As we’ve reported, it will include his first ten films—from Bottle Rocket (1996) to The French Dispatch (2021)—each with new 4K remasters of the films, over twenty-five hours of special features, and ten illustrated books. Blu-ray versions of each title will also be included.
What’s more, Isle of Dogs (2018) and The French Dispatch will also be released individually in both Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD (as Spine #s 1281 and 1282 respectively), as they’re new to the Collection.
At the moment, there seems to be no plan to release the earlier films as individual 4K SKUs, but it’s possible they’ll be made available at a later date.
In any case, you can see what the box set looks like below, and it’s already available for pre-order on the Criterion website. But it ain’t cheap—the SRP is $499.95, but the shop has it for $399.96. And no doubt when it’s finally been released, Criterion’s 30% and 50% off sales will be a good opportunity to purchase it at a better rate. Click here or on the image below for the pre-order link...
Also today, as you know the Warner Archive Collection is officially releasing their next 4K Ultra HD title—Charles Walters’ Technicolor classic High Society (1956)—on 6/24. And the film has finally been listed in both 4K and remastered Blu-ray on Amazon. We expect pre-orders to begin on Amazon soon, and they should be live now elsewhere as well. Click on the cover art for those links...
And finally, we have a great new 4K catalog title to reveal to all of you this morning: Our friends at Lionsgate are bringing Bill Paxton’s Frailty (2001) to 4K Ultra HD in July as a Lionsgate Limited (non-Steelbook) exclusive! And they’ve gotten the full support of both the film’s producers and Paxton’s family, so it promises to be a terrific release.
Look for it to feature a new 4K scan of the film’s master interpositive with Dolby Vision HDR and a new Dolby Atmos mix (with A/V upgrades supervised by producers David Kirsches and David Blocker), a newly-produced retrospective that includes new cast and crew interviews and never-before-seen footage and interviews with Paxton, a new Establishing Shot featurette on the remastering process, the complete archival features from the 2002 DVD release including all three audio commentaries, new 4K scans of the film’s teaser and theatrical trailer, and a printed reproduction of Paxton’s complete original shooting script including all his handwritten directorial notes!
Also likely coming (but not officially confirmed) in July exclusive to Lionsgate Limited are Loran Finnegan’s The Surfer (2024) in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray (non-Steelbook), and also their next Vestron Video Collector’s Series Blu-ray: John Carl Boechler’s Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College (1991). We’ll have more details on these titles available soon.
One last related note: Lionsgate Limited is also going to be having a 40% off “Father’s Day” sale on selected 4K titles on 6/2, including The Conversation, The Third Man, Reservoir Dogs, You’re Next, and the Den of Thieves Collection.
That’s all for now! Stay tuned...
- Bill Hunt
(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)