Lionsgate Announces StudioCanal Collection

Posted November 24, 2009 05:43 PM by Josh Dreuth


Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced that they will begin releasing classic titles on Blu-ray as part of a "StudioCanal Collection". The first three titles to be released in this collection, 'Ran', 'The Ladykillers', and 'Contempt', are scheduled to hit store shelves on February 16th. Each title will feature a 1080p AVC video transfer, multiple DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks, and a 20-page collectible book. Extras for these releases include: Ran "A.K." - the acclaimed feature-length documentary on the making of the film "Akira Kurosawa: The Epic and the Intimate" - documentary on the director A Portrait of Akira Kurosawa by Japanese cinema expert and interpreter Catherine Cadou "The Samurai" - documentary on Samurai art "Art of the Samurai" - an interview with a Japanese art of war expert BD-Live The Ladykillers introduction by filmmaker Terry Gilliam "Forever Ealing" - a documentary on the famed British studio Audio commentary with film historian Philip Kemp Interviews with British filmmakers Allan Scott and Terence Davies and writer Ronald Harwood on the film BD-Live (including a bonus interview with British filmmaker James Mangold) Contempt Introduction by British film producer and Godard expert Colin MacCabe A "making-of" documentary "One Upon a Time There Was...Contempt" A documentary on Godard's legacy in film "Contempt...Tenderly" A discussion between Godard and director Fritz Lang "The Dinosaur and the Baby" Theatrical trailer BD-Live Some of our international readers will remember when Optimum Home Entertainment announced the first Blu-ray titles to be released under the "StudioCanal Collection" in the UK. In addition to the titles above, Optimum also announced 'Belle de jour', 'The Deer Hunter', 'The Elephant Man', and 'The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum' at the time. One could easily deduce that some if not all of those titles would also be Blu-ray bound sometime in the future.
Source: Blu-ray.com \| Permalink \| [Country settings]

News comments (29 comments)

scorsetinogilliam

Nov 24, 2009

it's not that i don't trust lionsgate to do these films justice, but damn i just wish that criterion still had the rights...

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It looks like RAN is going to be the same BD that was originally released in England. If they don't do a proper upgrade (the U.K. BD looks to be an upgrade of the DVD master, not the original print), and since the Studio Canal version is already Region A + B, I don't see a good reason for this particular release.

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TheManInBlu

Nov 24, 2009

Stop announcing movies I want in February!!!! That's too many for one month!! I already had 4 titles for Feb. before this announcement. 2010 is shaping up to be a killer year for BD

coolmilo

Nov 24, 2009

What, no In Bruges???

vanscottie

Nov 24, 2009

Hmmm I wasn't aware that Criterion lost the rights to these films

reanimator

Nov 24, 2009

Ladykillers! Awesome! At first I was afraid this was the Coen brothers remake. The original is wonderful.

GGX

Nov 24, 2009

Ugh...

If only Criterion still had the rights to Ran.

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TTC1984

Nov 24, 2009

So is Ran going to use a Criterion transfer, or just that one I heard about from that UK release that was supposedly not too good?

retablo

Nov 24, 2009

"So is Ran going to use a Criterion transfer"

There is no hi-def Criterion transfer, only one for sdvd... itll be the UK transfer that's not too good, which is sad.

DFS61

Nov 24, 2009

It's about time a David Lynch film gets a Blu-ray upgrade!!! "The Elephant Man" will be a superb start! Would love to see Cimino's "Heaven's Gate" get one, as well; but will settle for "The Deer Hunter"...! (I know I'm probably the only person out there who thinks his 4-hour epic is a masterwork....) (Naturally, I'm jumping-the-gun...!)

Can't wait for "Ran," and hope they do a great job as Criterion did with their DVD version...!

Inspector Toschi

Nov 24, 2009

This is fantastic news. Everyone seems to be down on it though because Criterion isn't releasing Ran instead. Hey, I wish they were too, but it is what it is. Even without Ran, Contempt and The Ladykillers... Bring 'em my way. It's fantastic news. I can't wait for the other releases in their new line. Like someone mentioned, The Elephant Man. I almost ordered that from the UK. But I think I'll wait in anticipation for the US release. It seems like everyone will always find a reason to complain. "Three great films are getting released on Blu? Wait, they're not by Criterion? Ugh, then whats the point?" Have fun not enjoying them. Honestly, the constant whining is getting old...

ShellOilJunior

Nov 24, 2009

The point is the Region B Ran was terrible. The Beaver compared to an upconvert job.

Lionsgate needs to relinquish rights and let Criterion take care of Ran and Contempt.

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Rhylliam

Nov 24, 2009

Oh my. I wonder if these will be digibooks too...

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Octavio

Nov 24, 2009

Ran and Le mépris on HD! These are sweet news!

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RBBrittain

Nov 24, 2009

Alas, Universal still owns the US rights to "The Deer Hunter"; it and "The Sting" are why I can't get rid of my BD/HD DVD combo drive and just use my PS3.

ccfixx

Nov 24, 2009

Okay, so this is February 16th, and not the 19th as stated in the article above, right? These three titles and the three titles scheduled for release by Criterion on the same date make for one expensive week.

bygberbrown

Nov 24, 2009

There's some misinformation above. Gary Tooze of DVDBeaver has not reviewed the Studio Canal European BD. He has only given a negative to the asian Ran BD.

IMO the Ran BD looks great; far better than a DVD upconvert, in terms of truer colours, but probably not as good as it could be if a new telecine was struck or whatever.

JediFonger

Nov 25, 2009

em, i read that Criterion has had 'hd' copies of all their films released on DVD since 2001, but whether or not they are completely clean for Blu-Ray is probably another matter =P.

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Rhylliam

Nov 25, 2009

Since Lionsgate does have a nice lil deal signed with Paramount... I think we'll see Elephant Man and Three Days of the Condor before too long...

Michael Blanton

Nov 25, 2009

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR is already out on Blu-Ray.

Great titles listed so far.

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Rhylliam

Nov 25, 2009

Yes, Three Days of the Condor is on blu-ray... however without extras. The StudioCanal disc overseas has a bunch of extras that I want!

ProgRockFan

Nov 25, 2009

Great news about the original Ladykillers, hopefully The Lavender Hill Mob, and Kinds Hearts and Coronets will follow!

spf781

Nov 25, 2009

I nabbed the Studio Canal BDs of "Ran" (D'oh!) and "The Elephant Man" while I was in Paris last week. I thought "Ran" looked pretty darn good. Not something on the level of Pixar but certainly no disaster. And since the extras are exactly the same on the Lionsgate edition (heck, the French BD even had the Lionsgate logo at the beginning), methinks they will be using the same transfer.

As for "Elephant Man", it looked fantastic. And the extras were great. I just hope that Lionsgate can bring "Belle De Jour" to the States as well (that was region-locked).

4LOM

Nov 25, 2009

These are exactly the same discs that are available in Germany, France and the UK. Lionsgate, Kinowelt and Optimum are just the distributors of this BD series from StudioCanal.

In the start menues of the European "Contempt" and "Ran" discs you can choose "USA" and the discs starts with the "Lionsgate" logo. "Three Days of the Condor", "Belle de jour", "Last Year at Marienbad" and "The Elephant Man" will not be part of the line in the US. The European discs don't have the option to choose "USA". I don't know for "The Deer Hunter" and "The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum" because I don't have these discs yet.

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fettastic

Nov 25, 2009

This actually is not that great of news because several of the StudioCanal transfers have high-pitched audio issues originating with PAL digital masters. I highly doubt Lionsgate with bother redoing them.

I still have the Total Recall HD DVD, and while it looks head and shoulders above the Lionsgate Blu-ray, the squeaky gerbil voices and orchestra sounding like they are hopped up on cocaine is extremely annoying. You can look this issue up on AVSForum if you like. They have comparitive sound clips there.

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PowellPressburger

Nov 25, 2009

I have a feeling Elephant Man is still under Paramount in the US. and I do own the US Paramount release of 3 Days of the Condor, great transfer - just sad their are no extras.

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Rhylliam

Nov 25, 2009

Yes yes... but like I said, Lionsgate will be releasing some Paramount titles on blu (see this news item: http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3771). So there is some hope. However, after reading 4LOM's post, its possible that since there was no USA menu option, it may not happen.

supergogo

Nov 25, 2009

If Loinsgate got StudoCanals collection. I know StudoCanal (blu-ray&HD DVD) released movies like Brotherhood of the Wolf (good transfer) , Mulholland Drive (look likeDVD) hopefully US gets upgrade treatment, but Its Loinsgate. nope but suprise me. Now only if Disney hurrys up on US The Crow blu-ray.