Latest news with #CriterionChannel
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How Criterion turned its film archives into a streaming powerhouse
The average consumer subscribes to 4.5 streaming services, many of which offer content that feels largely indistinguishable from one another. How one company is revolutionizing the way we use everyday water Pentagon Pizza Index: The theory that surging pizza orders signal global crises 5 signals that make you instantly more trustworthy at work When Netflix disrupted film and television in the late 2010s, it introduced a new model of viewership: an endless blend of originals and archives, delivered through a finely tuned personalization algorithm. Today, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, and many others follow the same playbook. Not the Criterion Channel. The streamer rejects the infinite-content model, instead curating rotating collections of select films that appear for just a few months. Their offerings range from mass-market to niche indie: A recent example, 'Surveillance Cinema,' matched the $350 million-earning Minority Report with the tiny French neo-noir Demonlover. It also turns away from algorithmic recommendations—every title is handpicked by a programmer. Aliza Ma, the Criterion Channel's head of programming, says that she's 'offended' by the big streamers' model of curation. 'It's absurd in the face of art and curiosity that you would think somebody's past behavior could indicate future taste,' she tells Fast Company. This approach has earned the Criterion Channel a loyal following among artistically curious cinephiles, creating a stable, low-churn subscriber base. For just $10.99 a month, viewers from the U.S. and Canada can escape the clutches of streamer sludge. The mega-viral Criterion Closet doesn't hurt either. 'I would have expected that broader is better,' Ma says. 'It's a brilliant surprise to us that the more specific we get, the more we pull focus on a subject or theme, the better it seems to reach people.' For over 30 years, Criterion was known as a seller and refurbisher of physical media. Their DVD and Blu-ray archives sustained the business, while the company licensed their films to several video-on-demand (VOD) services. First they were available on Mubi, then Hulu, and finally FilmStruck, the streamer from Turner Classic Movies. But when FilmStruck shut down in 2018, Criterion president Peter Becker and his team decided to create their own point of access. The Criterion Channel was running by 2019 and has since eclipsed the company's physical media business. In 2024, Criterion and its sister company, Janus Films, were sold to billionaire Steven Rales, founder of the film studio Indian Paintbrush and a minority owner of the Indiana Pacers. The channel's focus on curation naturally narrows its appeal. In the ongoing 'streaming wars,' Criterion isn't trying to compete on scale. Instead, it leans into its niche. 'You have to think you care about movies enough to want a streaming service really devoted to movies,' Becker says. But specificity also creates a highly loyal customer base, he adds. Asked whether one specific collection surged traffic at the site, Becker notes that there are 'different points of entry for everybody.' Some are more popular within the streamer's walls than others—both Ma and Becker reference the 2023 'High School Horror' set featuring movies like Donnie Darko and I Know What You Did Last Summer. But subscribers come more for the curation than for any individual film, meaning they're likely to stay longer. Michael Cunningham, acclaimed author of Day and The Hours (the latter of which was adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman), is a subscriber to the Criterion Channel. 'I'm a fan because Criterion is keeping alive films that would otherwise fade away and be forgotten,' he writes in an email to Fast Company. 'It reminds us that greatness resides in a wide range of movies, from Potemkin to Some Like It Hot.' Estimating the Criterion Channel's size is a difficult task. The company declined to provide Fast Company with revenue or user figures, only saying that it 'has grown steadily since we launched.' When its predecessor FilmStruck shut down in 2018, the subscriber base was estimated at just 100,000. The Criterion Channel has likely surpassed this—it has over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play store alone. But that's still small compared with other specialty streamers like Mubi, which has more than 5 million Google Play downloads. It's audience is also shifting. 'If you had gone back 10 or 15 years and looked at who was collecting DVDs and Blu-rays, you would have seen a heavy disproportion of people who were male and over 30,' Becker says. 'That has been completely shattered.' Criterion, the company behind the channel, still operates its specialty DVD business and commissions a stable of writers to pen essays on its archive. But the Criterion Channel is the company's 'most far-reaching project,' Becker says. And then there's the company's infamous closet. It began in 2010, when Guillermo del Toro stepped into Criterion's DVD archive in New York and picked out his favorites. Choosing among a collection organized only by spine number, del Toro professed his love for François Truffaut's The 400 Blows. Criterion has continued to pump out these 'Closet Picks'—the videos are now significantly less grainy—and posts them to YouTube. 'We record a couple a week, and we're always amazed by the conversations we have in there,' Becker says. 'I think it's a relief for the people in the Closet, because they don't have to talk about their own movies.' Creatives see the Criterion Closet as more than a stop on their press tour, though. Griffin Dunne, star of films like Martin Scorcese's After Hours, relished the opportunity to rifle through Criterion's archives. 'There are a few benchmarks in an actor's or director's career,' Dunne wrote in an email to Fast Company. 'Getting your first job, any job, in the movie business. Seeing your name in a New York Times review for your first film. Getting nominated or winning for any of the EGOTs. Being invited to the Criterion Closet to talk about your favorites films.' The closet has since gone mobile. Criterion now takes a portable version on the road, drawing fans who line up for hours. Becker even recalls a couple who got engaged inside. 'We're always amazed and gratified at how young the people who come out are,' he says, noting that most attendees are in their 20s and early 30s. The traveling closet of films also reveals the diversity of Criterion's audience. Few titles are picked more than a handful of times. While some favorites recur—Richard Linklater's films, for example, or Anora—most picks are highly personal and eclectic. Has the Criterion Closet helped funnel audiences back to their streamer or paid offerings? Becker isn't interested in talking shop. The closet wasn't set up as a marketing tool, so they don't track it as one. But it has been a helpful brand extension, he concedes. 'When 13 million people see the Ben Affleck video, that's a lot of people,' Becker says. 'We're definitely reaching more people than would have sought us out without it.' Affleck's first pick from the Criterion Closet was Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game, the 1939 French satire celebrated for its humanist worldview. It's hard to imagine the film finding traction on Netflix. How would they package it? What thumbnail image or search-friendly pitch could make it click? Its age alone might be a barrier—back in March, the oldest title on Netflix was 1973's The Sting. But viewers can find The Rules of the Game on the Criterion Channel. It appears in a 'French Poetic Realism' collection, alongside commentary from Cunningham, the novelist. They can watch the film, explore its historical context, and dip into criticism, too. That's what the Criterion Channel offers: not just content, but curation. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
The Verge
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Chungking Express
Andrew Webster In the mood for streaming. Wong Kar-wai, the director behind and In the Mood For Love, made his first TV series with the 30-episode-long Blossoms Shanghai, which aired in China in 2023. And soon you'll be able to watch it yourself: it's coming to the Criterion Channel 'later this year.'
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
How Criterion turned its film archives into a streaming powerhouse
The average consumer subscribes to 4.5 streaming services, many of which offer content that feels largely indistinguishable from one another. When Netflix disrupted film and television in the late 2010s, it introduced a new model of viewership: an endless blend of originals and archives, delivered through a finely tuned personalization algorithm. Today, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, and many others follow the same playbook. Not the Criterion Channel. The streamer rejects the infinite-content model, instead curating rotating collections of select films that appear for just a few months. Their offerings range from mass-market to niche indie: A recent example, 'Surveillance Cinema,' matched the $350 million-earning Minority Report with the tiny French neo-noir Demonlover. It also turns away from algorithmic recommendations—every title is handpicked by a programmer. Aliza Ma, the Criterion Channel's head of programming, says that she's 'offended' by the Netflix model of curation. 'It's absurd in the face of art and curiosity that you would think somebody's past behavior could indicate future taste,' she tells Fast Company. This approach has earned the Criterion Channel a loyal following among artistically curious cinephiles, creating a stable, low-churn subscriber base. For just $10.99 a month, viewers from the U.S. and Canada can escape the clutches of streamer sludge. The mega-viral Criterion Closet doesn't hurt either. 'I would have expected that broader is better,' Ma says. 'It's a brilliant surprise to us that the more specific we get, the more we pull focus on a subject or theme, the better it seems to reach people.' A streamer without an algorithm For over 30 years, Criterion was known as a seller and refurbisher of physical media. Their DVD and Blu-ray archives sustained the business, while the company licensed their films to several video-on-demand (VOD) services. First they were available on Mubi, then Hulu, and finally FilmStruck, the streamer from Turner Classic Movies. But when FilmStruck shut down in 2018, Criterion president Peter Becker and his team decided to create their own point of access. The Criterion Channel was running by 2019 and has since eclipsed the company's physical media business. In 2024, Criterion and its sister company, Janus Films, were sold to billionaire Steven Rales, founder of the film studio Indian Paintbrush and a minority owner of the Indiana Pacers. The channel's focus on curation naturally narrows its appeal. In the ongoing ' streaming wars,' Criterion isn't trying to compete on scale. Instead, it leans into its niche. 'You have to think you care about movies enough to want a streaming service really devoted to movies,' Becker says. But specificity also creates a highly loyal customer base, he adds. Asked whether one specific collection surged traffic at the site, Becker notes that there are 'different points of entry for everybody.' Some are more popular within the streamer's walls than others—both Ma and Becker reference the 2023 ' High School Horror ' set featuring movies like Donnie Darko and I Know What You Did Last Summer. But subscribers come more for the curation than for any individual film, meaning they're likely to stay longer. Michael Cunningham, acclaimed author of Day and The Hours (the latter of which was adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman), is a subscriber to the Criterion Channel. 'I'm a fan because Criterion is keeping alive films that would otherwise fade away and be forgotten,' he writes in an email to Fast Company. 'It reminds us that greatness resides in a wide range of movies, from Potemkin to Some Like It Hot.' Estimating the Criterion Channel's size is a difficult task. The company declined to provide Fast Company with revenue or user figures, only saying that it 'has grown steadily since we launched.' When its predecessor FilmStruck shut down in 2018, the subscriber base was estimated at just 100,000. The Criterion Channel has likely surpassed this—it has over 100,000 downloads on the Google Play store alone. But that's still small compared with other specialty streamers like Mubi, which has more than 5 million Google Play downloads. It's audience is also shifting. 'If you had gone back 10 or 15 years and looked at who was collecting DVDs and Blu-rays, you would have seen a heavy disproportion of people who were male and over 30,' Becker says. 'That has been completely shattered.' DVDs, writers, and that infamous closet Criterion, the company behind the channel, still operates its specialty DVD business and commissions a stable of writers to pen essays on its archive. But the Criterion Channel is the company's 'most far-reaching project,' Becker says. And then there's the company's infamous closet. It began in 2010, when Guillermo del Toro stepped into Criterion's DVD archive in New York and picked out his favorites. Choosing among a collection organized only by spine number, del Toro professed his love for François Truffaut's The 400 Blows. Criterion has continued to pump out these 'Closet Picks'—the videos are now significantly less grainy —and posts them to YouTube. 'We record a couple a week, and we're always amazed by the conversations we have in there,' Becker says. 'I think it's a relief for the people in the Closet, because they don't have to talk about their own movies.' Creatives see the Criterion Closet as more than a stop on their press tour, though. Griffin Dunne, star of films like Martin Scorcese's After Hours, relished the opportunity to rifle through Criterion's archives. 'There are a few benchmarks in an actor's or director's career,' Dunne wrote in an email to Fast Company. 'Getting your first job, any job, in the movie business. Seeing your name in a New York Times review for your first film. Getting nominated or winning for any of the EGOTs. Being invited to the Criterion Closet to talk about your favorites films.' The closet has since gone mobile. Criterion now takes a portable version on the road, drawing fans who line up for hours. Becker even recalls a couple who got engaged inside. 'We're always amazed and gratified at how young the people who come out are,' he says, noting that most attendees are in their 20s and early 30s. The traveling closet of films also reveals the diversity of Criterion's audience. Few titles are picked more than a handful of times. While some favorites recur—Richard Linklater's films, for example, or Anora —most picks are highly personal and eclectic. Has the Criterion Closet helped funnel audiences back to their streamer or paid offerings? Becker isn't interested in talking shop. The closet wasn't set up as a marketing tool, so they don't track it as one. But it has been a helpful brand extension, he concedes. 'When 13 million people see the Ben Affleck video, that's a lot of people,' Becker says. 'We're definitely reaching more people than would have sought us out without it.' Affleck's first pick from the Criterion Closet was Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game, the 1939 French satire celebrated for its humanist worldview. It's hard to imagine the film finding traction on Netflix. How would they package it? What thumbnail image or search-friendly pitch could make it click? Its age alone might be a barrier—back in March, the oldest title on Netflix was 1973's The Sting. But viewers can find The Rules of the Game on the Criterion Channel. It appears in a 'French Poetic Realism' collection, alongside commentary from Cunningham, the novelist. They can watch the film, explore its historical context, and dip into criticism, too. That's what the Criterion Channel offers: not just content, but curation. The final deadline for Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech Awards is Friday, June 20, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sam Nivola and Cooper Koch Confront Nepo Baby Criticism and Being Accused of Playing Sexual Deviant Brothers: ‘You Still Have to Love Your Character'
Sam Nivola and Cooper Koch both played brothers in complicated fraternal relationships this past year. Nivola, as Lochlan Ratliff on 'The White Lotus,' yearned to impress elder sibling Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), but ended up in an intoxicated tryst with him. Koch, as Erik Menendez on 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,' had to deliver a prismatic performance, illuminating all the ways that commentators and intimates saw the case of two brothers accused and later convicted of killing their parents. Both actors also had to deliver showpiece moments: Nivola in Lochlan's season-ending near-death experience and Koch in a one-take episode in which Erik explains to his attorney the abuse within the Menendez household. Sam Nivola: This is our first time meeting. More from Variety Parker Posey Tells Lisa Kudrow to Star in 'The White Lotus' Season 4 as They Bond Over Sitcom Struggles and Why Phoebe on 'Friends' Was 'A Lot of Work' Seth Rogen and Jason Segel Relive 27 Years of Friendship: Smoking Before 'The Matrix,' Peeing Next to Scorsese and Harrison Ford Watching Segel Naked 'Monsters' Star Cooper Koch Read His One-Take Episode Script 'Almost Every Day' for Eight Months: 'I Would Write Out All of the Words' Cooper Koch: But I feel like we've known each other — you kind of are my brother. Nivola: We should have been in each other's shows. Koch: It should have just been us. So what's the beginning for you? Where did it all start? Nivola: I'm from Brooklyn, New York. I grew up with two parents who were both actors — [Alessandro Nivola and Emily Mortimer]. Koch: OK. Nivola: Do you have parents in the industry? Koch: I don't have actor parents, but my grandfather was a producer. Nivola: I constantly get the question. Koch: Nepo baby. Nivola: Yeah, nepo baby. My whole thing was that my parents really didn't want me to be an actor, which I totally get — I don't know if I'd want my kid to be an actor. It's a really mentally tough career to be in. And even if I had no success, I would want to be doing it. But they really didn't want me to do it. Koch: And then, of course, you're like, 'Sorry, I'm doing it, guys.' Nivola: You did a lot of theater in high school? Koch: Since I was 5 years old. We had two musicals a year. I see my life as a constant. You start a show, and you have the rehearsals. And then you do the show, and it's over, and then what's the next one? And then you go again. What were you doing before you got that first job? Did you do any theater? Nivola: I did. I did all the school plays that I could do. I was just really into watching movies. I initially got a Criterion Channel subscription to impress this girl that I was courting. She's like, 'I wear berets, and I'm really into France at the moment.' And I was like, 'OK, I can get behind that.' And then I had a period of ultimate pretension and fell in love with cinema: That audition was for 'White Noise.' [I said], 'This is an opportunity to be on the set of one of the greatest directors of all time,' but my parents really wanted me to go to college, which I understand. Koch: Did you not go to college? Nivola: I went to college for one semester. Koch: I love that. How did you land this crazy part that … Nivola: … changed my life? I fear it's not going to be as interesting as you think it is, because it's literally like, did a self-tape, did a callback, booked it. My callback was with Mike [White]. The one thing that was different is that his writing is just unbelievably natural and real. Not that other writing I've worked with in the past isn't, but there's something I specifically love about the way he writes that made it so I didn't have to do any work to prepare for the audition. What about your audition process? What's Ryan Murphy's vibe? Koch: We actually didn't know that he was going to be there. They didn't tell us. We just thought it was going to be casting directors. But then he just waltzes in the room. He was like, 'How much do you know?' And I was like, 'I know everything.' Nivola: Referring to the lines? Koch: No, referring to the story. We sat down and had this amazing conversation about it all. It really calmed the nerves. We went upstairs and did the callback for two hours. We did three scenes and had conversations in between. It was very collaborative — one of the best audition experiences I've ever had. Nivola: 'What do you know?' That's amazing. You were like, 'All of it.' Koch: 'I know everything!' Because I've been with this story for so long. My second audition ever was for the 'Law & Order' series about them in 2017. And then I also had an audition for the Lifetime movie that they were doing the same year. I just felt this insane cosmic thing that was like, 'I have to play this part.' And this immense empathy. There are all of these weird parallels. We both went to Calabasas High School. Nivola: Holy shit. Koch: Yeah. So it's been a long ride. And I still care so deeply about both of them. They're going to parole board in June; that looks very positive. Nivola: Did you watch tons of videos to try to impersonate the way he speaks and the way he walks? What level of impersonating were you doing? Part of what I love so much about the show is that there's a lot of ambiguity, and so you have to make some hard-and-fast choices. Koch: I listened to him every night before I went to bed. I had him on in the car when I was driving. I really did want to get his voice and mannerisms, because they all further support that he was being sexually abused by his father. I know there's so many perspectives, but I always wanted the audience to sympathize with him. Nivola: I have to ask you about the one-take episode. How many takes did you do? Koch: I had eight months with it, so I just read it every day, and I would visualize what he was saying and create those images so clearly, so that when we went to do it, it would emotionally affect me. We did eight takes, four on the first day, four on the second day, and they chose the very last one. Nivola: This was near the end of the shoot? Koch: Yeah — I had a really long time with it, and it was the backbone of my whole character. That was my backstory; I didn't have to write one. They wrote it for me. Let me turn it back on you. How did you get your relationship down? You and Patrick had such an interesting dichotomy. Nivola: We talked to each other a lot about it. Part of the nature of that show that makes it such a dream as an actor is that you're living with the people that are your family in the show, and you're spending all your time with them. They've shut the hotels down so there's no one else there to distract you. The time difference with New York was 12 hours, so I was hardly in touch with anyone. Koch: You're really in that bubble. Nivola: And you feel like your character, in a lot of ways, because you're sleeping in the same bed. We talked with Mike a lot about the siblings, getting the dynamic of those two on opposite ends of this spectrum of morality. I think something we've both had to deal with is lots of people being like, 'Your character's kind of a creep.' Koch: It's so funny. I didn't feel that way at all. At the end, when you're like, 'I'm a people pleaser, I just want to make everybody happy, I'm in a family of narcissists,' I fully was like, 'Yes. That's what this is.' What do people say? Nivola: Well, they're just saying he's a sexual deviant of some sort. In your case as well, let's say they were murderers who killed in cold blood and there was no reason for it. Or let's say my character is a pervert. You still have to find a way as an actor to love your character. I get really protective over my characters. Koch: As you should. That's the only way. Nivola: You can tell, watching, how much you love Erik, and that's a beautiful thing. Koch: So to bring it around to death, what was that like? Nivola: It was really emotional. Before going to Thailand, I would speak very disparagingly about actors coming back from a shoot and being like, 'I really lost myself in the character.' 'Fuck you!' But when I was there, I was like, 'I get it now.' I felt like Jason Isaacs was my dad, bringing such raw realness to that scene: I'm in this moment, and I'm dying. Koch: I really thought you were gone. Nivola: I did too. Best of Variety 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Animated Program — Can Netflix Score Big With 'Arcane,' 'Devil May Cry' and the Final Season of 'Big Mouth?'
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Nicolas Cage's Best Performances Onscreen
We've reached the point in Nicolas Cage's career when it's easiest to refer to every new movie he's in by just describing his antics in them. Dracula Cage, terrible boss — that's 'Renfield.' Moody chef Cage, retriever of beloved animal — that's 'Pig.' Serial killer Cage, servant of Satan — that's 'Longlegs.' The tactic works because it's easy to imagine Cage donning any of those guises, and a thousand more besides. Many a commenter has noted Cage's propensity for roles that can be described only as crazy, but the actor's career is too expansive, and often more nuanced, to be reduced to his unhinged characters. Tell me he's going to play, I don't know, a ballet master or a mob boss or an enraged father (as in his latest movie, 'The Surfer') and I'll believe you, because Cage has proved that he contains multitudes, over and over again. Sometimes he even plays more than one guy in the same movie — as in my favorite of his films, 'Adaptation,' in which he appears as twins. That means the best way to get a grip on Cage as an artist is to consider him through his many faces. Even when he occasionally takes that face, um, off. 'Moonstruck' (1987) Video Credit Credit... Early on, Cage worked to establish a career apart from his family name. (The 'Godfather' director Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle, and the directors Roman and Sofia Coppola and the actor Jason Schwartzman are his cousins.) He managed it swiftly in a string of movies that included many performances as a tousled, passionate, somewhat unpredictable young man. What shines through each is a full-bodied commitment to whatever the character's emotional reality is — all the roiling desires, the suffering, the ecstasy. A great representative performance from this era is his turn as the lovelorn hothead Ronny, who's smitten with his brother's fiancée (Cher) in the 1987 romantic comedy 'Moonstruck.' Ronny may be missing a hand thanks to a freak bread-slicer accident, but he's not missing any gallantry, rough-hewn as it is. It's a charming, uncouth, amorous role, and versions of that Cage show up in the Coen brothers' 'Raising Arizona' (1987) and David Lynch's 'Wild at Heart' (1990). (Stream 'Moonstruck' on the Roku Channel and the Criterion Channel, or rent it on most major platforms.) Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
