The Criterion Collection

The Criterion Collection is an American film-distribution and preservation brand specializing in carefully restored editions of significant international, independent, and American cinema. Founded in 1984, it became one of the most influential names in premium home video by treating a film release as more than a packaged copy of a movie. Criterion editions commonly combine a new or upgraded restoration with scholarly essays, archival material, interviews, documentaries, commentaries, alternate versions, and technical notes intended to explain a film’s historical and artistic importance. The company emerged during the early home-video era, initially issuing films on LaserDisc. Its early releases helped establish a model for serious film publishing at a time when many home-video editions offered limited contextual or technical information. Criterion’s work with films such as Citizen Kane and Seven Samurai demonstrated the value of bringing major works of cinema to domestic formats with authoritative transfers and substantial supplementary material. The brand later became closely associated with the DVD format, where its restorations and supplements helped define the collector and cinephile market. Criterion’s catalog spans many national cinemas, periods, and genres. It has released works by directors including Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Jean Renoir, Agnes Varda, Wong Kar-wai, Guillermo del Toro, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, and numerous other filmmakers. The catalog includes canonical art films, Hollywood films, genre pictures, documentaries, experimental works, and historically important titles that may not otherwise receive a carefully produced physical edition. Selection is shaped by the company’s editorial judgment, licensing arrangements, rights availability, and the feasibility of restoration or access to appropriate source materials. The brand’s physical business has moved through several technological generations: LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and, beginning in the 2020s, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. Criterion also operates in digital distribution. In 2016, Criterion and Janus Films launched the Criterion Channel, a subscription streaming service built around curated programming, repertory film, introductions, supplements, and thematic collections. The service extended Criterion’s editorial approach beyond individual discs while also giving the company a direct relationship with streaming subscribers. Criterion is associated with Janus Films, the repertory distributor whose library and film relationships form an important part of the wider business. The two organizations are separate brands with closely connected histories and operations. Criterion editions are primarily known in North America, although the brand has had international visibility through imports, licensing, retail distribution, and the global reputation of its catalog. The company remains privately held and active. Its significance lies less in mass-market scale than in its influence on film preservation, cinephile culture, home-video design, and the idea that physical media can function as a durable form of film scholarship.

The Criterion Collection was established in 1984 by Robert Stein, Aleen Stein, and Joe Medjuck during the formative period of home video. Its creation was connected to Janus Films, a repertory distributor known for introducing major international and art-house films to American audiences. Criterion’s initial purpose was to bring important films to home formats with a level of technical care and editorial attention that was unusual for the period. The company’s early releases appeared on LaserDisc. Among its foundational projects was Citizen Kane, issued with material designed to give viewers historical and critical context rather than merely reproducing the feature. Criterion also released Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, a title that became emblematic of its ambition: a major film, carefully presented, accompanied by substantial supplementary content, and marketed to viewers who valued both the work and its cinematic history. These releases helped popularize the concept of a “special edition” as a form of film publishing. As DVD became the dominant home-video format in the late 1990s, Criterion shifted much of its activity to DVD. The company’s DVDs were distinguished by restoration work, commentary tracks, essays, interviews, documentaries, archival supplements, chapter navigation, and detailed packaging. The format made it possible to distribute more material at lower cost than LaserDisc and broadened access to films that had previously been limited to repertory cinemas, specialty stores, or collectors. Criterion consequently became an important reference point for film students, critics, collectors, and directors. During the 2000s, Criterion expanded its catalog and adopted Blu-ray as high-definition home video matured. The company revisited earlier titles when better elements, restorations, or technical standards became available. Its editorial scope also widened beyond a narrow canon of European and Japanese art cinema. Releases increasingly covered American studio films, genre cinema, documentaries, experimental film, animation, contemporary independent cinema, and works by women and filmmakers from historically underrepresented regions. Selection continued to depend on rights, source materials, restoration requirements, and the company’s curatorial priorities. Criterion’s digital strategy developed alongside physical media. The company and Janus Films created streaming initiatives that eventually led to the Criterion Channel. The current service, launched in 2016, applies Criterion’s curatorial identity to subscription streaming through rotating collections, director and genre programs, introductions, interviews, essays, and selected supplements. It provides a digital counterpart to the physical catalog while allowing the company to present a larger and more frequently changing selection than would be practical on disc. In the 2020s, Criterion added 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases to its established DVD and Blu-ray lines. The move reflected continuing demand for premium physical media among collectors, even as much of the broader home-entertainment market shifted toward streaming. Criterion remains associated with Janus Films and continues to operate as a private, active brand. Its lasting contribution is a durable model in which restoration, rights management, design, criticism, archival research, and distribution are combined into a single presentation of a film.

• 2021

  4K Ultra HD program begins

  [4]The Criterion Collection: 4K UHD releasescriterion.com

  Criterion adds 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray releases, bringing selected restorations to a higher-resolution physical format.

• 2018

  The Criterion Channel becomes a standalone service

  [2]The Criterion Channel: Aboutcriterionchannel.com

  The Criterion Channel is relaunched as a standalone streaming service after the end of its earlier partnership with FilmStruck.

• 2016

  The Criterion Channel launches

  [2]The Criterion Channel: Aboutcriterionchannel.com

  Criterion and Janus Films launch the Criterion Channel as a dedicated subscription service for curated classic and contemporary cinema.

• 2012

  Criterion and Janus launch an earlier streaming initiative

  [2]The Criterion Channel: Aboutcriterionchannel.com

  The companies introduce a digital subscription service that precedes the current Criterion Channel and tests a streaming extension of the Criterion model.

• 1997

  Expansion into DVD

  [1]The Criterion Collection: Aboutcriterion.com

  Criterion begins issuing DVD editions, broadening the reach of its collector-focused catalog and special-edition format.

• 1985

  Seven Samurai becomes an early landmark release

  [3]The Criterion Collection: Seven Samuraicriterion.com

  Criterion’s presentation of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai illustrates its early emphasis on major restorations and substantial scholarly or archival supplements.

• 1984

  The Criterion Collection is founded

  [1]The Criterion Collection: Aboutcriterion.com

  Robert Stein, Aleen Stein, and Joe Medjuck establish Criterion as a premium home-video label connected to the Janus Films repertory-film tradition.

• 1984

  First LaserDisc releases

  [1]The Criterion Collection: Aboutcriterion.com

  Criterion begins issuing important films on LaserDisc, using the format to combine film presentation with commentary and contextual supplements.

A premium, curator-led film preservation and home-entertainment brand positioned at the intersection of cinema scholarship, restoration, collecting, and high-quality physical and digital presentation.

• Physical home video · 1997

  DVD editions

  Criterion’s DVD line helped define the premium special-edition market in the late 1990s and 2000s. Editions typically paired a feature film with restoration notes, commentaries, essays, interviews, archival documents, and carefully designed packaging. Although many titles have since been upgraded, the DVD catalog remains an important part of the company’s history.

• Physical home video · 2008

  Blu-ray editions

  Blu-ray releases became Criterion’s principal high-definition physical format. They provide improved image and sound presentation while retaining the label’s emphasis on restorations, filmmaker participation, critical commentary, archival supplements, and collector-oriented design. Many releases are newly mastered or upgraded versions of titles previously issued on DVD.

• Physical home video · 2021

  4K Ultra HD releases

  Criterion’s 4K Ultra HD line presents selected films using the newer high-resolution physical format, often with HDR-compatible image presentation and a companion Blu-ray. The range focuses on titles for which the company can support a significant restoration and a premium technical edition.

• Subscription streaming · 2016

  The Criterion Channel

  The Criterion Channel is a subscription streaming service operated by Criterion and Janus Films. It offers rotating collections of classic, international, independent, documentary, and contemporary films, organized through thematic programs, filmmaker retrospectives, introductions, interviews, and selected supplements. Availability and catalog composition vary by territory and licensing.

• Film publishing

  Criterion books and publications

  Alongside discs and streaming, Criterion has published film-related books and associated print material. These publications extend the label’s curatorial approach through essays, interviews, production history, visual archives, and detailed treatment of individual films or filmmakers.

• 2021

  Introduction of 4K Ultra HD releasesProduct launch

  Background

  Despite the growth of streaming, demand remained among collectors for premium physical editions with advanced image and sound capabilities.

  Action taken

  Criterion added selected 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray titles to its physical-media program.

  Aftermath

  The move preserved a high-end physical-media path for the brand and enabled selected restorations to be presented at a newer technical standard.

  Source

• 2016

  Launch of the Criterion ChannelProduct launch

  Background

  Streaming was becoming central to home entertainment, while Criterion sought a digital format capable of presenting a broader and more frequently changing selection than physical releases.

  Action taken

  Criterion and Janus Films launched a subscription streaming service built around curated repertory cinema and editorial programming.

  Aftermath

  The service extended Criterion’s brand from physical collecting into direct-to-consumer digital distribution.

  Source

• 2008

  Adoption of Blu-rayGeneration change

  Background

  The emergence of high-definition home video created demand for improved picture and sound quality in premium film editions.

  Action taken

  Criterion introduced Blu-ray editions and progressively upgraded selected titles from standard-definition releases.

  Aftermath

  Blu-ray became the company’s principal high-definition physical format and supported more technically ambitious restorations.

  Source

• 1997

  Move from LaserDisc to DVDGeneration change

  Background

  DVD offered greater capacity, lower distribution costs, and a broader consumer base than LaserDisc, creating an opportunity to expand Criterion’s special-edition model.

  Action taken

  Criterion began issuing DVD editions while continuing to build a catalog centered on restored films and extensive supplements.

  Aftermath

  The transition helped make Criterion a leading brand in collector-oriented DVD publishing and significantly widened access to its releases.

  Source

• Unconfirmed

  Reported2026.10.13

  Sammons Financial Group launches Criterion wealth advisory holding company[5]Sammons Financial Group 推出 Criterion 财富管理咨询控股公司wealthmanagement.com

  Sammons Financial Group has launched Criterion, a new wealth advisory holding company that brings together its three registered investment advisors — Beacon Capital Management, NorthRock Partners and Wealthcare — with a combined $27 billion in assets under management or advisement. The three RIAs will maintain their brands and own ADVs while operating under the Criterion umbrella, which plans to centralize functions starting with finance, accounting, capital management and deal functions, and to pursue further roll-up and tuck-in acquisitions.

• Unconfirmed

  Reported2026.10.13

  Michael Mock appointed president of Criterion[5]Sammons Financial Group 推出 Criterion 财富管理咨询控股公司wealthmanagement.com

  Michael Mock, who was serving as president of Sammons Wealth Management Group, has been appointed president of Criterion, the new wealth advisory holding company launched by Sammons Financial Group.

• 2020.03.18

  Reported2020.03.18

  Criterion lowers prices on in-stock and upcoming releases[6]Criterion 下调现货及即将发行作品的价格collider.com

  Criterion lowered the regular prices of all in-stock and upcoming releases, with the reductions effective immediately through April 30.

Read more

1. 1The Criterion Collection: Aboutcriterion.com
2. 2The Criterion Channel: Aboutcriterionchannel.com
3. 3The Criterion Collection: Seven Samuraicriterion.com
4. 4The Criterion Collection: 4K UHD releasescriterion.com
5. 5Sammons Financial Group 推出 Criterion 财富管理咨询控股公司wealthmanagement.com
6. 6Criterion 下调现货及即将发行作品的价格collider.com