Bad news for everyone waiting anxiously for Akira Kurosawa’s Ran: Criterion Collection on Blu-ray Disc. The classic was originally scheduled for release on May 12 but has now been postponed indefinitely.
Here is the exact verbiage from Criterion: “Criterion’s two-disc special edition of RAN is now out of print, and the previously announced Blu-ray edition has been withdrawn from the schedule due to a rights issue.”
Until the rights issue is sorted out it looks like Ran isn’t going to be running anywhere.
Elsewhere in the Criterion Collection, we received our review copies today for In the Realm of the Senses and The Wages of Fear. To our surprise neither was packaged in the eco-friendly cardboard cases Criterion has used since their Blu-ray launch last fall.
Instead, Criterion appears to have acted upon widespread criticism and moved to a clear plastic case that looks nearly identical to Playstation 3 game packaging. It is still different enough from other “blue” packaging to stand out, but uniform enough to not be the ugly duckling on your shelf.
Our hopes are high that Criterion keeps this packaging moving forward with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and other releases. Fingers crossed!
