Press Release Criterion Press Release: The Wes Anderson Archive (4k UHD) (1 Viewer)

[HDVizion]

That's the point - same price as sold separately is not what I would expect from a box set. There should at least be some savings compared to ten single releases.



I am aware of these sales but still it does not change the fact that 10 times the single release price is not what I expect from a box set. I may just get the two single releases and be done with it as the box set looks nice but not 250$ nice.

But individual releases aren't coming in 10 clothbound books with a larger outer box set as well. So for the same price as a plastic case, or some cardboard packaging in the case of Digipaks, you're getting a much more premium product with more expensive materials needed to produce. I wouldn't even be surprised if they planned to charge even more, but decided to compromise and aim for the same price as what they would cost individually.

 

[Richard Kaufman]

Crazy price! Eeek!

 

[TravisR]

If these aren't available to buy individually at some point, then I guess I’ll just go without.

I'd imagine that they're all going to be released on their own eventually but it's going to take years for Criterion to release eight of them.

 

[OliverK]

But individual releases aren't coming in 10 clothbound books with a larger outer box set as well. So for the same price as a plastic case, or some cardboard packaging in the case of Digipaks, you're getting a much more premium product with more expensive materials needed to produce. I wouldn't even be surprised if they planned to charge even more, but decided to compromise and aim for the same price as what they would cost individually.

That is all fine and well but what if some of us just want the movies on UHD?

In any case it is what it is and I am happy for people who find the added value in what is added on top of the discs themselves.
I am just not sure yet if I will be one of them.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

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Amazon.com

 

[ilovenola2]

Not a fan, easy pass.

Gave up on Anderson after the wretched Tannenbaum thing and thirty minutes of the Hotel one. Just too "cutesy" for me.

 

[titch]

No one has pointed out that Asteroid City is missing. But anyway - one either likes Wes Anderson, or one doesn't.

I absolutely love Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch. I can see those yearly. Bottle Rocket, Rushmore are fine, but not essential. The Royal Tenenbaums I only watch to see Gene Hackman and The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited I dislike and can't be bothered to rewatch.

So this set is Criterion manna. All the usual whining and griping about cover art, lack of commentaries and supplements is now replaced by moaning and groaning about the price. By the usual people who hardly purchase anything anymore, regardless.

Box set of the year.

 

[TravisR]

No one has pointed out that Asteroid City is missing.

I assume the box is designed as the first ten movies from Anderson and not his complete filmography. No doubt there will be an Asteroid City release in a couple years. I'm just glad that thanks to this set, I won't have to wait about five years for Criterion to upgrade all of the earlier Anderson movies to UHD.

 

[tenia]

So this set is Criterion manna. All the usual whining and griping about cover art, lack of commentaries and supplements is now replaced by moaning and groaning about the price. By the usual people who hardly purchase anything anymore, regardless.

It is quite expensive though, especially for what is mostly a set of upgrades. While it wouldn't make sense to use, say, the prices per movie of the Bergman or Varda sets, $50 per movie is objectively expensive for a boxset. It's merely on par with Criterion MSRP for UHD releases : who is going to buy this not on sale ?

No wonder Criterion has announced straight away the individual releases for the new-to-the-collection titles, because it's already a pain to think about buying an expensive set just to get select upgrades so they at least don't add paying for the whole set just to get the 2 additionnal movies, but it still means the 4K upgrades of the other titles will remain out of reach for most, at least at the moment.

I don't mind its content and I like the design, but the price point is high nevertheless, and if this price is because of fancy individual cases... well, I'm fairly certain most people would have preferred simpler individual cases and a MSRP $100 lower (which would bring it on-par the 3 Colors UHD set). Or else, Criterion should provide more details and depictions of what they're asking such a high price for (because at the moment, all we know about the 10 illustrated books is the blurb).

I wouldn't even be surprised if they planned to charge even more, but decided to compromise and aim for the same price as what they would cost individually.

I mean, at some point, there's also a point where it just becomes extra fluff. Are people really asking, requesting to pay even more because of extra fancy packaging ?

As written above, there's also the issue of how Criterion are marketing this. They're not announcing French Dispatch and Isle of Dogs' individual releases straight away for no reason, but they are doing too little for potential buyers to understand why it's that expensive. Non-plastic cases ? Criterion has plenty of those, including in boxsets, and it doesn't automatically drive the prices up. Illustrated booklets ? I'd love to know what they actually contain, because at the moment, it all just looks like they're going to repurpose in fancier ways the existing written contents. They're only advertised as "Essays by Richard Brody, James L. Brooks, Bilge Ebiri, Moeko Fujii, Kent Jones, Dave Kehr, Geoffrey O’Brien, Martin Scorsese, and Erica Wagner", and... the only name not overlapping with the individual releases is Ebiri's. So what's new actually ?

 

[titch]

It is quite expensive though, especially for what is mostly a set of upgrades. While it wouldn't make sense to use, say, the prices per movie of the Bergman or Varda sets, $50 per movie is objectively expensive for a boxset. It's merely on par with Criterion MSRP for UHD releases : who is going to buy this not on sale ?

It is expensive - but then, for us who have been collecting the Criterion Collection since the LaserDisc days, this set is far more value for money than paying $125 for Criterion's triptych single movie sets, 30 years ago. Back then, there were no US Amazon versus Barnes and Noble sales either (UK Criterion discs are practically never reduced in price). This is a unique box set, which has been designed and curated with the director.

People posting on this site always complain about the price - even when it was the Columbia Classics Volume 1, selling for $100. I "I only want this one, or that one, not interested in the book, too much space on the shelf" etc etc. Then it gets sold out and everyone starts howling about scalpers and that it takes too long for individual releases.

Fans are fortunate in that this is not announced as a Limited Edition set, that Criterion are unique in keeping almost all their published titles in print, and that there is a high likelihood of the set being available at a reduced price.

Collecting discs is an expensive hobby. Everyone has their own priorities but the constant griping about prices reflects a lack of understanding about what makes a publisher keep going. It still is only a fraction of what it used to cost, to collect actual 35mm film copies. I would never have been able to experience watching films like that at home.

 

[TravisR]

It is quite expensive though, especially for what is mostly a set of upgrades. While it wouldn't make sense to use, say, the prices per movie of the Bergman or Varda sets, $50 per movie is objectively expensive for a boxset. It's merely on par with Criterion MSRP for UHD releases : who is going to buy this not on sale ?

I had hoped it might be cheaper (it'd be nice if it was free ) but since it's the same price per movie as their other releases, I'm not complaining about the price. If Criterion had let the packaging and booklet drive the price up like other boutique labels then I'd be griping.

Collecting discs is an expensive hobby. Everyone has their own priorities but the constant griping about prices reflects a lack of understanding about what makes a publisher keep going.

If the difference between Arrow and Vinegar Syndrome staying in business and going under was having a case & a booklet then they wouldn't release them without that stuff further down the line. What they're doing is making their discs limited edition collectibles like comic books or toys or baseball cards. I'm sure that helps drive sales which is obviously good for them and deserved because they do great work. However, I hope this doesn't become something that more companies or studios do because I've never seen a field of collectibles where that limited edition thing doesn't breed scalping and collector fatigue which eventually results in a collapse in the entire market. As we all know, discs sales aren't exactly doing great today so a market collapse could be the final nail in the coffin for the entire disc industry.

 

[tenia]

It is expensive - but then, for us who have been collecting the Criterion Collection since the LaserDisc days, this set is far more value for money than paying $125 for Criterion's triptych single movie sets, 30 years ago. Back then, there were no US Amazon versus Barnes and Noble sales either (UK Criterion discs are practically never reduced in price). This is a unique box set, which has been designed and curated with the director.

People posting on this site always complain about the price - even when it was the Columbia Classics Volume 1, selling for $100.

Collecting discs is an expensive hobby. Everyone has their own priorities but the constant griping about prices reflects a lack of understanding about what makes a publisher keep going. It still is only a fraction of what it used to cost, to collect actual 35mm film copies. I would never have been able to experience watching films like that at home.

I'm not speaking about other people, who may or may not be ranting all the time anyway. I'm also not speaking about what was going on 30 years ago, which was 30 years ago, let alone longer ago than that, which would be before I was born. I'm also not speaking of collecting discs as a whole, which is indeed hedonistic and avoidable.

I'm speaking about the price point of this set within the current market and the current Criterion usual price points. The fact is this is their most "per movie" expensive boxset ever. This is an objective fact, and as it is, it's only logical this would affect how the announcement is received.
"What, the most "per movie" expensive Criterion set ever is perceived as having a steep price ?" Well : duh.

And my further point is that maybe it's a lavish set produced with very sturdy high quality cardboard and that these "illustrated" books are costing a fortune to fill, print and manufacture, but Criterion has so far made 0 effort showing this in order for potential buyers to feel what extra value they'll get for this extra money.

I'm certainly not saying it should be free, not that it should have a $150 MSRP, but merely going down to $500 to $400 would bring it in line with Criterion's usual pricing scale.

Fans are fortunate [...] there is a high likelihood of the set being available at a reduced price.

I'm not sure what's the financial interest in making a $500 boxset only to count of 50%-off sales to shift copies. Just... price it lower to begin with.
But there is of course a reason why this is planned for a Sept 30th release : because there'll be the annual 50% sale about a month later. But I'm unsure a lot of copies are going to be sold in October...

If the difference between Arrow and Vinegar Syndrome staying in business and going under was having a case & a booklet then they wouldn't release them without that stuff further down the line.

Also, between all those labels, Criterion are the ones that actually had to lay off a non-negligible amount of their employees.

 

[Allansfirebird]

I'm speaking about the price point of this set within the current market and the current Criterion usual price points. The fact is this is their most "per movie" expensive boxset ever. This is an objective fact, and as it is, it's only logical this would affect how the announcement is received.
"What, the most "per movie" expensive Criterion set ever is perceived as having a steep price ?" Well : duh.

I would assume that the folks at Criterion did a cost analysis to figure out the break-even point between the fanciness of the set with what they could charge for it. They've always been a high-end boutique home video seller, and they've managed to stay in business since the 80's, so I'm sure they know what they're doing.

And besides, this is certainly not the most egregious package pricing I've ever seen. That award goes to the just-announced Japanese boxset for the Evangelion franchise. $763 for 26 episodes, 6 movies, and a couple bonus discs. Physical media for anime blu-rays in Japan is some of the most over-priced discs I've seen in my life. Even a company like Aniplex USA asks for $120 on a 12-episode TV show that literally every other outlet charges $60 for. Makes Criterion look "normal" by comparison.

 

[tenia]

I would assume that the folks at Criterion did a cost analysis to figure out the break-even point between the fanciness of the set with what they could charge for it. They've always been a high-end boutique home video seller, and they've managed to stay in business since the 80's, so I'm sure they know what they're doing.

I can't imagine otherwise, but while this is their choice to go this extra-fancy route, the question remains whether there is good value-for-money or if the extra fanciness is allowing them to slightly overcharge for it. Because as written above, even for the high-end boutique Criterion, this is clearly on the very top of their pricing, and it's currently a bit tough to see what wallets are supposed to finance except extra cardboard.
In particular, these are titles which they already have the rights for, the extras are produced, the director a long-time partner, so it's likely some of the costs are already absorbed one way or another. This isn't the Fellini set.

And besides, this is certainly not the most egregious package pricing I've ever seen. That award goes to the just-announced Japanese boxset for the Evangelion franchise. $763 for 26 episodes, 6 movies, and a couple bonus discs.

Of course, there are even more egregious example, but that's a different market, both thematically (very popular anime) and geographically (Japan, notoriously expensive).

 

[OliverK]

It is expensive - but then, for us who have been collecting the Criterion Collection since the LaserDisc days, this set is far more value for money than paying $125 for Criterion's triptych single movie sets, 30 years ago. Back then, there were no US Amazon versus Barnes and Noble sales either (UK Criterion discs are practically never reduced in price). This is a unique box set, which has been designed and curated with the director.

People posting on this site always complain about the price - even when it was the Columbia Classics Volume 1, selling for $100. I "I only want this one, or that one, not interested in the book, too much space on the shelf" etc etc. Then it gets sold out and everyone starts howling about scalpers and that it takes too long for individual releases.

Fans are fortunate in that this is not announced as a Limited Edition set, that Criterion are unique in keeping almost all their published titles in print, and that there is a high likelihood of the set being available at a reduced price.

Collecting discs is an expensive hobby. Everyone has their own priorities but the constant griping about prices reflects a lack of understanding about what makes a publisher keep going. It still is only a fraction of what it used to cost, to collect actual 35mm film copies. I would never have been able to experience watching films like that at home.

It makes no sense to justify pricing today with what was 30 years ago for obvious reasons. The comparison is not the past but what Criterion and other companies have done with UHD boxsets so far. Clearly cost per movie is on the higher end or even the highest so far on the North American market but Criterion obviously thinks that this is a a justifiable price. We will see how this pans out in the end and I think we all agree that the majority of these box sets will be bought during one of the well known 50% off sales.

That was my moaning and groaning for today, now please excuse me while I go and pinch a few pennys while admiring my thrift store DVD collection

 

[Lord Dalek]

I would assume that the folks at Criterion did a cost analysis to figure out the break-even point between the fanciness of the set with what they could charge for it. They've always been a high-end boutique home video seller, and they've managed to stay in business since the 80's, so I'm sure they know what they're doing.

And besides, this is certainly not the most egregious package pricing I've ever seen. That award goes to the just-announced Japanese boxset for the Evangelion franchise. $763 for 26 episodes, 6 movies, and a couple bonus discs. Physical media for anime blu-rays in Japan is some of the most over-priced discs I've seen in my life. Even a company like Aniplex USA asks for $120 on a 12-episode TV show that literally every other outlet charges $60 for. Makes Criterion look "normal" by comparison.

Gotta charge extra for Fly Me to the Moon these days.

 

[TravisR]

It makes no sense to justify pricing today with what was 30 years ago for obvious reasons.

You're right that the prices of three decades ago don't apply today but I also think it's fair to remind people that home video prices used to be way more than they are today.

 

[Robert Crawford]

You're right that the prices of three decades ago don't apply today but I also think it's fair to remind people that home video prices used to be way more than they are today.

One thing that’s common now with those days is that we have a niche marketplace for both periods of time.

 

[titch]

Criterion first released blu-rays in 2008 and they were at the same $40 MSRP. Adjusting for inflation, $40 in 2008 is the same as $60 in 2025. That’s a huge difference. They have not raised their prices though. Their 4K UHD are $10 more, but these are more expensive to produce.

Forums for audio physical media - vinyl, CD, SACD, blu-ray audio - are also populated by people complaining about prices for every new release.

 

[TravisR]

Criterion first released blu-rays in 2008 and they were at the same $40 MSRP. Adjusting for inflation, $40 in 2008 is the same as $60 in 2025. That’s a huge difference. They have not raised their prices though. Their 4K UHD are $10 more, but these are more expensive to produce.

It's also worth noting that this set is licensing studio movies where some titles are only a few years old & somewhat popular so that's likely more expensive than many other titles that Criterion releases.