The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

is a video distribution company which specializes in licensing and selling "important classic and contemporary films" in "editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements." Janus Films and the Voyager Company established The Criterion Collection in 1984 as a

privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

concentrating exclusively upon the North American home video market. Aside from three early rare titles on VHS and Betamax cassette, between 1984 and 1998 Criterion published home video releases exclusively on the LaserDisc format, pioneering now standard features such as letterboxing, audio commentary tracks, and other supplemental content. In 1998, Criterion shifted from LaserDiscs into the then fledgling

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

market, and has since issued over 1,000 DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

releases. In 2021, 4K Ultra HD releases were announced to launch starting with '' Citizen Kane'' in November. All of Criterion's LaserDisc releases have since gone out of print.

DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases

^I ''Floating Weeds'' has been released on LaserDisc and the Essential Art House series, but ''A Story of Floating Weeds'' has not.
^II Akira Kurosawa's 1957 adaptation of ''The Lower Depths'' is included in the ''25 Films by Akira Kurosawa'' box set, but Jean Renoir's 1936 adaptation is not.
^III Included as extra on ''The Seventh Seal'' Blu-ray and 2-DVD release.
^IV The ''By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two'' box set has only been released on Blu-ray.
^V The ''Pina'' Blu-ray release features both 2D and 3D versions.
^VI Included as extra on the ''Grey Gardens'' Blu-ray release.

Additional feature films

A related feature film (not a documentary related to the film's production or theme) is included as a bonus feature:
¹''

Crook's Tour ''Crook's Tour'' is a 1941 black and white British film directed by John Baxter featuring Charters and Caldicott. It is adapted from a BBC radio serial of the same name. Plot Charters and Caldicott are touring the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) ...

''
² '' It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books''
³ ''Neapolitan Diary''
⁴ '' Permanent Vacation''
⁵ '' Berlin Alexanderplatz (1931)''
⁶ ''

The Lion Has Wings ''The Lion Has Wings'' is a 1939 British, black-and-white, documentary-style, propaganda war film that was directed by Adrian Brunel, Brian Desmond Hurst, Alexander Korda and Michael Powell. The film was produced by London Film Productions and ...

''
⁷ '' Magnificent Obsession (1935)''
⁸ '' Bucking Broadway''
⁹ '' The Traveler''
¹⁰ '' Cathy Come Home''
¹¹ '' Murder a la Mod''
¹² '' Killer's Kiss''
¹³ '' Twelve Angry Men (1954)''
¹⁴ ''

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is a 1956 ''kaiju'' film directed by Terry O. Morse and Ishirō Honda. It is a heavily re-edited American localization, commonly referred to as an "Americanization", of the 1954 Japanese film ''Godzilla (1954 film), Godzilla''. The film was a ...

''
¹⁵ ''Creative Nonfiction''
¹⁶ '' The Report''
¹⁷ ''

The Last Performance ''The Last Performance'' is a 1929 American film directed by Paul Fejos and starring Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin. The film was made in two version: a silent version and Movietone version complete with music, talking sequences, and sound effe ...

''
¹⁸ ''

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

''
¹⁹ ''

Kapurush ''Kapurush'' ( bn, কাপুরুষ), English title ''The Coward'', is a 1965 Indian drama film directed by Satyajit Ray. Plot Amitabha Ray is a Calcutta-based scriptwriter who is driving around in the country to collect material for a ...

''
²⁰ '' The Underneath''
²¹ '' Stereo''
²² '' Homesdale''
²³ '' On purge bébé''
²⁴ '' The Front Page (1931)''
²⁵ '' I Was Born, But...''
²⁶ '' Filming Othello''
²⁶ '' Downhill''
²⁷ '' Holiday (1930)''
²⁸ '' Spite Marriage''
²⁹ '' Game of Death II''
³⁰ ''

Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the ...

''
³¹ '' Shaft's Big Score!''
³² '' Calendar''

April Fool's pranks

*On

April Fool's Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which ma ...

2011, spine #573, which was not yet issued, was assigned to the 1984 movie ''

C.H.U.D. ''C.H.U.D.'' is a 1984 American science fiction horror film directed by Douglas Cheek, produced by Andrew Bonime, and starring John Heard, Daniel Stern, and Christopher Curry in his film debut. The plot concerns a New York City police officer a ...

'' *On April Fool's Day 2012, spine #620, which was not yet issued, was assigned to the 1990 movie ''

Kindergarten Cop ''Kindergarten Cop'' is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and distributed by Universal Pictures. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough police detective working undercover as a kindergarten teacher to apprehe ...

''.

Essential Art House-only releases

^VII ''Floating Weeds'' was released by the Criterion Collection with ''A Story of Floating Weeds''. ^VIII ''The Great Chase'' and ''The Love Goddessess'' were released by the Criterion Collection under the title ''Three Documentaries'' along with '' Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist''.

Merchant Ivory Collection

The Merchant Ivory Collection was released between 2003 and 2005 in DVD format. The entire Collection is currently out of print. The list is presented in order of release by Criterion.

Other releases

Boxed sets

LaserDiscs

Criterion Collection released LaserDiscs from 1984 to 1998. These are now out of print.

VHS and Betamax cassettes

In 1985 and 1989, Criterion Collection released three titles on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc: '' The 39 Steps'' (1935), ''

The Lady Vanishes ''The Lady Vanishes'' is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1936 novel ''The Wheel Spins'' by Ethel L ...

'' (1938) and ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten ...

'' (1949), with spine numbers 003–005 respectively. However, they did not sell well, and no more were issued, but they are now collectors' items.

References

;General * * * * ;Specific

External links

* – official site
Criterion Collection
– release library (by spine#)
Criterion LaserDisc Collection
at Criterion Collection via

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

(archive; no longer appears on site) {{DEFAULTSORT:List of Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray Releases Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection