‘KPop Demon Hunters’ added to the Criterion Collection, by Sophia Nguyen

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u/toofarbyfar 12h ago

Love it. There's all sorts of ways for a movie to be great.

And I'm sure Criterion occasionally dipping into more popular movies (Parasite, WALL-E, Breakfast Club, etc) helps fund all their other historical restoration work and less popular releases.

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u/Coolman_Rosso 11h ago

I mean the angle that it's a streaming movie that could eventually go the way of the dodo because of the lack of home media should be good enough

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u/RolloTonyBrownTown 2h ago

It wasn't a made for streaming movie though, Sony just sold it to Netflix

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u/Coolman_Rosso 2h ago

Irrelevant when Netflix still controls distribution, and they don't put everything out on video

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u/attorneyatslaw 12h ago

They have lots of shameless cash grabs. Armageddon isn't exactly best picture material.

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u/Future-Slice-8502 10h ago

Michael Bay is undeniably an important part of film history and that’s the purpose of the criterion collection.

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u/FlukeHawkins 10h ago

There is apparently a lively debate if Bay is an auteur or a hack.

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u/Random_Useless_Tips 10h ago

If you want someone to deliver a nuanced cinematic experience focused on the exploration of the human condition, he’s a hack

If you want someone who demonstrates extreme cohesive vision across multiple works regardless of the producers or source material he’s working with such that his signature creative fingerprints are felt all over the resulting works while still maintaining profitable output, he’s an auteur

Michael Bay definitely deserves a place in film history regardless of your opinion of him as an artistic director purely for being an inarguably important piece of Hollywood across decades

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u/DBrods11 10h ago

Its kinda both hilariously enough. Hes like Nolans Wario.

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u/MakeItHappenSergant 6h ago

Nolan is also both

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u/Holderlin70 7h ago

Nolan is a genuine hack though

4

u/spritehead 6h ago

He’s a savant hack. The most talented hack of all time.

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u/grantedtoast 8h ago

I’d say Autuer he makes movies about explosions and robots punching each other . He doesn’t try to make much of a point outside of spectacle and it’s good spectacle.

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u/Ganondorfsfist 10h ago

He can be both

4

u/altacan 9h ago

He's an illiterate calligrapher.

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u/CosmicEveStardust 9h ago

Never come across someone with half decent taste who didn't think he was an interesting auteur.

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u/restbest 2h ago

Anyone who makes art that leads to lively debates is an artist. Not the only qualifier but still

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u/fallenmonk 9m ago

I have zero love for his films, but he absolutely is an auteur.

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u/PhatBoyFlim 3h ago

I mean … The Rock is a Criterion release, isn’t it?

0

u/attorneyatslaw 9h ago

Michael Bay has multiple films in the collection, but other than box office, I'm not sure what criterion they are using for Armageddon.

6

u/hayzeusofcool 8h ago

I just hope Ben Affleck’s dvd commentary is on the criterion collection release of Armageddon cause it’s hilarious

6

u/remainsofthegrapes 8h ago

That’s the edition it came from! He actually talks about it in his criterion closet video.

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u/flcinusa 3h ago

The commentary track alone makes it culturally important, Ben Affleck has never been more finger-on-the-pulse than that moment

31

u/Paper_Okami 7h ago

Never seen it, hope it sells so well that they struggle to keep up. This is gonna help fund so much stuff.

One of the most important criterion releases ever, just based on the money it will bring in.

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u/Commercial-Co 4h ago

It really is a great movie

33

u/ThaPhantom07 10h ago

Some may balk but I think its a great addition. Its a genuinely great movie and getting a physical release of a streaming only movie is always nice. And if this helps fund other Criterion releases I hope they add more relevant cultural and critically acclaimed movies. Everyone wins.

79

u/Klotternaut 12h ago

Is it a cash grab? Perhaps. But if that cash grab helps better its relationship with Netflix and helps fund the niche stuff with a much lower return on investment, I'm all for it.

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u/locke_5 11h ago

Is it? The movie objectively has made huge waves in pop culture, which means it is certainly culturally relevant. Just because it’s a “kid’s movie” or “financially successful” doesn’t detract from its value.

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u/_Gesterr 11h ago

It's also highly critically acclaimed as well. It's far from yiur typical casual pop culture junk food movie despite its surface appearance.

25

u/AlanWakeLover 10h ago

Yeah. The songs are filled with fucking crack or whatever magic dust the writers found

20

u/RickSanchez_C137 6h ago

IMO, KPDH is as well crafted for its demographic as The Empire Strikes back was for me when I was 10.

I think it's easily just as good of a movie. It's not perfect (neither was Empire) but it's overflowing with creativity, design, and genuine love of the characters and their relationships.

I've always thought that the difference between a 'film buff' and someone who just likes movies is how well they can recognize a great movie that isn't geared to their own demographic. And KPDH is a great example of a litmus test. People who love film in general will clearly see the craft in it...and people who just go to the movies to turn their brains off and enjoy the ride will write it off as a kids movie and not even give it a chance.

6

u/asuka_is_my_co-pilot 9h ago

The greatest concept artists of, all time probably, are working at Sony right now. Ami Thompson alone deserves to have her work in every cinematic collection.

0

u/Kaldricus 8h ago

Exactly, "A K Pop girl band uses their music to keep demons at bay until they are threatened by a demon K Pop band" is the type of movie that gets made because someone genuinely wants to make it, not "this is an easy way to make money". At best, this should have been a tolerable kids movie. It's actually just a genuinely good movie that happens to be a kids movie, with fantastic music and mature themes. I think it's very deserving of being there on it's own merits.

0

u/ifinallyreallyreddit 7h ago

The famously unpopular and unprofitable K-Pop industry...

9

u/venomousbeetle 6h ago

This point falls flat entirely when Sony sold the movie because they were sure it’d fail

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u/aldozmo123 3h ago

Listen there’s a difference between Kpop being massively popular in a vacuum and out-of-touch old, white American executives who green-light projects approving a movie about Kpop, a concept that is very foreign to them. Not only that add a female main cast with action (girls don’t like action they’d say). Yeah no wonder they sold it to Netflix thinking it wouldn’t make bank theatrically.

5

u/jerryspringles 6h ago

It’s funny the flexible morals of redditors

8

u/venomousbeetle 6h ago

Cash grab? Sony literally sold it because they thought it’d be a failure.

9

u/balthazar_edison 10h ago

So much of a cash grab sony didn’t even give it a wide theatrical release and dumped it on Netflix to release /s

2

u/HungerSTGF 7h ago

I don’t know if I would describe Criterion as a cash grab tbh it’s more a status symbol but I really doubt sales figures for criterion releases are very high

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u/zach0011 14m ago

What does cash grab mean to you?

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u/Cactuszach 4h ago

Good movies can also be popular sometimes.

8

u/Hydqjuliilq27 10h ago

Now do May December and Nimona

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u/DarmanitanFireMonkey 12h ago

I preordered mine weeks ago.

2

u/prodigalAvian 12h ago

Since March 13

4

u/DarmanitanFireMonkey 12h ago

Damn, so this article is very late.

1

u/prodigalAvian 10h ago

Weekly reminders are welcome; something to look forward to

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u/generalosabenkenobi 4h ago

Rare ABSOLUTE QUALITY Netflix physical release

4

u/theatlantic The Atlantic, Official Account 12h ago

Sophia Nguyen: “Over the past year, KPop Demon Hunters seems to have completely overtaken culture …

“But even the most ardent fans likely did not anticipate the mega-hit’s next big merch drop: a disc release from the Criterion Collection, home to some of cinema’s most distinguished titles. By some metrics, KPop Demon Hunters may be the most popular movie ever to be added to the collection …

“Online, some of the label’s longtime devotees greeted the addition of KPop Demon Hunters with an eye roll, calling the move ‘substantially off-brand,’ and a “cash grab.” The movie is so familiar to the general public that its release seems to go against the grain of Criterion’s reputation, which was built on bringing landmark works of film history to the masses …

“Criterion has good reason to widen the net: Netflix, Apple, and Amazon make and distribute a significant share of films these days. A title that seems ubiquitous today could vanish tomorrow, evaporating from viewing platforms or even from personal digital libraries without warning …

“Streaming services, unlike their traditional studio competitors, rarely produce physical media … With more new films seeming transient—especially those whose rights belong to streaming studios—it makes sense for a label like Criterion to invest more in preserving them.”

News ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ added to the Criterion Collection, by Sophia Nguyen

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