltiger
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Re: Criterion OOP

#280 Post by danieltiger » Wed Mar 06, 2019 7:27 pm

Pearls of the Czech New Wave now says "back-order". The Taking of Power by Louis XIV still says "Not Available".

Noiradelic
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:45 am

Re: Criterion OOP

#281 Post by Noiradelic » Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:51 pm

fdm wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:12 pm
A couple on ebay.
None on eBay from U.S. sellers. Copies on AZ are already going for $160.

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Gregory
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:07 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#282 Post by Gregory » Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:02 pm

As long as B&N still has it in stock for roughly MSRP, aren't the third-party listings with inflated prices easily avoided?

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brundlefly
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:55 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#283 Post by brundlefly » Wed Mar 06, 2019 10:50 pm

Criterion site currently says the Pearls set will be "available Mar 28, 2019."

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#284 Post by fdm » Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:00 am

Noiradelic wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:51 pm
fdm wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 3:12 pm
A couple on ebay.
None on eBay from U.S. sellers. Copies on AZ are already going for $160.
That's because they both sold after I posted that.

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#285 Post by yoloswegmaster » Fri Mar 29, 2019 7:14 pm

I tried to find the page for Z on the Janus website but it's not there anymore, plus it's been removed from the listings on Hollywood Suite. Could this mean that they lost the rights to it?

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Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 am
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Re: Criterion OOP

#286 Post by Brian C » Fri Mar 29, 2019 8:44 pm

The DVD is OOP on the Criterion site so guess so.

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#287 Post by yoloswegmaster » Fri Mar 29, 2019 9:49 pm

When the DVD went OOP, the page on the Janus website was still up (went OOP in August and the page was still up in October according to Wayback Machine). People assumed that there was going to be an upgrade, but now I'm not so sure.

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Blutarsky
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:09 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#288 Post by Blutarsky » Fri Mar 29, 2019 11:49 pm

Z was on TCM during 31 Days of Oscars and I recall it looking much more clean and having more depth than the DVD. It opened with the Janus logo and everything. However, TCM also showcases OOP Criterions on their channel with the Janus/StudioCanal logo which has always confused me (I.E. The Third Man, Nights of Cabiria, Grand Illusion)

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#289 Post by dwk » Sat Mar 30, 2019 12:31 am

Z is still available digitally to rent or own from Criterion on both iTunes and Amazon.

Robespierre
Joined: Mon Apr 17, 2017 5:31 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#290 Post by Robespierre » Sat Apr 13, 2019 2:17 am

Is Eraserhead OOP? It's fetching high prices on amazon.

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Big Ben
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
Location: Great Falls, Montana

Re: Criterion OOP

#291 Post by Big Ben » Sat Apr 13, 2019 2:44 am

Robespierre wrote:
Sat Apr 13, 2019 2:17 am
Is Eraserhead OOP? It's fetching high prices on amazon.
I imagine that's Amazon being Amazon. Criterion's page still lists both versions for their respective prices of $31.96 for the Blu-Ray and $23.96 for the DVD.

David_kuznicki
Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2019 12:19 am

Re: Criterion OOP

#292 Post by David_kuznicki » Mon May 06, 2019 10:02 am

People on FB seem to think that The Samurai Trilogy may now be OOP. Criterion store shows it as not being available.

KJones77
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:35 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#293 Post by KJones77 » Mon May 06, 2019 10:33 am

David_kuznicki wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 10:02 am
People on FB seem to think that The Samurai Trilogy may now be OOP. Criterion store shows it as not being available.
Not available does not mean OOP.

If a title is OOP, it just says "OUT OF PRINT" on their page. Not available seems to mean out of stock. The DVD is still available so there is no chance it is OOP.

There seem to be quite a few titles with this issue now and every time, rumors start that the title is OOP. I don't know why the Blu-ray version of these titles is not available right now but none are OOP.

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ptatler
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Re: Criterion OOP

#294 Post by ptatler » Thu May 09, 2019 3:23 pm

KJones77 wrote:
Mon May 06, 2019 10:33 am
Not available does not mean OOP.
Same thing is happening with the Blu for 3 Women. Not to worry, though: Amazon has a copy available for $1,615.21.

KJones77
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:35 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#295 Post by KJones77 » Fri May 10, 2019 10:05 pm

Yaanu wrote:
Wed Jan 02, 2019 5:25 pm
Minkin wrote:
Sat Dec 29, 2018 7:47 am
Putney Swope appears to be coming to AGFA next year for the film's 50th anniversary. The Janus site still lists all of the other Downey Sr films, except Putney Swope.

I'm inclined to believe they probably don't have the rights anymore; and the Eclipse set may be going OOP in the near future. The only other possibility I can think of is whether AGFA only have theatrical or Blu rights; not DVD rights.
I sent AGFA an email after reading this post about whether or not they had the home video rights. Here's what they responded:
Bret Berg wrote:[T]hanks for reaching out. [...]

Currently AGFA does not have home video rights to the film. To our knowledge, our upcoming theatrical release does not affect Criterion's home video rights.


cheers
bret
So it looks as if Putney Swope is safe.
The Eclipse set is still in print but Putney Swope is coming from Vinegar Syndrome on Blu-ray in June.

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agnamaracs
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:13 am

Re: Criterion OOP

#296 Post by agnamaracs » Wed May 15, 2019 9:07 am

Is anybody keeping track of former Criterions that have since been acquired/released by other labels? I'm thinking this would be useful especially given the recent Kino/Canal acquisitions (Alphaville et al).
Last edited by agnamaracs on Wed May 15, 2019 9:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#297 Post by yoloswegmaster » Wed May 15, 2019 9:27 am

agnamaracs wrote:
Wed May 15, 2019 9:07 am
Is anybody keeping track of former Criterions that have since been acquired/released by other labels? I'm thinking this would be useful especially given the recent Kino/Canal acquisitions (Alphaville et al).
Go to the first page of this thread. It's being updated constantly.

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agnamaracs
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:13 am

Re: Criterion OOP

#298 Post by agnamaracs » Wed May 15, 2019 9:58 am

But there's no distinction between titles owned, licensed, or released. And it doesn't include titles where Criterion's version is still in print, but there's another Region A/1 release (like Sony's Life of Brian or Flicker Alley's Most Dangerous Game)

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#299 Post by yoloswegmaster » Wed May 15, 2019 10:16 am

You only mentioned Kino/Canal deal, so I just responded to that.

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Criterion OOP

#300 Post by Minkin » Wed May 15, 2019 1:07 pm

agnamaracs wrote:
Wed May 15, 2019 9:58 am
But there's no distinction between titles owned, licensed, or released. And it doesn't include titles where Criterion's version is still in print, but there's another Region A/1 release (like Sony's Life of Brian or Flicker Alley's Most Dangerous Game)
In most all of the cases available, this doesn't matter / affect Criterion's rights in anyway.

Most Dangerous Game / Nanook of the North / Things to Come / Night of the Living Dead / etc etc etc etc - are all Public Domain. Flicker Alley's release of Nanook does not in anyway affect Criterion's long-promised/gestating edition, despite the Criterion being OOP.

Most Universal licensed films still have their Universal-released Blu edition still in print, which also doesn't affect Criterion; see Do the Right Thing / Breakfast Club / etc.

Life of Brian - it had been in print last time I checked; or it had a little notice saying "this title is not OOP, just not available at Criterion.com" (I'll mention here that this notice does not appear yet on their new website for probably coding reasons, so I still wouldn't panic about many of these supposed OOP editions.)

It can honestly be difficult to know what actually is OOP from Criterion. There's the obvious "it says OOP on their website" - but clearly this isn't an entirely accurate measure. When something gets a new print run, it can be listed as OOP on their website, even for many years (see Vampyr); or if a new forthcoming edition is planned to be coming eventually (Do the Right Thing); or if they still own the rights but aren't really sure what to do with it yet (Pygmalion). So, is Z / Life of Brian / The Confession really OOP now? We can't answer that yet, and oftentimes can't until some other company announces it. Otherwise there will be panic over every time the Criterion website decides to change some text. But if people don't like my approach to this, y'all can let me know!

If you come up with more examples, I can respond with what info we have, but I don't quite see the need for this info on the first post (mostly because we don't quite know what all is going on). Maybe if Criterion actually gave actual responses to email inquiries, rather than a boilerplate "sorry, this is OOP" email when people ask, we wouldn't have this issue. But once again - Criterion's lack of transparency with fans just leaves them forced to make best guesses.

Though I did make a note about cases where a different company has Blu rights, while Criterion maintains DVD rights (which are still in print) - on the first post. Let me know if I missed anything else.

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