HBO Max Showa Godzilla and Toho Catalog

[LSD Jellyfish]

This is pretty crazy, but a ton of Toho films, including almost all (KKVG isn't there) of the Showa Godzilla series are being put one HBO Max.
You can find the list here:
https://www.tohokingdom.com/blog/toho-g ... r-hbo-max/

While I don't have HBO Max, if I still lived in NY I might really consider it. There's a lot of samurai films that look good. House and Lady Snowblood are both great watches and super entertaining. I'm curious about all those samurai films though...

[UltramanGoji]

All Monsters Attack isn't on the Verge list and also isn't included.

I'm glad to see all these classic movies added to streaming platforms. It'll definitely help when I eventually cut the chord.

[The Octopus]

I'm happy with my Blu Rays. No interest in HBO Max.

[SoggyNoodles2016]

This is pretty damn cool.

Didn't know Criterion was a part of this and has me very interested in subscribing to HBO Max

[Gigantis]

Cool to see Godzilla make it big to streaming, but i'll pass. I don't want to keep waisting my wallet on a ton of streaming services.

[canofhumdingers]

Yeah the streaming world has become far too fractured and piecemeal. And $15 a month for hbo? No thanks. It’s getting to the point where it may actually be cheaper to just buy the content I actually want to watch (whether digital or physical media) than to keep a huge plethora of streaming service subscriptions. Either that or rotate which service(s) I subscribe to every few months. For example: new Stranger Things season? Time to cancel Disney+ and sign up to Netflix again for a month or two.

[The Octopus]

Yeah the streaming world has become far too fractured and piecemeal.

To say the least.

[kingkevzilla88]

This is looking so much better than Disney+, but the price is a huge mark against it.

[goji1986]

I’m glad that the Showa films will get some exposure to casual viewers, but no streaming service should deter one from ditching physical copies of film and television. These films have had a long road of various licensing agreements...I’d be surprised if they stayed on HBO Max for more than 5 years.

[MaxRebo320]

So you've moved to Japan and learned the language yet have never bothered to watch basic and easily-accessible titles like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo? Jeez, LSD.

Anyways, yeah, all of this, I guess minus the Ghibli stuff can be found on Criterion Channel which is cheaper and has even more Toho/Japanese titles. Of course, Max might have plenty more "mainstream", non-Toho movies on there, but if you just want to see some of this stuff, the choice is obvious. Plus, fuck AT&T.

[UltramanGoji]

I’m glad that the Showa films will get some exposure to casual viewers, but no streaming service should deter one from ditching physical copies of film and television.

I can't speak for anyone else but that's not at all why I subscribe to these services. Streaming services allow for me to have a cable TV experience without the high costs or commercials. I can watch them anywhere on my phone: at home in bed, on campus while waiting for my next class, on the road, in a hotel, etc. Unlimited access and content I want without being saddled by high prices, commercials, or unnecessary channels that I'll never watch. Physical media still has its place but I'm not gonna be paying $10-20 for a BD every single time I want to see a new release or an old catalog title I've never seen before, nor am I going to be paying upwards of $50 for an entire show on disc.

In regards to the Toho films, yeah I'm absolutely not gonna ditch any of my DVDs or BDs. But to have the option to watch them wherever and whenever without actually having to have the disc, player, and TV in one location is worth it.

[Terasawa]

This is good news for people who haven't been exposed to these movies yet.

[_JNavs_]

Cannot wait.

[LSD Jellyfish]

So you've moved to Japan and learned the language yet have never bothered to watch basic and easily-accessible titles like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo? Jeez, LSD.

I’ve seen Seven samurai, and Yojimbo. I was referring to Lone Wolf and Cub and the Hanzo films.

This is good news for people who haven't been exposed to these movies yet.

Yeah. No doubt there are going to be people on the device interested in watching Game of Thrones, the Wire and Sopranos and a lot of other HBO content. But having this there, easily accessible is a big plus,

[LegendZilla]

Look I know I brought up the prospect of someone else buying out Criterion before, which of course aggravated most of you but based on this, perhaps Warner will buy them out one day rather than Universal. So long as it isn't Disney.

[Terasawa]

It didn’t aggravate us, it made us wonder why you seem to care so much about something

A) so trivial
B) will never happen
C) would be devastatingly detrimental for a number of important classic movies.

[LegendZilla]

It didn’t aggravate us, it made us wonder why you seem to care so much about something

A) so trivial
B) will never happen
C) would be devastatingly detrimental for a number of important classic movies.

In what ways would it be detrimental? Plus, what is so wrong in having an interest in big company mergers and acquisitions?

[Terasawa]

It didn’t aggravate us, it made us wonder why you seem to care so much about something

A) so trivial
B) will never happen
C) would be devastatingly detrimental for a number of important classic movies.

In what ways would it be detrimental? Plus, what is so wrong in having an interest in big company mergers and acquisitions?

Sigh.

The reason Criterion even exists is because very few other companies are willing to invest the time, resources, and work into preserving and making available important films. Criterion does a lot of good for both individual films and the history of film which would likely be undone by meddling corporate executives interested only in generating as much profit as possible.

Now let me ask you this: what good would it do if one of the world's largest corporations bought a tiny (40 employees) boutique video label whose releases are targeted to hardcore film aficionados? Would it be worth it to undo years of work just so we can have 15 Godzilla movies on a $15/month streaming service?

I mean, Christ, look no further than the Criterion Godzilla set for an example of how corporate interference (Toho) adversely affects the typical Criterion product.

[goji1986]

I’m glad that the Showa films will get some exposure to casual viewers, but no streaming service should deter one from ditching physical copies of film and television.

I can't speak for anyone else but that's not at all why I subscribe to these services. Streaming services allow for me to have a cable TV experience without the high costs or commercials. I can watch them anywhere on my phone: at home in bed, on campus while waiting for my next class, on the road, in a hotel, etc. Unlimited access and content I want without being saddled by high prices, commercials, or unnecessary channels that I'll never watch. Physical media still has its place but I'm not gonna be paying $10-20 for a BD every single time I want to see a new release or an old catalog title I've never seen before, nor am I going to be paying upwards of $50 for an entire show on disc.

In regards to the Toho films, yeah I'm absolutely not gonna ditch any of my DVDs or BDs. But to have the option to watch them wherever and whenever without actually having to have the disc, player, and TV in one location is worth it.

Streaming is highly convenient and I’m not knocking it down in that way. I pay for about 3 of them. However, the reality is that it’s so fractured that in order to LEGALLY view what you want, you often have to sign up for multiple services as all the studios want a piece of the pie now and collect money for their content directly from subscribers instead of licensing it out for a fraction of the return. It was much much easier 10 years ago when Netflix was pretty much the only service, but now so much of the legacy content they started off with has shifted to Disney, WB, and Peacock that paying for all of them costs about the same as basic cable.

In addition, as I stated before, much of these streaming deals for content such as the Showa films has been for a few years per service before switching to another. If I sign up for HBO Max solely for those films, what’s to say they won’t move somewhere else down the line and I’m forced to sign up for that service (and possibly want to keep the one I’m currently one because there are other shows and films I don’t want to “lose” access to)?

Hence why I’m saying physically owning media means that you control where it goes and how you want to see it. I’d rather spend $40 once [every 10 years or so] than almost $200 a year just for it to possibly disappear due to licensing.

[Angilasman]

Warner (more specially; Turner Classic Movies) and Criterion previously joined forces to create FilmStruck, a classic Hollywood, arthouse, foreign film streaming service that was popular among movie buffs. When it became apparent that Warner was aiming for a grander streaming presence they broke off that deal and Criterion had to regroup and make their own channel. Maybe this is the first sign they are joining up again for FilmStruck 2.0 as a part of this bigger service.