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Sunday, May 4, 2014

Gans' La Belle et la Bete coming to Blu-ray & DVD (but no English subtitles, or English region friendly version in sight)


The question keeps popping up on old posts or in my inbox so I thought it was high time I addressed this in a post. The questions are: Will Gans' La Belle et la Bete be coming to US/UK/Aus theaters? Will there be an English translation or subtitles if it does? How about Blu-ray/DVD - will we be getting one of those? Will that have subtitles at least??

I've been constantly searching for any news of an American, or English speaking country, release of Gan's sumptuous Beauty and the Beast remake, but whether it be theaters, a limited release/showing or DVD/Blu-ray and there has been nothing. Unless Pathé do an English international release later in the year or in 2015 (like sometimes Japanese films do) then it looks like we're out of luck at seeing it on the big screen.

(It's just so bizarre. I haven't even had luck with Canadian releases.)

I've been watching the Blu-ray/DVD announcements for other countries as well to see if there are English subtitles but so far zero. Again, it's just bizarre, especially as the feature film song had an English version so I'm a little confused. Maybe distribution agreements with Pathé haven't been working out well? 

The French DVD and Blu-ray release however, (though there are no English subtitles) is June 26, 2014 and you can find that HERE. (Note: the disc release seems pretty light on content. It looks like just the film and no behind-the-scenes footage, although some was released online as part of the marketing lead up).
 

And here is something that looks like it was created for a steel book release but apparently isn't. It's just the Blu-ray/DVD combo packaging.
✒ ✒ To see it & LOTS of behind-the-scenes & "making of book" pics click the "Read more" link below✒ ✒


With no English-friendly versions in sight, apparently I need to seriously brush up on my French - and get an all-region Blu-ray player... 

There is a French making of book available in the UK, but with French text. You can find that HERE. And here are some preview images from the book (click on image to view full size):





As well as more from behind the scenes which I found online HERE. I'm sharing as much as I can find, simply because this looks like it's difficult for English speakers to find. (Images & Text via auto-translate: © 2014 Eskwad - PATHÉ PRODUCTION - TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION - buys / neunte / zwölfte / ACHTZEHNTE BABELSBERG FILM GMBH - 120 FILMS © Huginn & Muninn / Mediatoon Licensing):
Castings storyboards through costuming and special effects Achieving, Behind the Scenes of Beauty and the Beast in bookstores February 28, dives into the magical world of Christophe Gans.
Here is an exclusive preview.
 On Beauty and the Beast , from a story That everyone knows, I wanted to offer a world That belongs to me completely. universe Woven sum of emotions I have known Especially through video games or Japanese cartoon. diagonally Vision worlds I love my cross occupations in parallel cinema ... For example, Shadow of the Colossus , Fumito Ueda game. Represents It has small face climbing over huge entities That Are difficulty to guess the shape or scale accurate Because we do not-have the Necessary distance. It is a concept That I tried to remember to Beauty and the Beast , Including the scene of the giants ... "
Christophe Gans
"Maybe one of my five favorite movies or oven japanime. SPECIFICALLY this sketch there, inside Memories . Which Raises the issue of setting operatic scene around costumes, roses, etc. .. Of course, at Morimoto, we are in the interstellar void, inside of a vessel, with ghosts Have you APPEAR cosmonauts before ... HOWEVER, I imagined the field of the Beast in the same way as an enclave. A lost world, an oasis of spring surrounded by walls of ice, with winter scolds the other side In this ... pocket outside time, Belle finds himself dressed as It was three centuries ago - I do not know if people in apercevront, goal Does not she wear dresses of the First Empire in the Beast! Magnetic Rose Succeeds in a perfectly tight mode (25 minutes), to sixteen this dream shift, poetic, a universe incorporated in a biosphere That is not hers. When I was little, I loved movies with dinosaurs. Not Because of the dinosaurs, goal Because They Took Place in small oasis ., a clueless beach or in the crater of a volcano ! Awesome It is very childish to Imagine That there are micro-worlds within the world - it is still too big for a child. We all remember the castle of the Beast is lost somewhere beyond the forest - but I've Previewed time immediately these walls of ice and perpetual spring They protect. You know, I think there are two kinds of influences That Occur During The Production of a film. Those we-have in mind, 100% aware it is: Legend , Miyazaki, My Neighbor Totoro . ... And Those we Discovered while shooting or postproduction There Was this plane Crying FreemanWhere Tcheky Karyo walk in the forest at night with this woman yakuza white trench coat That is in the process of smoking against a tree ... When I turned, I thought "Cool. It's like black of the past film. In fact, it is "a map for Vertigo . The One Where James Stewart Kim Novak catches in the redwood forest He finds she HAS white trench coat, she leans against a tree ... Is That What I mean there are influences on the Abebooks web lost the thread and replaying Afterwards.Magnetic Rose , When you tell me, It Seems totally obvious. Goal I did not think. Same ..: the sequence of giants, I did not think spontaneously Majin (Kimiyoshi Yasuda, 1966) by turning, goal today when i see my giant wandering amid the mist and tall fat in my movie, yes, that's obvious. "
Christophe Gans
"I met Christopher on Fantômas , a beautiful project That Unfortunately DID not materialize. When contacted for my Beauty and the Beast , I Had Worked on in the Meantime environments video game Heavy Rain , a highly cinematic game. I Had the impression listening Christophe , I had my appointment with my work on Heavy Rain , it was interesting to-have Someone who can do the decoration built as well as virtual ... paradoxically, there is very little in my virtual party on film. 
WAS Trying to go up to the So-Called "bio" (When the actor is in direct contact with the elements), that 'is to say the opposite of virtual ... We built the Entire bio dining room - with the exception of ceiling vaults - The Board of Belle , the tower Where the Beast lives, the interior and exterior cottage / (except the roof), the tavern, 80% of the hall, the first two flights of the monumental staircase and the corridor walls That border trophy and outdoor promenade That leads, and finally inside the rose. Everything Regarding virtual extensions cottage (landscape all around) and ballroom (Actually two columns and floor, everything else is duplicated digitally) ... 
The environment of the castle (park, castle, gardens) while it is turned on green background with bio media for the bridge and the grand staircase of the garden. There is a scene Where Beautiful wrinkles were giant tree to contemplate the extent of the area: the tree WAS Constructed so That It moves there, the rest Was a huge blue background. "
Thierry Flamand
"It goes way back, Christophe and me. On Crying Freeman , His first movie, he made ​​me small sketch "Fellows potatoes" which allowed me to put things ... fortunately, for the sake of efficiency and Because We know better today, we Developed a technique. He made ​​a list of scenes, All which reserves as the first guide, and as you go up the site. This is Where It is interesting Because it is already staging: there comics, storytelling, dramaturgy, all common language starts to aggregate. At the same time the storyboard is Intended to anticipate the reality of shooting and Constraints. This is the moment When everything falls into place it is at the heart of the staging of the project. 
valid Drawing a scene purpose it May Also invalidate and because icts full rewrite. Often This happens with Christophe. French translation of the storyboard is "storyboard." It really is this:. the graphic writing For a very visual director like Christopher, this is an optimal shape in Photo of His intentions. What I Discovered about Silent Hill Is That the tray there is a large table with the agenda, displayed page by page. And When A storyboard is turned up, we put a broad red marker above. It is gratifying to see That you-have a practical value on the set ... "
Thierry Ségur
Your participation on the movie Mainly Concerns the creature design?
Essentially, yes. The design of the Beast and Tadums, plus two or three other projects like stone statues ... I was working on the reboot of 
Total Recall When Christopher contacted me.

How he presented HAS His Version of the tale?
I thought he wanted to do a modern version of of Beauty and the Beast as Red Riding Hood or Snow White and the Huntsman , thesis-have movies Recently revived day old well-known tales. He Told me right away: "I want to stay very classic, I want the movie to be what it shoulds be a timeless tale for all the family."It time immediately appealed to me.

A classic approach is extended to the Beast?
An approach That extended Throughout the world he created. It was obvious I was not going That approach to the beast in terms of superhero a little weird. He Showed me pictures, arts François Baranger concept, All which further routed me the script (in my art, images speak louder than words) Christophe ... Told me later That I 'Review: had a tendency to create graphics in mythological content. In terms of horror, I'm not fascinated by the hideous creatures , I like drawing stylish monsters. So I Quickly Realized what he wanted, and I started to draw.
Patrick Tatopoulos
"I chose to make the wreck Scanline Plans Because They Had signed the picture I have of 300 Zack Snyder: the sinking of the Persian fleet at the bottom of the cliffs. Leonidas looks vessels breaking on the reef, while striking violently ... An amazing flat. INITIALLY, I wanted a similar sequence with boats thrashed on the rocks by a huge background blade, All which shatters. And Then the reality of numbers caught up with us too expensive! There, I Said to myself: this is not a realistic vision That Will dominate, the purpose symbolic vision. How to register image of a shipwreck as prologue to what Will Follow? And I thought this underwater cliff with sea anemones That retract When grazed by sinking gold coins. This picture announces the garden of the Beast , roses, rich robbers Will try to loot ... A sort of poetic transposition of what Will Follow. This is an underwater shipwreck plan something That HAS Perhaps ever seen. The camera travels through schools of fish, and back along the cliff to . reach the recessed boat on the rocks 
It is Often Said That special effects Prevent us from telling the stories -. sometimes this is true Many movies are Constantly obscured, clouded by the rate of special effects shots That Fall on us ... On the Contrary, I think we can use the SFX to create "clips", literally - that are moving or stationary They. Plans That Contain So Many Details That They synthesize an Entire sequence. Underwater shipwreck map is a good example, as the wreckage returned to Port and dockworkers are emptying. Again we can speak of a Summarized sequence captured in a single shot! It's a way as any to return to the essential quality of American cinema of the 40s. When we watch a movie by John Ford, in general it Does not need more to him a plane to catch the gasoline of a scene! Where other filmmakers needed Would Have 5-6, he finds a way to make one. In my opinion, for reduce the number of plans for reduce It was not the story, deploy goal INSTEAD. "
Christophe Gans
There is also this little preview available online of one of the French book releases and although I'm not completely clear on which book this is (it appears to be one of the novels based on the film), the preview is pretty and worth sharing: you can see it HERE.

If anyone has found out further information for any English speaking zone, please do share! We're all dying to see this film - imperfect reviews and all. 
Italian poster featuring Vincent Cassel

28 comments:

  1. Guess I'm just going to have to brush up on my high school French. >_<

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  2. I have a feeling that American Hollywood leaders don't want this film in distribution because of the multiple live action Beauty and the Beast films that are in the works. Perhaps Disney is involved.

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  3. I am DYING to see this film. I was so frantic that it led me to post on the official Facebook page of the film La Belle et la Bete and I asked if anyone knew about U.S. release dates/showtimes or DVD with english subtitles. I received a response from the Official Facebook page and they advised me of the following: Hi, the film won't be released in the US for now, but it will be possible to watch it at the Fantasia International Film Festival (July 18th to August 6th). Have a nice day.
    I looked up the Fantasia International Film festival and it is located in Montreal. The website doesn't have any showtimes yet for this year's festival but if the Official FB Page of the film (whomever monitors it) gave me those dates, perhaps they are creditable. :( Hope this helps at least Canadians out there that are wanting to watch the film. Unfortunately it doesn't help me since I'm in the States.

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    1. Ya I'm in Canada. I saw this film whilst in Paris with my friend, and it is amazing. I speak fluent french, but none of my family does and a lot of my friends don't either. I wouldn't want to buy a translated version of the film, but I am hanging onto the hope that a version with English subtitles will be released. It's an amazing film, and though I can understand it, I would be the only one if I were to watch it with my family, for example.

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  4. This is disappointing but I'm willing to watch it in french as long as I can get one that will work here it looks amazing and is my all time favorite tale I must see it!

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  5. Wow thank you so much for compiling on this information! At least I know I wasn't crazy for not being able to find anything either.

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  6. Thank you very much for compiling this information!! It seems I am going to have to gain some new french speaking friends to do some translating for me!! So excited about this movie!!!!!

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  7. As much as I want to see this and will survive with a french only version (subtitles may help a bit) for the time being, it is not unusual that french films take time to make their way to english speaking soil and some not at all though this is would be a big fault for this film not to. I really don't expect to see a subtitled version until early 2015 at best though I hope for sooner.

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  8. I have already downloaded it http://kickass.to/french-la-belle-et-la-bete-2014-720p-brrip-x264-aac-winteam-t9256607.html
    But I am unable to get english subtitles even I have already requested on subscene but still no reply.. I think we have to search for a person who is good in english and french too ...

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  9. http://en.podnapisi.net/en/la-belle-et-la-b-te-2014-subtitles-p3261597

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    1. Thanks, but those subs are just painful, probably a Google Translate exercise with no awareness of scene context!

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  10. Thanks for posting this. I waited for months and months for this movie and when I saw on the official Facebook page that it was coming out on Blu-ray and DVD I freaked out. It's annoying though that it looks like I won't be able to own this movie any time soon. :/ at least I got the soundtrack to the film. Which is awesome by the way. I highly recommend getting it.

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  11. Thank you for this information!
    I have spent many hours to find this movie on the internet without result.
    I hope they will release it soon with swedish/english sub.
    I think this movie could bring in a lot of money if they releasit with different subs.

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  12. I watched this on United Airlines on trip back from China just a week ago. The English subtitles were well done and it is an amazing movie with a surprise ending.
    Got to have a English subtitle version somewhere for United to pick it up.

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  13. This is very frustrating news. I actually got to watch this with a great english sub on a plane. Loved the movie! I want to re watch it/buy it by any means and it is no where to be found

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  14. Saw this movie (with English subtitles) on the plane back from Dubai to JFK and have been frantically looking for a dvd version with the subtitles so thank you for posting this.

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  15. I really want to see this! Pathé, please make it possible in English subs. Thank you for sharing this information. I too have been searching for days on the internet with no result.

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  16. If anyone is still reading this, there's a forthcoming DVD version which claims to have English subtitles: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00QSO7VD6/

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    1. i just want to stream the video at home and not have to worry about it not playing in my dvd player

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  17. Read this :) thank you for the link!

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  18. I just watched a trailer on imdb which was all in English
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2316801/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

    Does anyone know if that means it will be released in English?

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    1. I recently posted an update (January 18, 2015). Here the direct link so you don't have to hunt: http://fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/gans-la-belle-et-la-bete-with-english.html

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  19. iTunes Oz has it:

    https://itunes.apple.com/au/movie/beauty-and-the-beast/id991729474?&at=10l6eK

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  20. There is an English dubbed DVD version for Region A/1 (the US) on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-Vincent-Cassel-Seydoux/dp/B00TBJ6XZ2). Does anyone know if there is a Region B/2 (Australia) of this version? Supposedly the dubbing is done really well, and the English language actors sound like the French actors.

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  21. This movie is pure crap, and showing it to your kids will only teach them to like crap movies. When I was a kid the Disney version came out in theaters and I wanted to see it, but my mom told me to watch the Jean Cocteau version instead; I was 6 years old, loved good movies (still do), and watched this beautiful masterpiece from 1946, and just loved it !! I didn't wanna watch the Disney movie after that (I eventually saw bits of it at a friend's place a few years later, 'twas okay). Tonight I decided to watch it again (the Cocteau version) to confirm the fact that it's on my Best Films list, and I was in awe again, the movie hasn't aged a bit !! So I decided to watch some parts from the new version, and let me tell you, I couldn't even watch more than 20 seconds at a time. Because I'm lucky enough to know French, I can compare the two films in their original versions. To make it short, the Cocteau version had simple yet powerful dialogues, wonderfully said by Jean Marais and Josette Day, the costumes are wonderful, the special effects are ingenious, the filming is perfectly mastered and very avant-garde, and the black and white contributes even more to the magical ambiance. This is truly one of the best films ever made. The Gans version was a complete disgrace, how could he dare make such a movie? It is basically a huge middle finger to French culture. It is understandable when Hollywood makes a stupid CGI-packed-full-of-corny-things-for-kids remake for the holidays, but how can the French do that to one of their own jewels? It basically looks like a video game for kids, everything is CGI, except the actors, who actually should also be CGI considering it is painful to watch good actors try their best to deliver such poorly-written lines. I cannot conceive in any way that this movie was made for something else other than money.
    Watch the Jean Cocteau version, a real work of art, and show it to your kids instead of this ridiculous remake that has no more to offer than a stupid video game and that leaves no place to imagination and real magic.

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  22. i rally want to watch this move but it still isn't available anywhere. i wouldn't mind paying to rent the video to support those who made it, if the reviews are any indication. is there any update?

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  23. Take a look at what I found at Walmart.com. What do you think?
    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Beauty-And-The-Beast-La-Belle-Et-La-Bete-French-DVD-Digital-Copy-Widescreen/55192708?wmlspartner=wlpa

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  24. Scratch the walmart ad, here's the one y'all want.
    https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/fantasy/beauty-and-the-beast

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