Arrow Announcements, Speculation & Wild, Irresponsible Conjecture

[ryannichols7]

I'm gonna throw in some "wild, irresponsible conjecture" here, two titles I think Arrow will be releasing:

1. Dressed to Kill will be upgraded to 4K UHD - this wouldn't be shocking as it's MGM and Arrow have been on a tear with them. I have my sources here and I don't want to post them publicly but it seems sorta definite and "in plain sight", if you know you know, it's from a source a few of us have posted before

2. Zabriskie Point - this got confirmed in the way a lot of confirmations happen nowadays, the classic "it's coming from someone else". used to for a Warner title, this would almost definitely mean Criterion, but I'm actually of the opinion Arrow is going to release it. not just because the person who revealed that to us has ties there, but I personally think if Criterion was gonna release Zabriskie Point, they would've done so by now and haven't. I know obviously they do sit on a lot of titles, but this feels like one they wouldn't have sat on, as I feel like at this point Criterion is now mining the Warner licenses for titles they didn't think they could get the first go-around. I might be totally wrong here, but I think I see it happening, and I'd personally much rather see Arrow release it

Arrow had a solid 2024, granted a lot of what they do is fixing-the-US-release kind of things, but I'm honestly fine with that. they take a lot of cool risks elsewhere and have really rebounded from the overly-genre focused label they were a few years ago. and the product has been top notch for the good titles, I've been pretty blown away by every Arrow edition I've bought this year

[dwk]

Arrow had a solid 2024, granted a lot of what they do is fixing-the-US-release kind of things, but I'm honestly fine with that. they take a lot of cool risks elsewhere and have really rebounded from the overly-genre focused label they were a few years ago. and the product has been top notch for the good titles, I've been pretty blown away by every Arrow edition I've bought this year

Honest question, what are the "cool risk" titles, because I just don't have that feeling at all about their recent slates?

[TechnicolorAcid]

The Shootist, The Threat, The Scarface Mob, That Cold Day in the Park, and The Tin Star. Though granted they are more aligned with Academy than the low budget horrors Arrow Video put out.

[Finch]

Michael MacKenzie had Dressed to Kill on his recently watched Letterboxd list so it's probably happening.

[yoloswegmaster]

I honestly wouldn't consider a Western containing John Wayne's final performance to be a risky release at all. Same with The Threat, since that falls in line with the other Japanese titles that Arrow have been releasing.

[dwk]

I honestly wouldn't consider a Western containing John Wayne's final performance to be a risky release at all. Same with The Threat, since that falls in line with the other Japanese titles that Arrow have been releasing.

Yes, none of those strikes me as particularly risky. Plus The Threat is another in a glut of Fukasaku films from multiple labels. (Not that I'm complaining about more Fukasaku films getting English friendly releases.)

[TechnicolorAcid]

My argument is that compared to a lot of the more commercial releases Arrow has been doing, the releases I mentioned are comparatively smaller scale. And while there is a lot of marketability in The Shootist, Arrow Video is more known as a genre films company so they are still taking a chance on releasing a bittersweet Western hence why I figured it would count as a risky title.

[rapta]

I'm gonna throw in some "wild, irresponsible conjecture" here, two titles I think Arrow will be releasing:

1. Dressed to Kill will be upgraded to 4K UHD - this wouldn't be shocking as it's MGM and Arrow have been on a tear with them. I have my sources here and I don't want to post them publicly but it seems sorta definite and "in plain sight", if you know you know, it's from a source a few of us have posted before

2. Zabriskie Point - this got confirmed in the way a lot of confirmations happen nowadays, the classic "it's coming from someone else". used to for a Warner title, this would almost definitely mean Criterion, but I'm actually of the opinion Arrow is going to release it. not just because the person who revealed that to us has ties there, but I personally think if Criterion was gonna release Zabriskie Point, they would've done so by now and haven't. I know obviously they do sit on a lot of titles, but this feels like one they wouldn't have sat on, as I feel like at this point Criterion is now mining the Warner licenses for titles they didn't think they could get the first go-around. I might be totally wrong here, but I think I see it happening, and I'd personally much rather see Arrow release it

Arrow had a solid 2024, granted a lot of what they do is fixing-the-US-release kind of things, but I'm honestly fine with that. they take a lot of cool risks elsewhere and have really rebounded from the overly-genre focused label they were a few years ago. and the product has been top notch for the good titles, I've been pretty blown away by every Arrow edition I've bought this year

Dressed to Kill would make entire sense for Arrow, but the recent MGM licenses have largely been studio-initiated 4K restorations, have they not? The fact that Michael McKenzie is logging it does throw some weight behind the idea.

As for Zabriskie Point, someone I follow on Letterboxd who seems to often works with both Criterion and Radiance recently logged it, so I assumed it'd be Criterion releasing it. It could still be Arrow though, considering their Warner Bros deal seems to be more fruitful than it initially appeared.

These are two titles I'd definitely be interested in getting, particularly the Antonioni (the De Palma would obviously be an upgrade from their older Blu-ray, but as with Cruising, I might be hesitant to double-dip immediately). Of course we have The Dollars Trilogy incoming too, which will be an immediate priority.

[Finch]

Someone had a postcard for A Fistful of Dollars with their The Good The Bad & The Weird 4K.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Jason X postcard in my copy of Tomie.

[ryannichols7]

My argument is that compared to a lot of the more commercial releases Arrow has been doing, the releases I mentioned are comparatively smaller scale. And while there is a lot of marketability in The Shootist, Arrow Video is more known as a genre films company so they are still taking a chance on releasing a bittersweet Western hence why I figured it would count as a risky title.

this is exactly what I mean. they're doing full scale restorations of movies like The Desperate Hours, which I feel like is kinda a risk when you figure what Arrow's usual audience is? like it's one thing to expect Kino or Criterion to release those, but I was shocked (and very pleased) that Arrow released so many excellent Paramount titles this year, and while The Threat is Fukusaku, it definitely is a little more in the vein of other riskier Japanese releases like A Fugitive From the Past, To Sleep As So Is to Dream (such a capitalization pain), and some of the less "shocking" Masumuras. they're not astounding risks, and wouldn't be risks at all for other labels, but whenever Arrow goes more "Academy" nowadays it feels more risky/thrilling, especially since they've been really sinking their teeth into basically every release at this point

Dressed to Kill would make entire sense for Arrow, but the recent MGM licenses have largely been studio-initiated 4K restorations, have they not? The fact that Michael McKenzie is logging it does throw some weight behind the idea.

As for Zabriskie Point, someone I follow on Letterboxd who seems to often works with both Criterion and Radiance recently logged it, so I assumed it'd be Criterion releasing it. It could still be Arrow though, considering their Warner Bros deal seems to be more fruitful than it initially appeared.

I couldn't tell you if the master Kino used for their Dressed to Kill UHD was done by MGM or not, but given how frequently Arrow has been dipping into the MGM well, I think it's clear we'll see 4Ks of most of their MGM BDs, even ones from Academy like The Apartment.

I could see Arrow bagging Zabriskie Point, like I said I know Criterion sits on titles for awhile, but this is one I feel like they would've done by now, especially given they did Blow Up relatively early on. I would much prefer Arrow release it, it's a movie begging for scholarly analysis, something we thankfully got for Indicator's The Passenger, and 3/4 of the Antonioni/Vitti collabs (truly lamenting when Criterion tried harder..)

[Robin Davies]

I first saw Zabriskie Point on TV and it had the Pink Floyd music over the ending so I was a bit surprised by the Roy Orbison song that was on the DVD release.
I understand the Orbison song is the original choice but I must admit I prefer the Floyd instrumental and it would be nice to have that as an option.

[JSC]

My understanding is that the Orbison song was not Antonioni's choice for the ending. It was essentially
tacked on by the studio, possibly to have some kind of radio-friendly (in terms of length) song to promote the
film, although it didn't end up on the official soundtrack. The Orbison song has always been on the film prints
I've seen.

[yoloswegmaster]

Michael Mackenzie just logged Dressed to Kill on Letterboxd (and tagged it under 4K UHD) for the second time within the last couple of weeks, so I would wager on it being announced very soon.

[dwk]

Scratch this. I looked at Filmexport Group's website and they licensed a lot to Severin, but I didn't see any Arrow titles.

Sean Phillips posted a WIP that looks like Tomas Milian in Compañeros. BU released it on Blu-ray in the US 10 years ago, so I'm going to take a stab that Arrow has it now, or at least has it in the UK.

[yoloswegmaster]

Deep Blue Sea? Would make sense since it's with Warner.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Deep Blue Sea? Would make sense since it's with Warner.

The Terence Davies one or the one with killer sharks?

[yoloswegmaster]

The Terence Davies one or the one with killer sharks?

Considering Arrow's output lately, the latter. Though the former would be much more interesting to see get a release.

[domino harvey]

Maybe this will finally include the commentary track where LL Cool J raps all of his dialogue

[yoloswegmaster]

Cliff was asked at the other forum if there were any WAC titles included with their WB deal and he confirmed that there is 1 title licensed currently, and that they are looking to add more in future deals.

[pistolwink]

Deep Blue Sea? Would make sense since it's with Warner.

The Terence Davies one or the one with killer sharks?

Maybe they'll put both together in a box set!

[P-Rock]

Maybe it's just me, but has the audience and output of Arrow changed over the years?

They used to be this small time label releasing mostly cult, b-horror and also 'arthouse' movies (under the Arrow Academy label), but nowadays I see them releasing more and more big and popular movies, like: Inglourious Basterds, The Wolf of Wall Street, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Clash/Wrath of the Titans, Deep Blue Sea, The Invasion, The Usual Suspects and The Silence of the Lambs.

Is this a decision by The Hut Group to rake in some extra easy cash, while most of the titles already had a perfectly fine release?

[What A Disgrace]

It's not just you, the label has definitely evolved a taste for more mainstream fare. A few things have thankfully remained a constant - they've had a taste for Japanese genre fare ever since I started paying attention to them, and every few months there seems to be a shower of such releases.

[dwk]

That sort of drift is inevitable for a whole lot of reasons. A big one is because the market is shrinking so quickly the major studios are willing to license out that stuff and the larger a boutique labels becomes the more they need those mainstream titles to drive sales.

[Matt]

The same thing happens to most small labels that stick around a while: Criterion, Masters of Cinema, Vinegar Syndrome.