Release Dates & Specs for First Wave of Criterion Blu-ray Discs

The Criterion Collection has posted details for their first five Blu-ray Disc titles. 'The Third Man' and 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' are set for release on November 18th, while three more titles - 'Bottle Rocket,' 'Chungking Express,' and the critically acclaimed 'The Last Emperor' - arrive one week later on the 25th. The films will be presented in their original (or director approved) aspect ratios in new high definition digital transfers, featuring lossless and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mixes. Each title will also contain a wealth of extra features.

'The Third Man' (1949) will featured a restored high definition transfer in 1.37:1, and an uncompressed mono soundtrack. Extra features include:


Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by by film scholar Dana Polan
Shadowing "The Third Man" (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film
Abridged recording of Graham Greene's treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
"Graham Greene: The Hunted Man," an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
"Who Was the Third Man? (2000)," a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 "A Ticket to Tangiers" episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles, and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man
Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer
Actor Joseph Cotten's alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
Archival footage of postwar Vienna
A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
A booklet featuring an essay by Luc Sante

'The Man Who Fell to Earth' (1976) will feature a high definition digital transfer approved by director Nicolas Roeg, and an uncompressed stereo soundtrack. Extra features include:


Audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry
New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg Performance, video interviews with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn
Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell
Audio interview from 1984 with author Walter Tevis, conducted by Don Swaim
Multiple stills galleries, including Routh's costume sketches behind-the-scenes photos and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James
Gallery of posters from Roeg's films
Trailers
Booklet featuring an essay by critic Graham Fuller

'The Last Emperor' (1987) features a high definition digital transfer approved by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, and a stereo track in DTS-HD Master Audio. Extras include:


Audio commentary by director Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Mark Peploe, and composer-actor Ryuichi Sakamoto
The Italian Traveler: Bernardo Bertolucci, a 53-minute film by Fernand Mozskowicz, tracing the director's geographic influences, from Parma to China
Video images taken by Bertolucci in China
The Chinese Adventure of Bernardo Bertolucci, a 52-minute documentary that revisits the film's creation
A 47-minute documentary featuring Storaro, editor Gabriella Cristiana, costume designer James Acheson, and art director Gianni Silvestri
A 66-minute documentary exploring Bertolucci's creative process and the making of The Last Emperor
A 30-minute interview with Bertolucci from 1989
A new interview with composer David Byrne
A new interview with Ian Buruma examining the historical period of the film
Theatrical trailer
Booklet featuring an essay by critic David Thomson

'Chungking Express' (1994) features a restored high-definition digital transfer, as well as a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack supervised by director Wong Kar-wai. Extras include:


Audio commentary by noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns
U.S. theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
Booklet featuring a new essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from a 1996 Sight and Sound interview with Wong by Rayns


'Bottle Rocket' (1996) features a new, restored transfer supervised by direct Wes Anderson and a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Extras include:


Commentary by director/co-writer Anderson and co-writer/actor Owen Wilson
The Making of "Bottle Rocket": an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman featuring Anderson, James L. Brooks, James Caan, Temple Nash Jr., Kumar Pallana, Polly Platt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Musgrave, Richard Sakai, David and Sandy Wasco, Andrew and Luke and Owen Wilson, and Robert Yeoman
The original thirteen-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film from 1992
Eleven deleted scenes
Anamorphic screen test, storyboards, location photos, and behind-the-scenes photographs by Laura Wilson
Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman
The Shafrazi Lectures, no. 1: Bottle Rocket
Booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese, and original artwork by Ian Dingman


http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1670

I was actually wondering about this the other day. The only one I'm interested in right now is Bottle Rocket. I really hope that their next wave includes both Brazil and Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.

Yes Brazil

in glorious blu-ray 1080p/24 hi-def pic quality.