What Happened To Big Box Prentations?

[Gorgon]

It was just a few years ago that we were receiving ginormous boxed editions of some movie classics and yet that wave seems to have passed.
Probably many folk conservative of shelf space and not enamoured in the least by fluff are non-plussed but many of us, (okay, me) are a bit dismayed by the dearth of titles that are receiving this splendour. I fondly exhibit such boxed editions as;
- Ben-Hur
- Ten Commandments
- Gone With The Wind
- Sound Of Music
- Willy Wonka
- Casablanca
- Singing In The Rain
- Lawrence Of Arabia
and MANY others.
(always peeved me that Mary Poppins did not get one for her 50th).

I'd be interested to hear from other forum folk on whether they wish this had continued or are glad it was a passing phase.
Or perhaps I'm missing some still being produced?

[78deluxe]

Originally Posted by Gorgon

It was just a few years ago that we were receiving ginormous boxed editions of some movie classics and yet that wave seems to have passed.
Probably many folk conservative of shelf space and not enamoured in the least by fluff are non-plussed but many of us, (okay, me) are a bit dismayed by the dearth of titles that are receiving this splendour. I fondly exhibit such boxed editions as;
- Ben-Hur
- Ten Commandments
- Gone With The Wind
- Sound Of Music
- Willy Wonka
- Casablanca
- Singing In The Rain
- Lawrence Of Arabia
and MANY others.
(always peeved me that Mary Poppins did not get one for her 50th).

I'd be interested to hear from other forum folk on whether they wish this had continued or are glad it was a passing phase.
Or perhaps I'm missing some still being produced?

They were all too much money for little extra substance.

Also many of them were produced in far greater qty than the market dictated.

I appreciate the studios giving those films the attention they deserve, but we live in a time where space is precious, physical media isn't selling well, and when offered for less than $15 for the package that gives the same transfer. It is a product with limited appeal at over $50.

I own all those films, but the less shelf space releases.

I'm just sad the only way to get the special features of something like the 10 commandments requires the monstro box.

[kidglov3s]

If you're feeling nostalgic you can always hunt down awesome LD box sets and put your BDs in them.

The Poppins SEs were gatefold in the US but Japan got a box for the last one:

[8traxrule]

Speaking of laserdiscs, the up and coming thing now seems to be Blu-Rays in covers that look like them- with a gatefold that opens to reveal disc pockets inside. The only such US release I know of is the Best Buy exclusive of South Park Season 20, but there's been a few others in Europe.

[Member-222782]

As mentioned above, the current physical media market does not support the creation of big box editions but occasionally the studios will throw out smaller-sized versions of those big sets with art cards and other fluff. For instance, Paramount is about to re-release the Godfather Trilogy in a Collector's Edition. Those big sets were exciting back in the day and I also still wish the studios would keep doing them occasionally but space is at a premium. My apartment is beginning to look like a Blockbuster Video

My favorite Big Box sets include the E.T. Big Blue Box DVD set, the Gone With the Wind velvet box, the Wonder Years locker set, and the Blind Dead coffin box among others.

There are some overseas companies still releasing collectible sets and then you have some premium Asian and Czech labels putting out fancy steelbook editions with cards and other stuff but they aren't cheap. Sadly the days of fancy boxes are behind us. Maybe someday they'll be a resurgence.

[Brandon K]

Yeah, that ET one was one of the best. It had a full size full length retail quality hardcover book!

[bigshot]

I just want the movie. They can keep the rest. I won't pay extra for stupid shot glasses and plastic statues.

[Dsneybuf]

Among the memorabilia I received in boxes like these, the Singin' in the Rain umbrella has proven the most useful, while the Hunger Games paperw-er, "numbered acrylic keepsake" feels like my least favorite.

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by Dsneybuf

Among the memorabilia I received in boxes like these, the Singin' in the Rain umbrella has proven the most useful, while the Hunger Games paperw-er, "numbered acrylic keepsake" feels like my least favorite.

I really like the look of this DE box for HG:



But I can never go through with importing it. Especially after picking up the 3D double feature I doubt I'll be able to rationalize either the DVD or BD set outside of some insane deal.

[MifuneFan]

If WHV wasn't essentially dead, we probably would have seen several come out the last couple years. No doubt ones for Casablanca, and likely The Maltese Falcon too. They did do The Iron Giant UCE last year, which was really a surprise to many.

[Kyle15]

I like digipaks and mediabooks. They're the perfect balance between huge show-off product and being shelvable.

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

I like digipaks and mediabooks. They're the perfect balance between huge show-off product and being shelvable.

Yeah, shelvable, that's what we want with lots of discs & limited space, but I do miss those extravagant boxes. I think the test will be the complete 1-8 release of Game Of Thrones, if that one doesn't get a big plastic must-have box of some kind, then the big box presentation must be dead.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

If WHV wasn't essentially dead, we probably would have seen several come out the last couple years. No doubt ones for Casablanca, and likely The Maltese Falcon too. They did do The Iron Giant UCE last year, which was really a surprise to many.

Casablanca had two Ultimate Collector's Edition:

Original Ultimate Collector's Edition

70th Anniversary Edition

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Casablanca had two Ultimate Collector's Edition:

Original Ultimate Collector's Edition

70th Anniversary Edition

I have the 70th Anniversary of Casablanca, and the collectors ed. of Ben Hur.

Honestly, I regret purchasing these. They are TOO big, and really just filled with fluff. Warner was right to ditch this stupidity.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Casablanca had two Ultimate Collector's Edition:

Original Ultimate Collector's Edition

70th Anniversary Edition

I know, I own the 70th anniversary one. But this year was the film's 75th anniversary. You know old Warner wouldn't have turned down an opportunity to do another gift set with a milestone anniversary like that.

[SIWilson]

I agree. I would much rather have my shelf space back. I got the oversized box of Bridge on the River Kwai 2 years back when Amazon dropped it to 11.00, I didn't have it on blu yet, so I went ahead and got it. It's nice but too big for my liking. The 'collectable' cards are pointless, as is the little book, the film special features are on a dvd. In hindsight, I wish I had just gotten the double feature set of Bridge and Guns of Navarone which has been around the 6.00 mark of recent.

[English Patient]

I get a little frustrated with the big box editions, simply because most of those physical extras are pretty useless. It might be mildly interesting for 20 seconds to look at a bunch of art cards showing the actors or foreign movie posters, but I'm probably never going to look at them again. In the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest box set, there was a deck of cards - if WHV had simply gotten rid of that thing, the box set would have been nearly half as wide.

Often, these sets (like Cuckoo's Nest and Citizen Kane) will come with a little hardbound book, which unfortunately don't seem to contain much in-depth info, so for the most part those books are a wasted opportunity. They're usually 4 or 5 pages of overly familiar photos and movie trivia, with some dashes of overheated marketing copy. At the same time, though, I understand the need by the studios to find ways to tell consumers, "This movie is special! Pay attention!" and an overly big box with all kinds of stuff in it is a way to get that attention. I'll admit that I got seduced by that kind of superficiality a couple times. Unfortunately, I expected things like in-depth essays, making-of books, etc, and instead got pointless novelty items.

[koover]

Hey guys what up? Have been gone for a while so I figured I'd chime in.
I absolutely love the big box extravaganza's and have plenty of them, but as others have said, space is definitely at a premium for me at least.
I had to turn an entire bedroom (wife's not too happy but it's my room) into my media/audio room. Shelves on 2 walls, end to end up the ceiling just for all my Blu's. Then the other open wall is for my desk and all my audio equipment.

Even if they did start introducing these packages again, I wouldn't even think about purchasing any of therm. I have no where to store/display them. I'm completely out of space and will have to start storing in boxes if I continue which is a cardinal sin. I've had to stop buying movies because of space and to be quite honest, I have enough.

Gimmie a Digibook and I'm a VERY happy man.

[Batmon77]

I like this box but the music button doesnt work anymore, the cards are bullshit, and i already own a handful of that era's Batmobiles.