Criterion Collection's June Release Calendar Features Six New 4K Ultra HD Theatrical Releases Including The June 24 Double-Feature Of Director William Friedkin's The Sorcerer And Francesco Zippel's Friedkin Uncut

Counting things can be tricky.   For example, on the surface it appears that the Criterion Collection’s June release slate contains five new 4K Ultra HD releases, but there are actually six theatrical releases new to the 4K Ultra HD format.

On June 24, the Criterion Collection will be releasing the new 4K digital restoration of director William Friedkin’s 1977 film, The Sorcerer, which was a remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 classic, The Wages of Fear (aka: Le Salaire de la Peur), which was an adaptation of Georges Arnaud’s 1950 novel of the same name.

Included as one of the bonus features is documentary filmmaker Francesco Zippel’s 2019 film release of Friedkin Uncut … Zippel’s film made its debut at the Venice Film Festival in August of 2018, worked the festival circuit during the next months and then got a limited theatrical release on Aug. 23, 2019.  

Thus, Criterion’s 4K Ultra HD/2 Blu-ray Combo Pack (also available as a double-disc Blu-ray) release of The Sorcerer is actually a double-feature.

Zippel’s film, Friedkin Uncut, has never been released on physical media in the domestic marketplace (a PAL release from Italy is floating around), so this is also its debut on both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD.

This is not an isolated incident from Criterion, it is a common practice for the company to include documentaries and, in some cases, theatrical releases as bonuses (an earlier production for example).   

Indeed, in the month of June alone, Criterion includes Jack Mathews’ The Battle of Brazil: A Video History (feature-length non-theatrical documentary from 1996) with the 4K Ultra HD edition of director Terry Gilliam’s Brazil on June 3, and the 4K Ultra HD rollout of director Paul Schrader’s Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (also on June 3) includes as a bonus feature documentary filmmaker Michael McIntyre’s The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima (feature-length non-theatrical documentary from 1990).

So what other bonus goodies are included with The Sorcerer on June 24?   There is behind-the-scenes footage, a 2015 video session with Friedkin and fellow filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, a newly minted video session featuring filmmaker James Gray (Little Odessa, The Yards, The Immigrant) and film critic Sean Fennessey and an archival audio session with screenwriter Walon Green and writer Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan (“William Friedkin”).

In addition to the aforementioned Brazil and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, other 4K Ultra HD releases during the month of June from the Criterion Collection include director Sidney Lumet’s 1978 film release of The Wiz (June 10) and writer/director Francois Girard’s 1993 film, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (June 24).