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

[lhb412]

Huh, can't believe I've already forgotten that for Godzilla's 70th Criterion posted a video of the two Terror of Mechagodzilla leads (Katsura and Ichinose) in the Criterion closet. Surely they were being interviewed for something, right?

[Dai]

^ That's especially conspicuous considering that next year is ToMG's 50th anniversary.

[lhb412]

[quote="lhb412"]Huh, can't believe I've already forgotten that for Godzilla's 70th Criterion posted a video of the two Terror of Mechagodzilla leads (Katsura and Ichinose) in the Criterion closet. Surely they were being interviewed for something, right?[/quote]

Forgot that this actor, as well as being the lead in Megalon, has roles in Godzilla vs. Biollante and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah! We don't really think of him as a major Godzilla series actor like Takarada or Mizuno or whatever, but he totally is!

[lhb412]

Some really good Criterion news: they're bringing back their Eclipse label, no-frills sets of more obscure films. They'll now be Blu-ray instead of DVD, and we'll likely seem some old sets upgraded (fingers crossed for the Shochiku horror set).

[Benjamin Haines]

^ If Criterion is hesitant to release a big "Sci-Fi Films of Ishiro Honda" box set as part of the Criterion Collection until they can get 4K-remastered transfers of everything, maybe they would be willing to release what they have as a couple of Eclipse sets using Toho's existing HD transfers.

"Sci-Fi Films of Ishiro Honda: 1956-1963" could be a 5-disc Eclipse set with Rodan, The Mysterians, Varan, Matango and Atragon.

"Sci-Fi Films of Ishiro Honda: 1964-1970" could be a 5-disc Eclipse set with Dogora, Frankenstein vs. Baragon, War of the Gargantuas, Latitude Zero and Space Amoeba.

This is assuming that Criterion can license Latitude Zero from Toho, as it is still conspicuously absent from Criterion's subscription streaming website.

They probably still would wait until they're ready to proceed with a full Criterion Collection box set before negotiating with Universal to sublicense King Kong Escapes, or MGM for The Human Vapor and Gorath, or Sony for The H-Man, Battle In Outer Space and Mothra,


Speaking of available transfers, when SciFi Japan first posted on July 6 about the Godzillafest event in San Francisco, the lineup of screenings included both Atragon and Frankenstein vs. Baragon: https://www.scifijapan.com/godzilla-toho/godzillafest-san-francisco-film-festival-schedule-july-18-20-2025-tockets-on-sale-now

However, on July 12, SciFi Japan posted an updated lineup that had those two movies replaced with Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster, along with this interesting note: https://www.scifijapan.com/news/update-godzillafest-san-francisco-film-festival-schedule-july-18-20-2025-tickets-on-sale-now

"UPDATE: Bay Area Film Events had licensed the Toho movies ATRAGON and FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD from their US distributor, Janus Films. Unfortunately, Janus does not yet have DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages used for theatrical screenings) for these two movies, so they had to be pulled from the Godzillafest schedule."

So, even though Janus Films has licensed the theatrical distribution rights to Atragon and FvsB, and even though both of those movies have been on Criterion's subscription streaming website for years, presumably featuring the same HD transfers that Toho has already released on Japanese blu-ray disc, Janus Films still doesn't have digital cinema packages for those two movies. Maybe they're waiting for Toho to provide the 4K restorations?

I suppose I should subscribe to Criterion's streaming website for a month at some point so I can check out how all of those movies are presented.