Criterion Collection

Overview

The Criterion Collection is a home entertainment company founded in 1984 and based in New York, widely regarded as the most prestigious film home video label in the world. The company publishes definitive Blu-ray, DVD, and digital editions of classic and contemporary films across the full history of world cinema, with a catalog of over 1,000 titles. Criterion is owned by Janus Films, which holds the theatrical rights to the Criterion library, while Criterion holds the home video and streaming rights.

Criterion's reputation rests on three foundations: the quality of its transfers and restorations, the depth of its supplementary materials, and the rigor of its curatorial selection. A Criterion release is widely understood in the film industry to mean a film has been recognized as significant in the canon of world cinema -- the selection itself carries a form of critical imprimatur that no other home video label can claim to the same degree.

What Criterion Publishes

Criterion publishes films across every major tradition of world cinema, with particular depth in:

• European arthouse cinema, particularly French, Italian, Swedish, and Eastern European
• Japanese cinema from the studio era through the Japanese New Wave
• American independent and studio cinema with lasting critical significance
• World cinema from Iran, Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil, and other emerging film traditions
• Documentary features with cinematic and historical significance
• Films from the global avant-garde and experimental tradition

Each Criterion release is produced with new transfers (often 4K restorations), scholarly booklets with essays by film critics and historians, filmmaker interviews, supplementary short films, and theatrical trailers. The physical design of Criterion releases -- cover art commissioned from illustrators and designers, consistent spine numbering, and premium packaging -- has made the label's releases recognizable and collectible.

Criterion Channel

The Criterion Collection operates the Criterion Channel, a subscription streaming service providing access to the Criterion catalog alongside curated programming, filmmaker interviews, and supplements. The Criterion Channel is available in the United States and Canada and is widely regarded as the premier streaming service for world cinema -- a curated alternative to algorithmic volume platforms.

What Filmmakers Should Know

Criterion does not accept unsolicited submissions. Selection is handled through the company's curatorial team, which monitors new film releases, festival selections, and the broader critical conversation around world cinema. Films enter consideration through critical recognition, sustained reputation, or the attention of the company's curatorial staff.

For contemporary filmmakers, a Criterion release for their work typically follows years of critical recognition and sustained engagement with the film by critics and cinephiles. Early-career directors are rarely Criterion candidates unless their debut is immediately recognized as a landmark work.

The practical impact of Criterion selection for a filmmaker is significant: the label's reputation extends the film's life and audience indefinitely, generates ongoing revenue from home video sales and streaming, and signals canonical status to programmers, academics, and subsequent generations of filmmakers.

For rights holders of films already in the Criterion catalog, the company manages ongoing home video sales, Criterion Channel streaming, and theatrical re-release through Janus Films -- providing a comprehensive long-term distribution infrastructure for canonical works.

Historical Significance

Criterion began as a laser disc label in 1984, pioneering the director's commentary format and the scholarly approach to home video that has since become industry standard. The company's commitment to supplementary materials -- which predates the DVD era by a decade -- established the expectation that definitive home video editions should offer more than the film alone. This contribution to how film culture approaches home video has had lasting influence on the collector market worldwide.

See Also

For how Criterion Channel operates as a streaming platform for world cinema, see the Criterion Channel directory entry. For the theatrical distribution arm of the Criterion ecosystem, see the Janus Films directory entry.