Criterion Collection July 2017 line-up: ‘Lost in America’ and ‘Stalker’
The Criterion Collection’s July 2017 slate arrived with a mix of restored classics and sharp American satire. Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy, Robert Bresson’s L’argent, and Albert Brooks’s Lost in America all landed that month on Blu-ray, each carrying new transfers and supplements that gave longtime fans and newcomers fresh access to essential cinema.
Earlier that year the label had already added Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World in May and Alfred Hitchcock’s directorial debut The Lodger in June. By the time July rolled around, the pattern was clear: steady monthly releases that mixed international landmarks with under-the-radar American comedies.
July 2017 Announcements
Stalker arrived as Edition #888 with a 2K remaster sourced from Mosfilm. Rossellini’s three-part wartime chronicle and Bresson’s final feature completed the month’s core lineup. Lost in America offered comic counterpoint, skewering Reagan-era self-help culture through Brooks’s signature deadpan style. All four titles carried new audio commentaries, essays, and archival material typical of the label’s approach at the time.
Other 2017 Releases Mentioned
Ghost World and The Lodger had already shipped earlier in the calendar year. Those editions continued the label’s habit of pairing cult favorites with early Hitchcock, giving collectors a balanced spread across spring and summer.
Criterion’s Evolution Since 2017
Since those 2017 releases, Criterion has added hundreds more titles, including multiple 4K UHD editions. The physical catalog keeps expanding at the same monthly cadence, while the 2019 launch of the Criterion Channel introduced separate streaming programming that rotates thematic collections each month. The two formats now run in tandem rather than competing.
Stalker Legacy and Restorations
The 2017 disc used the 2K Mosfilm remaster that remains the current high-definition reference. Viewers continue to return to the film’s metaphysical questions about desire and the unknown, and the Zone sequences still surface in discussions of slow cinema and environmental storytelling. Later festival screenings and academic panels regularly cite the Criterion edition as the standard presentation.
Albert Brooks in the Collection
Lost in America marked the first Albert Brooks title in the collection. Supplements featured new interviews with Brooks and key collaborators, plus a booklet essay that placed the film inside 1980s independent comedy. No additional Brooks features have joined since, keeping the 2017 edition the sole entry point for his work on the label.
Physical Media vs. Streaming in 2026
Monthly disc releases continue alongside the streaming service. July 2026, for example, includes a 4K reissue of The Elephant Man and a new edition of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The Channel runs its own slate of curated programs, from corporate thrillers to VHS-era spotlights, giving subscribers access without replacing the physical editions that still anchor the brand.
The label’s original mission, set in 1984, remains intact: gather important films from around the world and present them in editions that hold up for repeated viewing. Back-catalog standbys such as Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, Fritz Lang’s M, and Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal still sit on the same shelf as the 2017 titles, a reminder that each release adds one more chapter to a single, ongoing library.
