Criterion News and Discussion

[OrHowILearnedTo]

that great dictator cover is amazing

maybe it was unintentional but it's cool that the hat upside down kinda looks like a torso with little arms, but when you flip it with the hair at the bottom it doesn't look like anything at all.

kinda looks like Lincoln with a mustache.

Also have to echo the Solaris cover love. Awesome font choice.

[modage]

A Long Time Coming By Peter Becker

It's not often that you get to say you are going to meet millions of new people on a single day while making a wish come true for many of your oldest friends, but that is exactly what is happening to the Criterion Collection today, as we go live with a major new offering on Hulu.

When I first started working at the Criterion Collection about seventeen years ago, I remember coming across a file box full of typed and handwritten letters that viewers had sent to Jon Mulvaney, our longtime customer liaison. At that time, the company was sometimes referred to as the "Rolls-Royce of laserdiscs"—an honor, to be sure, but one that was meaningful to a vanishingly small sliver of the American public. Many of our editions sold hundreds, not even thousands, of copies, at prices as high as $125 for a single film, but we had a very dedicated audience of movie lovers who had come to value Criterion for our commitment to quality, and for the array of special features we had pioneered starting in 1984, when we published the first ever commentary tracks and special features to appear alongside motion pictures.

It is tempting to say that a lot has changed since then, but the truth is, even more has remained constant. We don't make laserdiscs anymore, but we are still dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and using the latest technology to present them in editions that will deepen viewers' appreciation and understanding of the art of cinema. Customers still write to Jon Mulvaney all the time, but now instead of pens and typewriters, they send him e-mail or post to our Facebook page or Twitter.

When I think back to all the letters I read that day, I realize that even the subjects of those letters haven't changed much at all. Most were and are passionate pleas for us to release a favorite film or seek out a particular director's work, but then, as now, one of the most common requests was for some kind of subscription program that would give customers access to everything we put out.

Starting today, there are more than 150 of our most important films online on the Hulu Plus subscription service. Over the coming months, that number will swell to more than 800 films. For the true cinephile, this should be a dream come true. On Hulu Plus, you'll find everything in our library, from Academy Award winners to many of the most famous films by art-house superstars like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, and Federico Fellini to films so rare that they have never been seen in the U.S. in any medium. Some of these lost gems have been so hard to see that even most of the Criterion staff will see them for the first time only when they go live on Hulu Plus! Each month, we'll be highlighting a mix of programs, centered on themes, directors, actors, and other creative artists, as well as celebrity picks, and mixing them with deep cuts from the catalog that will be unknown to all but the most prominent cinephiles in the world.

Criterion has always been a company driven by its mission, not by any particular medium, and while we still see our core business as producing the world's best DVD and Blu-ray versions of the world's best films, this new venture with Hulu represents a huge expansion of our reach. Not only will Hulu users have access to the largest digital archive of Criterion movies for the first time, Hulu Plus subscribers will now be able to stream our films (and yes, before long, many of our supplements too!) on a wide array of devices, including iPhones, iPads, PlayStations, and Internet-connected television sets.

And finally, why Hulu? In short, because they get it. As their regular viewers know, the Hulu user experience is exactly what it should be: simple, elegant, and focused on the content. Hulu has built their brand on letting the shows and movies take center stage. Nobody does it better, and we're honored that they see Criterion as a good match for their audience. We're going to do all we can to make the experience of Criterion on Hulu Plus an exciting adventure for all of us, so please check it out and let us know what you think. (For more details on how it will work, here's a blog post by Hulu's Eugene Wei.)

[I Love a Magician]

hope i get this job so i can afford all this jazz

[Gold Trumpet]

Alright, if Criterion has their entire library on Hulu plus and I had to pick either Netflix or Hulu to have, which one should I pick?

[Stefen]

I'm sticking with netflix because I can still get everything criterion has and more. Do they have special features like commentaries on hulu?

[modage]

Netflix has no commercials (commercials are the worst) but don't have streaming special features which supposedly Hulu Plus will have eventually.

[Stefen]

Why does Hulu plus have commercials? Isn't it the paid version of Hulu? That's wack.

[RegularKarate]

I like the Great Dictator cover.  It's an Olly Moss poster from around 2008 or so.  Olly Moss is one of my favorite poster designers working today.

it's cool that the hat upside down kinda looks like a torso with little arms, but when you flip it with the hair at the bottom it doesn't look like anything at all.

Sure it does, it looks like a beard.  Like he's an orthodox Jew or in ZZ top.

[Ravi]

Sure it does, it looks like a beard.  Like he's an orthodox Jew or in ZZ top.

SS Top

[Stefen]

^lol.

So wait, this means Criterion titles won't be available to stream on Netflix anymore? That sucks. I hope you can still get them through the mail.

What is the appeal of Hulu plus? Isn't it just $8 a month for TV shows? Why not just download those tv shows from a torrent? It's not like quality is that important when it comes to TV the way it is with Criterion films.

[socketlevel]

so criterion and canada haven't sorted out their shit. for some reason amaracord and still walking haven't been released but we got fish tank a week early...

[Sleepless]

So wait, this means Criterion titles won't be available to stream on Netflix anymore? That sucks.

Is that right? There's no mention of Netflix or even that Hulu gets exclusivity, but it was something I wondered about too. I hope it's not correct.

It's interesting, very recently I read something somewhere about Hulu declining. It doesn't make much sense that Criterion is partnering with Hulu, they already have Mubi and if anyone "gets it" it's Netflix.

[Stefen]

We love Netflix, and they are still one of Criterion's most important partners, but Hulu demonstrated a real commitment to the Criterion brand that persuaded us they would be the better home base for our streaming efforts. It has never been easy to find Criterion movies on Netflix — "Criterion" is not even a searchable term there. Compare that with Hulu's willingness to develop a whole area of their site around us, brand the films associated with us, and develop the capability to show many of our supplements alongside our films. The energetic, independent, creative team at Hulu was willing to build their business around us in a way that just wasn't in the cards anywhere else.

We chose to make a deal with Hulu because we feel the Criterion brand will in the long run be better represented there. As we put up more films and and our supplements too - which have to be made available with the films - we felt that the treatment of the brand and flexibility within Hulu and Hulu Plus would enable us to provide a better user experience at the end of the day. We will continue to support Netflix on the package goods side and continue to work with them to provide Blu-ray and DVD copies of the films we release, but all of the films that are currently on Netflix streaming will be down by the end of the year. In case you're curious, we're as committed as ever to the physical goods side of our releases and will publish more DVDs and BDs this year than ever before.

Let us know here if you have further questions and we'll do our best to address them.

haha basically Criterion is selling out, it seems.

[modage]

It sucks, it really does.  I would pay for Hulu Plus if i could get it with no commercials.  But there is no fucking way I'm paying for a subscription to anything where I have to sit through commercials.  It's just not happening.  But I think Netflix really did drop the ball here.  Criterion should have had their own section on Netflix, they should have been searchable, etc.   I see how Criterion saw Hulu's promises and were swayed, Netflix fucked it up for everyone.

[I Love a Magician]

big fuckin babies can't sit through a 30 second commercial before a 2 hour movie