Any news on Zentropa?
 

I watched The Element of Crime the other night and I was reminded that Zentropa is languishing in not-released land.

Any news?

Well it is available as an anamorphic R2 PAL release under the alternative title Europa.

R1 continues to miss out on a lot of great Von Trier such as this and the Kingdom I & II and Dogville, and an uncensored Breaking the Waves. Yet one more reason for film fans to go region-free.

I'm still waiting this release - it's one of my all-time favorite films. I have the Region 2 release from Tartan. The picture quality is very good and there is a trailer on the disc. The only problem is that it is presented 1.85:1 instead of the full 2.35:1 ratio. It's good to have for the time being, however. The laserdisc from Japan is in it's full 2.35:1 ratio and it's quality is really good. Still I want a solid-quality Region 1 official release.

There is also a Spanish R2 DVD (also under the original title of Europa) and it is the correct 2.35 - 1.

Wasn't "Zentropa" cancelled at the last minute by Buena Vista? Hmm, come to think of it so was "Hardware" and of course "Ed Wood" several times. Just who the heck is the sadist over there who loves to announce titles then pull them at the last minute like Lucy torturing Charlie Brown? :mad:

Buena Vista cancelled Zentropa due to rights issues (they have said by email that they no longer hold the rights).

Since Criterion released The Element of Crime (1984), there's been speculation that they'd like to complete the trilogy by releasing Epidemic (1988) and Europa/Zentropa (1991), but they've denied that they have any von Trier in the works.

It certainly was. I bought the Spanish DVD last year after the R1 was canceled.

I think Di$ney announces titles like this and then if pre-orders are below a certain level they cancel them at the last minute.

There is no decent release of Europa/Zentropa.
R2 UK is anamorphic but 1.77 instead of 2.35
And all other R2 (Spain, Japan) are not anamorphic.

We might get a decent release from Denmark. But the rights in Denmark are not in the hands of Lars von Trier's production company unlike Breaking the Waves or Dogville (which were released in excellent 2 DVD edition)

There is a Region 0 Korean release of Europa [Zentropa].

It is non-anamorphic 2.35:1, probably a laserdisc bootleg.

Quality is just OK -- what you would expect from a good, clean transfer from laserdisc source material.

NO English subtitles (not even for the German dialogue portions). Both English and German dialogue is all subtitled in Korean (removable).

I think you can find a copy of this Korean R0 release on eBay for about $20.

I've got the 2-disc "Dogville" set, which is spectacular. It's one of my favorite releases of the year.

Is the "Breaking the Waves" release as good? (I think it's released by Sandrew-Metronome.) I understand it's uncut and has the original music, but I'm wondering mostly about the transfer. I have the OOP R1 version, but am considering upgrading to this one, particularly if the anamorphic transfer is even just slightly better (and given that I have a widescreen set, I suspect that for me it will be).

As much as I dislike the wrong ratio I went with the UK disc.

Correctly subtitled and a pretty good transfer. It's annoying it starts in the correct AR then it's 'blown up'. Idiots.

Great film.