Criterion U.K.

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Criterion U.K.

#1 Post by Minkin » Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:20 pm

Criterion UK

Here's some FAQs:

-Criterion UK titles are locked to Region B

-Yes, Criterion UK titles have those stupid BBFC ratings on the front cover.

-Criterion UK titles are identical in every other way (BBFC rating is only difference) to their US release counterpart. (Except Zatoichi, see note at bottom)

-Spine numbers are the same as their US counterparts.

-Criterion doesn't own the UK rights to every film they've released in the US.

-Criterion UK titles are typically announced around the 25th of the month.

List of all released + announced Criterion UK titles:

2016

April 2016:
123 - Grey Gardens
726 - Macbeth (Polanski)
736 - It Happened One Night
738 - Tootsie
788 - Speedy
806 - Only Angels Have Wings

May 2016:
098 - L'Avventura
545 - Easy Rider
810 - In a Lonely Place

June 2016:
382 - Overlord
795 - Gilda
819 - Here Comes Mr Jordan

July 2016:
789 - Burroughs: The Movie
821 - Dr. Strangelove

August 2016:
823 - The In-Laws

September 2016:
014 + 015 + 016 - The Samurai Trilogy
833 - Cat People

October 2016:
769 - Day for Night
786 - Dont Look Back
796 + 797 - The Emigrants / The New Land

November 2016:
842 - Kurosawa's Dreams
843 - Punch Drunk Love

December 2016:
157 - The Royal Tenenbaums
845 - The Squid and the Whale
======================================================================
2017

January 2017:
048 - Black Orpheus
849 - His Girl Friday

February 2017:
577 - Cul-De-Sac
860 - Mildred Pierce

March 2017:
841 - Lone Wolf and Cub
863 - Multiple Maniacs

April 2017:
164 - Solaris
664 - Life of Oharu

May 2017:
591 - 12 Angry Men
868 - Tampopo

June 2017:
035 - Diabolique
764 - The Fisher King

July 2017
804 - A Brighter Summer Day
888 - Stalker

August 2017
043 - Lord of the Flies
573 - The Music Room

September 2017
692 - It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
893 - Certain Women

October 2017
063 - Carnival of Souls
896 - The Lure

November 2017
901 - The Philadelphia Story
902 - Desert Hearts
903 - Jabberwocky

December 2017
167 + 168 + 169 - The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
280 - The Sword of Doom
450 - Bottle Rocket
======================================================================
January 2018
397 - Ivan's Childhood
657 - 3:10 to Yuma

Feburary 2018
563 - Something Wild
909 - Night of the Living Dead

March 2018
339 - Yi Yi
913 - The Age of Innocence

April 2018
671 - La Cage aux Folles
917 - The Awful Truth

May 2018
326 - Metropolitan
925 - Midnight Cowboy

June 2018
300 - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
432 - Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

July 2018
288 - F for Fake
915 - King of Jazz

August 2018
938 - Sex, lies, and videotape
941 - Smithereens

September 2018
114 - My Man Godfrey
944 - Cold Water

October 2018
065 - Rushmore
677 - The Uninvited
945 - A Raisin in the Sun

November 2018
679 - Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
942 - The Tree of Life
947 - Shampoo

December 2018
091 - The Blob
870 - Othello
952 - The Magnificent Ambersons
======================================================================
2019

January 2019:
412 - Sawdust and Tinsel
951 - True Stories
955 - Panique

February 2019
039 - Tokyo Drifter
956 - 24 Frames
960 - La vérité

March 2019
309 - Ugetsu
962 - Death in Venice
963 - To Sleep with Anger

April 2019
070 - The Last Temptation of Christ
297 - Au hasard Balthazar
965 - Detour

May 2019
651 - Badlands
970 - A Face in the Crowd
973 - My Brilliant Career

June 2019
054 - For All Mankind
336 - Dazed and Confused
974 - The Heiress

July 2019
979 - Swing Time
982 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch

August 2019
097 - Do the Right Thing
568 - Kiss Me Deadly
987 - Klute

September 2019
018 - The Naked Kiss
019 - Shock Corridor
990 + 991 + 992 - The Koker Trilogy

October 2019
625 - Eating Raoul
856 + 857 + 858 + 859 - The Before Trilogy
995 - Polyester

November 2019
742 - The Palm Beach Story
776 - Moonrise Kingdom
1000 - Godzilla - The Showa Era

December 2019
387 - La Jetée/Sans Soleil
647 - On the Waterfront
1004 - Now, Voyager
======================================================================
2020

January 2020
386 - Sansho the Baliff
864 - Being There
1009 - Holiday

February 2020
713 - The Essential Jacques Demy
1011 - Fail Safe
1014 - Roma

March 2020
425 - Antonio Gaudi
600 - Anatomy of a Murder
768 - The French Lieutenant's Woman

April 2020
146 - The Cranes Are Flying
880 - They Live By Night
1022 - Prince of Tides

May 2020
503 - Lola Montes
782 + 783 + 784 + 785 - The Apu Trilogy
1024 - Destry Rides Again

June 2020
1028 - Dance, Girl, Dance
1029 Husbands
1030 Scorsese Shorts

July 2020
596 - Three Outlaw Samurai
929 - Female Trouble
1033 - The Cameraman

August 2020
045 - Taste of Cherry
103 - The Lady Eve
1038 - Marriage Story

September 2020
662 - Safety Last!
1021 - Show Boat
1042 - Beau travail

October 2020
557 - The Times of Harvey Milk
558 - Topsy-Turvy
725 - Eraserhead

November 2020
546 - Five Easy Pieces
1055 - Girlfriends
1058 - The Irishman
====================================
=====================================
Listed by Spine number (breaks between each 100 spines)

014 + 015 + 016 - The Samurai Trilogy
018 - The Naked Kiss
019 - Shock Corridor
035 - Diabolique
039 - Tokyo Drifter
043 - Lord of the Flies
045 - Taste of Cherry
048 - Black Orpheus
054 - For All Mankind
063 - Carnival of Souls
065 - Rushmore
070 - The Last Temptation of Christ
091 - The Blob
097 - Do the Right Thing
098 - L'Avventura

103 - The Lady Eve
114 - My Man Godfrey
123 - Grey Gardens
146 - The Cranes Are Flying
157 - The Royal Tenenbaums
164 - Solaris
167 + 168 + 169 - The Complete Monterey Pop Festival

280 - The Sword of Doom
288 - F for Fake
297 - Au hasard Balthazar

300 - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
309 - Ugetsu
326 - Metropolitan
336 - Dazed and Confused
339 - Yi Yi
382 - Overlord
386 - Sansho the Baliff
387 - La Jetée/Sans Soleil
397 - Ivan's Childhood

412 - Sawdust and Tinsel
425 - Antonio Gaudi
432 - Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
450 - Bottle Rocket

503 - Lola Montes
545 - Easy Rider
546 - Five Easy Pieces
557 - The Times of Harvey Milk
558 - Topsy-Turvy
563 - Something Wild
568 - Kiss Me Deadly
573 - The Music Room
577 - Cul-De-Sac
591 - 12 Angry Men
596 - Three Outlaw Samurai

600 - Anatomy of a Murder
625 - Eating Raoul
647 - On the Waterfront
651 - Badlands
657 - 3:10 to Yuma
662 - Safety Last!
664 - Life of Oharu
671 - La Cage aux Folles
677 - The Uninvited
679 - Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
692 - It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

713 - The Essential Jacques Demy
725 - Eraserhead
726 - Macbeth (Polanski)
736 - It Happened One Night
738 - Tootsie
742 - The Palm Beach Story
764 - The Fisher King
768 - The French Lieutenant's Woman
769 - Day for Night
776 - Moonrise Kingdom
782 + 783 + 784 + 785 - The Apu Trilogy
786 - Dont Look Back
788 - Speedy
789 - Burroughs: The Movie
795 - Gilda
796 + 797 - The Emigrants / The New Land


804 - A Brighter Summer Day
806 - Only Angels Have Wings
810 - In a Lonely Place
819 - Here Comes Mr Jordan
821 - Dr. Strangelove
823 - The In-Laws
833 - Cat People
841 - Lone Wolf and Cub
842 - Kurosawa's Dreams
843 - Punch Drunk Love
845 - The Squid and the Whale
849 - His Girl Friday
856 + 857 + 858 + 859 - The Before Trilogy
860 - Mildred Pierce
863 - Multiple Maniacs
864 - Being There
868 - Tampopo
870 - Othello
880 - They Live By Night
888 - Stalker
893 - Certain Women
896 - The Lure

901 - The Philadelphia Story
902 - Desert Hearts
903 - Jabberwocky
909 - Night of the Living Dead
913 - The Age of Innocence
915 - King of Jazz
917 - The Awful Truth
925 - Midnight Cowboy
929 - Female Trouble
938 - Sex, lies, and videotape
941 - Smithereens
942 - The Tree of Life
944 - Cold Water
945 - A Raisin in the Sun
947 - Shampoo
951 - True Stories
952 - The Magnificent Ambersons
955 - Panique
956 - 24 Frames
960 - La vérité
962 - Death in Venice
963 - To Sleep with Anger
965 - Detour
970 - A Face in the Crowd
973 - My Brilliant Career
974 - The Heiress
979 - Swing Time
982 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
987 - Klute
990 + 991 + 992 - The Koker Trilogy
995 - Polyester

1000 - Godzilla - The Showa Era
1004 - Now, Voyager
1009 - Holiday
1011 - Fail Safe
1014 - Roma
1021 - Show Boat
1022 - Prince of Tides
1024 - Destry Rides Again
1028 - Dance, Girl, Dance
1029 Husbands
1030 Scorsese Shorts
1033 - The Cameraman
1038 - Marriage Story
1042 - Beau travail
1055 - Girlfriends
1058 - The Irishman
===============================================================
Do note:
Zatoichi and the Fugitives has been trimmed by 4 seconds due to animal cruelty (thanks given to Dr Amicus for this discovery)
Andrei Rublev + War and Peace were both canceled after being announced, due to animal cruelty footage, which Criterion didn't feel like removing, I guess.
Last edited by Minkin on Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:37 pm, edited 55 times in total.

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domino harvey
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Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#2 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:25 pm

ianungstad wrote:I assume the lack of upgrades in recent months is mostly due to the forthcoming launch of Criterion UK. They are probably looking at what titles that need to be upgraded they can also get UK rights.

Over on the bluray.com forums they did some sleuthing and it looks like Grey Gardens, Tootsie, Speedy, It Happened One Night, L'Avventura and Macbeth will be the first UK titles.
Wait, what?

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The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#3 Post by The Narrator Returns » Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:27 pm

I too was startled by this (and even moreso by me thinking it was common knowledge), so I looked on Blu-ray.com and it seems that the speculation is based around those films getting BBFC certificates along with all of the Criterion features (it's not known if they're actually going to have the Criterion branding).

ianungstad
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:20 pm

Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

#4 Post by ianungstad » Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:32 pm

All those titles were submitted for certification along with all the Criterion extras. There's also placeholder pages on Amazon UK. They are being distributed by Sony in the UK. (Sony also distributes Criterion in the US). Nothing official announced yet of course.

EDIT: It does not make sense for Sony to outbid MoC for the rights to Grey Gardens and license all the Criterion supplements for their own unbranded release.

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swo17
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Re: Criterion UK

#5 Post by swo17 » Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:38 pm

What's the advantage to Criterion expanding into a significantly smaller market already well served by various boutique labels?

criterion10

Re: Criterion UK

#6 Post by criterion10 » Fri Jan 29, 2016 6:39 pm

It'll be interesting to see if Criterion chooses to release some UK exclusive titles, in the same way that Arrow has some US exclusive titles.

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion UK

#7 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jan 29, 2016 7:27 pm

If true, this sounds like a terrible use of limited resources for a company that has already been stretching itself thin of late

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Criterion UK

#8 Post by FrauBlucher » Fri Jan 29, 2016 7:45 pm

I vaguely remember reading that Criterion and MoC/Eureka were going to collaborate on releases. Maybe this has something to do with that.

Is there anyone who can recall or verify?

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Criterion UK

#9 Post by Minkin » Fri Jan 29, 2016 7:54 pm

swo17 wrote:What's the advantage to Criterion expanding into a significantly smaller market already well served by various boutique labels?
At least for customers, this will give them access from all of Europe /Region B + Amazon UK prices tend to be extremely cheap, so perhaps even we might find better deals importing Criterions from the UK! Seems like an easier solution would've just been to make certain titles region free... :P

I had thought they would've expanded into India or China or some other emerging cinephile market that they could take strong root in... not somewhere with stupid BBFC license fees, having to make cuts to the films, non sustainable competitive pricing, nearly zero physical retail stores left (Fopp?), etc. This could just be a single component of a multi-market plan -since we only know of the UK thus far from BBFC records.

I suppose this might explain MoC's recent decline /push towards Paramount films -as they used to essentially be Criterion's UK ouput. Countless MoC titles are/were copy+paste versions of the Criterion edition (Make Way for Tomorrow, For All Mankind, Two Lane Blacktop, etc etc) -with some small changes (booklet, not every supplement). I can't blame Criterion for wanting to do this - as they sink alot of money into a pricey restoration - only to be undercut by some UK edition that sells for less than half the price, and which many of us seem to clamor towards instead - so this keeps more money under Criterion's domain rather than licensing to a competitor (this has probably affected them more as the market shrinks).

Everything said, this might be more of a push by Sony -with them handling all of the logistical problems and costs - in order to get better marquee branding on their titles over there (hence all of the "announced" titles are either Janus or Sony). Hopefully this might mean expanding more into the Sony catalog - like some of the titles that have been taken by TT / Mill Creek in the US.

Kevin (Eureka -is he the only employee that we're familiar with that still works at MoC?) had the following to say:
So that's who bought it (Grey Gardens) from under our nose! I had suspected BFI or Artificial Eye, but wow, Sony. I won't divulge which, but they also bought a large catalogue along with it. Never in my wildest dreams thought it would be Sony though, thought it would be another boutique label...... Nothing to do with Janus, smaller than that, but a nice catalogue nonetheless.... I know Criterion own a couple of titles worldwide now that we had for UK. The plot thickens!

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Re: Criterion UK

#10 Post by FrauBlucher » Fri Jan 29, 2016 9:25 pm

Also, if 4K blu Ray is region free, which some suggested, than it's a whole new ballgame for these companies.

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Criterion UK

#11 Post by Minkin » Fri Jan 29, 2016 9:46 pm

Most of these are coming out in March. Reading through the blu-ray.com Sony UK Collection thread (with most of this work done by our own forum's Rapta) - it certainly sounds more like these are entirely Sony's doing. I assume they are just distributing titles for which they either recently bought the rights - or for films that Criterion owns worldwide/UK rights. Sony already has a "collector's line" in the UK (even with spine #s?) - with several films released that they licensed to Criterion in the US (Easy Rider, On the Waterfront, etc) -so its yet to be determined if these will be part of that line or a new "criterion line" or whatever.

I suppose its a matter of what the final product will look like -and whether it has any Criterion branding, but this might have next to nothing to do with Criterion, and instead just be Sony licensing Criterion films + supplements (look under "components list") for the UK market.

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Re: Criterion UK

#12 Post by David M. » Fri Jan 29, 2016 10:51 pm

FrauBlucher wrote:Also, if 4K blu Ray is region free, which some suggested, than it's a whole new ballgame for these companies.
UHD Blu-ray is indeed region free, but I'm not sure that means a huge deal for studios. Very few people actually import movies - although, I guess with UHD BD, which will surely appeal to a nicher audience to begin with, the % will be higher.

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: Criterion UK

#13 Post by kekid » Sat Jan 30, 2016 1:35 am

David M. wrote:
FrauBlucher wrote:Also, if 4K blu Ray is region free, which some suggested, than it's a whole new ballgame for these companies.
UHD Blu-ray is indeed region free, but I'm not sure that means a huge deal for studios. Very few people actually import movies - although, I guess with UHD BD, which will surely appeal to a nicher audience to begin with, the % will be higher.
If very few people actually import movies, and it is not a huge deal for studios, why have they bothered to create region-coding process?
They should concede that it was a bad idea, and using UHD Blu-ray as an excuse, eliminate region-coding altogether.

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Re: Criterion UK?

#14 Post by Numero Trois » Sat Jan 30, 2016 4:24 am

I wonder how much streaming comes into this equation. Given how Netflix has expanded worldwide and how the DVD business has declined, I have a hard time seeing Sony being concerned with "mere" distribution of discs. Why would they distribute discs into markets that are in worse shape than the US DVD market? The same with that talk of Criterion expanding overseas- more to do with streaming than anything else. Unless the overseas boutique business is doing better than commonly realized.....

David M.
Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 1:10 pm

Re: Criterion UK

#15 Post by David M. » Sat Jan 30, 2016 10:33 pm

kekid wrote:
David M. wrote:
FrauBlucher wrote:Also, if 4K blu Ray is region free, which some suggested, than it's a whole new ballgame for these companies.
UHD Blu-ray is indeed region free, but I'm not sure that means a huge deal for studios. Very few people actually import movies - although, I guess with UHD BD, which will surely appeal to a nicher audience to begin with, the % will be higher.
If very few people actually import movies, and it is not a huge deal for studios, why have they bothered to create region-coding process?
I never said it wasn't a huge deal for studios :)

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tenia
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Re: Criterion UK?

#16 Post by tenia » Sun Jan 31, 2016 6:53 am

kekid wrote:
David M. wrote:
FrauBlucher wrote:Also, if 4K blu Ray is region free, which some suggested, than it's a whole new ballgame for these companies.
UHD Blu-ray is indeed region free, but I'm not sure that means a huge deal for studios. Very few people actually import movies - although, I guess with UHD BD, which will surely appeal to a nicher audience to begin with, the % will be higher.
If very few people actually import movies, and it is not a huge deal for studios, why have they bothered to create region-coding process?
They should concede that it was a bad idea, and using UHD Blu-ray as an excuse, eliminate region-coding altogether.
I asked the question to several independant labels (French and UK) and their answers were more or less the same : the whole independant market competition between labels is placed at this level (Region coding and forcing subs) and the rightholders use that to ensure they can get the most of each individual market.

But this has indeed its limits : it is, in the figures, quite dumb because nobody (or close to it) import stuff anyway, with or without the region coding so it hardly bothers anybody (except die-hard fans like us who are willing to become region free to have access from the US to Carlotta or Arrow B releases or from Europe to have access to Criterion A releases).

It also comes quickly to silly things : for instance, TF1 told me region locking and forcing subs was a big deal in their contract. So I asked them about BFI's Classe tous risques release : it shares the same region than France, doesn't have forced English subs and there still isn't a French BD release for it. TF1 answered to me that "yes, it could be a problem", but when I told them "who imported it to France anyway ?", they agreed that there certainly isn't a lot of French people who bought the BFI release anyway.

But still, it's driving like hell the market at a level above.

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dwk
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Re: Criterion UK?

#17 Post by dwk » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:15 pm

According to this tweet, the latest issue of Sight & Sound says that Criterion is launching in the UK on April 18th.

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Re: Criterion UK?

#18 Post by antnield » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:26 pm

Image

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jedgeco
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Re: Criterion UK?

#19 Post by jedgeco » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:28 pm

They should re-number the UK spines starting at #1 to give fits to the hardcore completists.

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swo17
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Re: Criterion UK?

#20 Post by swo17 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:30 pm

A shame the BBFC logos are going to make that cover look so ugly.

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ermylaw
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Re: Criterion UK?

#21 Post by ermylaw » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:33 pm

swo17 wrote:A shame the BBFC logos are going to make that cover look so ugly.
You're right. They should do like some companies and have reversible art that doesn't have the rating logos. They aren't using the inside of the covers for much these days anyway.

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The Narrator Returns
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Re: Criterion UK

#22 Post by The Narrator Returns » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:35 pm

I hereby make a request to change the thread title to "I know the cinephiles were all alone 'til Criterion hit UK".

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swo17
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Re: Criterion UK

#23 Post by swo17 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:39 pm


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Buttery Jeb
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Re: Criterion UK

#24 Post by Buttery Jeb » Fri Mar 04, 2016 5:43 pm


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Altair
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Re: Criterion UK

#25 Post by Altair » Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:03 pm

Exciting times! I genuinely never thought this would happen. So glad that the Sony titles are now going to make it over here.

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