Editing Janus Films

{{Short description|American film distributor}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Janus Films
| logo             = [[Image:Janus films logo.jpg|250px|Janus Films logo from [[Seven Samurai]] 1956]]
| caption          = 
| type             = [[Privately held company|Private]]
| genre            = 
| foundation       = {{start date and age|1956}}<br />[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
| founder          = [[Bryant Haliday]]<br>[[Cyrus Harvey Jr.]]
| location_city    = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| location_country = [[United States|U.S.]]
| key_people       = [[Saul J. Turell]]<br>[[William J. Becker]]
| industry         = [[Film distributor|Motion picture distribution]]
| products         = 
| services         = 
| revenue          = $6.1 million [[United States dollar|USD]] <small>(2007)</small>
| operating_income = 
| net_income       = 
| assets           = 
| equity           = 
| owner            = [[Steven Rales]]
| num_employees    = 
| parent           = 
| divisions        = 
| subsid           = 
| homepage         = [http://www.janusfilms.com/ www.janusfilms.com]
| footnotes        = 
| intl             = 
}}
'''Janus Films''' is an American [[Film distributor|film distribution]] company. The distributor is credited with introducing numerous films, now considered masterpieces of world cinema, to American audiences, including the films of [[Michelangelo Antonioni]], [[Sergei Eisenstein]], [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[Federico Fellini]], [[Akira Kurosawa]], [[Satyajit Ray]], [[François Truffaut]], [[Yasujirō Ozu]] and many other well-regarded directors. Ingmar Bergman's ''[[The Seventh Seal]]'' (1957) was the film responsible for the company's initial growth.<ref>{{cite web|title=Introduction To Janus Films 50th Anniversary|url=http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/141976%7C0/Janus-Films-50th-Anniversary.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304135507/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/141976%7C0/Janus-Films-50th-Anniversary.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 4, 2016|work=TCM Turner Classic Movies|publisher=Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. A Time Warner Company|access-date=26 April 2012|author=Roger Fristoe|year=2012}}</ref>

Janus has a close business relationship with [[The Criterion Collection]] regarding the release of its films on [[DVD]] and [[Blu-ray]] and is still an active theatrical distributor.

The company's name and [[logo]] come from [[Janus]], the two-faced [[Roman mythology|Roman god]] of transitions, passages, beginnings, and endings.

==History==
Janus Films was founded in 1956 by [[Bryant Haliday]] and [[Cyrus Harvey, Jr.]], in the historic [[Brattle Theater]], a [[Harvard Square]] landmark in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. Prior to the conception of Janus, Haliday and Harvey began screening both foreign and American films at the Brattle Theater and proceeded to regularly fill the 300-seat venue. Having purchased the theater, Haliday, together with Harvey, converted the Brattle into a popular [[Movie theater|movie house]] for the showing of [[art film]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=A History of Janus Films|url=http://www.brattlefilm.org/brattlefilm/series/2006/janus/history.html|work=Brattle Theater|publisher=Brattle Film Foundation|access-date=3 Sep 2021|year=2001–2007|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301224853/https://www.brattlefilm.org/brattlefilm/series/2006/janus/history.html|archivedate=1 Mar 2021}}</ref>

Perceiving potential success in the film business, Haliday and Harvey moved into the [[New York City]] market and began running the [[55th Street Playhouse]]. Janus Films was subsequently launched in March 1956 and the Playhouse was used as the primary location for exhibiting Janus-distributed films. The two owners eventually sold Janus Films in 1965 following a decline in the American art film market,<ref name="Janus">{{cite web|title=Janus Films, the Face of Art and Foreign Film|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6430428|work=NPR|access-date=26 April 2012|author=Andrea Shea|date=3 November 2006}}</ref> and in 1966 Haliday also sold the Brattle, while Harvey continued to manage the theater into the 1970s.

In 1977, Kino International (now [[Kino Lorber]]) acquired rights to the company's film collection, which became the foundation for Kino's international library of films.<ref name="NYTOLD">{{cite web |last1=Nichols |first1=Peter |title=An Eye for the Small, the Old, the Out of the Way |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/arts/an-eye-for-the-small-the-old-the-out-of-the-way.html |website=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527063931/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/arts/an-eye-for-the-small-the-old-the-out-of-the-way.html |archive-date=27 May 2015 |date=17 August 1997}}</ref> 

Janus was later acquired by [[Saul J. Turell]] and [[William J. Becker]].<ref name="Janus" /> Janus Films, alongside [[The Criterion Collection]], was sold to [[Steven Rales]] in May 2024 in a private acquisition.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kay |first=Jeremy |date=2024-05-20 |title=Indian Paintbrush founder Steven Rales buys Criterion, Janus Films (exclusive) |url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/indian-paintbrush-founder-steven-rales-buys-criterion-janus-films-exclusive/5193832.article |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=[[Screen International|Screen Daily]] |language=en}}</ref>

==Recent releases==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2025}}
On October 24, 2006, in celebration of 50 years of business, the Criterion Collection released 50 of the films that Janus distributed in a large boxset containing 50 DVDs and a 200-page essay on the history of [[art film|art house]] films. The package was called ''Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films''. [[A.O. Scott]] chose the set as his DVD pick when he co-hosted ''[[At the Movies (1986 TV program)|At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper]]''. As part of its 44th Festival in 2006, the [[New York Film Festival]] presented a series called ''50 Years of Janus Films'', a tribute to the company.

In 2009, Janus Films released ''[[Revanche (film)|Revanche]]'', its first first-run theatrical release in 30 years. Since then, with their distribution partner, Sideshow, Janus Films had released more recent films such as ''[[Drive My Car (film)|Drive My Car]]'' and ''[[EO (film)|EO]]''.

Then, in 2010, Janus acquired domestic theatrical and home video rights to the [[Charlie Chaplin]] library under license from the Chaplin estate and worldwide distribution agent [[Marin Karmitz|MK2]]. The Criterion division handles the Chaplin library for re-issue on DVD and Blu-ray, in addition to theatrical release.

In 2024, Janus distributed the Latvian animated film, ''[[Flow (2024 film)|Flow]]'', by director [[Gints Zilbalodis]]. Having no dialogue and only using animal noises and environmental sounds, the film follows a cat and other animals in a flooded, post-apocalyptic world. ''Flow'' has become the all-time highest-grossing release for Janus and earned multiple awards including the [[Academy Award for Best Animated Feature]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldsmith |first=Jill |date=2025-01-05 |title=Indies Surge In Heart Of Awards Season Ahead Of Golden Globes, Oscar Nominations – Specialty Box Office |url=https://deadline.com/2025/01/indie-film-box-office-awards-season-golden-oscar-nominations-1236247006/ |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref>  

Janus also currently manages part of the Caidin Film Company library for Westchester Films, and the Faces Distribution/[[John Cassavetes]] library for Jumer Productions, both companies' successors-in-interest to [[Castle Hill Productions]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.janusfilms.com|Janus Films}} – official site
*[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6430428 Janus Films] ''The Face of Art and Foreign Film'' at [[NPR]]

{{Criterion Collection}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Film distributors of the United States]]
[[Category:Entertainment companies based in New York City]]
[[Category:Companies based in New York City]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1956]]
[[Category:1956 establishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Privately held companies based in New York (state)]]
[[Category:The Criterion Collection]]