Godzilla KOTM... from the Criterion Collection!?!?!

[canofhumdingers]

Man, that would be awesome if Criterion/Janus did more Godzilla titles. I'd buy any and all of them immediately!

I'd be totally down for GRA. I actually quite enjoy it. The fact that it revolves around aviation industries really appeals to me.

[Benjamin Haines]

[klen7]

Great find. I would be all about any Showa Blu-rays. But Rodan and Mothra are both high on my list for a good treatment

[The Shadow]

If Criterion is looking to do more Godzilla movies (and maybe kaiju movies in general), I can see where they may want to go with GRA as their second entry; it's the second Godzilla film after all, and the North American rights currently rest with Classic Media (now part of Dreamworks) who don't seem particularly interested in releasing blu-ray copies right now.

Alternatively, I can see Criterion also going with King Kong vs Godzilla as their second (or maybe third) Godzilla film. KKvG has the benefit of having both Godzilla & King Kong in it and of course the upcoming Godzilla vs Kong will gain the release extra attention (Criterion could even do some title fight style advertising).

[lhb412]

^And the fact that Criterion deals with both Universal and Toho would put them in the perfect position to release the original Japanese version of KK v G.

[Mac]

It's just for Filmstruck. They probably got the streaming rights from Classic Media.

Jun Fukuda is also listed. They aren't releasing Son of Godzilla, lol.

[lhb412]

^... but none of Fukuda's films are in CM's library.

I mean, yeah: may be a nothingburger like Shout Factory getting the CM Godzilla's turned out to be, but maybe...

*looks at Zatochi Blu-Ray set on a shelf five feet away from me*

Okay, if a Banno page appears we can freak out.

[Mac]

...Jun Fukuda's films are in Janus' library. Golden Eyes. Iron Finger. He didn't JUST direct Godzilla films. Several of those films were available on Hulu when they had a deal with Criterion. They are probably in the process of being put on Filmstruck.

[lhb412]

^Maybe.

But hope springs eternal. Criterion's been very good about balancing their catalog of obscure films with more well-known and commercial ones. That's how they went from just doing classic samurai pictures like Seven Samurai and Harakiri to doing things like Lone Wolf and Cub. With only so many popular classic films unreleased and now a bunch of boutique labels competing with each other and all working with major studios something like the classic Godzilla movies and other genre films are just a matter of time.

[Mac]

The rights are too disperse to make a comprehensive set. Even with just the Showa films you're contending with Universal and Section 23. It's not happening. They're also not going to do an Eclipse set of films that didn't sell well (Classic Media never did blu-rays because of that). There's optimism and then there's....foolishness.

Ok, well I'll bet you $5 it's for an upcoming Filmstruck theme on Godzilla.

[lhb412]

^They'd have to deal with Toho, Classic Media, Universal, and Section 23... not likely for most, but Criterion is uniquely well suited for something like that. They've worked for many years on certain releases.

Not saying it's happening. Just saying that I'm pretty sure they could pull it off.

--- edit ---

Thinking back to Zatoichi: they had to work hard to pull that one off. They already (through Janus) had the rights to the majority of the movies, but also had to acquire over a dozen that had been in the domain of other distributors like AnimeEgo (who released them on DVD several years before), and in addition they managed to finally disentangle the rights to one previously unreleased-in-the-US one because it was the tied up with the proposed American remake rights.

[klen7]

I want to believe

[canofhumdingers]

[lhb412]

According to this fella the Classic Media Godzilla films, Rodan, and War of the Gargantuan - plus Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Megalon, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla have apparently shown up on STARZ streaming with Criterion labeling.

http://herr-kroenen.tumblr.com/post/167 ... -added-the

... now our own GMAN has verified these thumbnail images on twitter:

https://twitter.com/GMANonScified/statu ... 3269713920

I'd say not to get your hopes up... but to hell with that!

[Gman2887]

[Joseph Goodman]

Alright, so which mis-matched suit design will correspond with what centerfold pop-up for each film?

[lhb412]

Godzilla is too big for them to skip on. Criterion's done a great job balancing the more obscure with the more commercial in their line (their upcoming Night of the Living Dead restoration, for instance), and Godzilla has the potential to be their Zatoichi box set x10.

[Benjamin Haines]

Streaming rights and home video rights are two separate things. Just because Janus/Criterion has apparently gotten the streaming rights to eleven Showa Godzilla movies doesn't necessarily mean they've gotten the home video rights. Shout! Factory previously held the streaming rights to Classic Media's Godzilla titles after a .

It would be fantastic if Criterion did release all of those movies on BRD. It would also be disappointing if we all got our hopes up for something that doesn't happen. Let's just wait and see...

[tbeasley]

Releasing what they have now would be phenomenal but I would be more than willing to wait out a little longer to see if they could work with Universal (King Kong vs G) and Kraken (Ebirah, Hedorah, Gigan). With that Showa G would be complete and Rodan/WOTG would be icing on the giant cake.

[lhb412]

Been reading comments, people saying new and improved subtitles and the international version of WotG with mentions of 'Frankenstein' intact.

[Ultra T-Rex]

Of course, nothing is 100% yet, but I take this as a very strong sign they're going to be released on Blu-ray. It's Godzilla, and Godzilla has been described as an evergreen property far as home video sales go. They released the original, they even put out The X from Outer Space under the Eclipse line, so I don't see why not.

I'm kind of freaking out right now over the possibility.

[Joseph Goodman]

In addition to the WoTG HK dub surprise, "Astro-Monster" is the "Monster Zero" dub (complete with altered title music) over the Japanese video (presumably the 2008 remaster), reverting to the Japanese audio for the bits of the Controller speaking in the Planet X language.

[The Shadow]

[Ultra T-Rex]

[canofhumdingers]

Oh please let it happen! I won’t get my hopes up, but gosh would it be SO exciting!