Lawrence of Arabia 4K UHD (1962)

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by Brian81

the Columbia classic s sets are about $100 on release for 6 movies individually packaged vs 1 at $30. They are all titles with some demand and popularity. Not like they're pairing LoA with 5 Stone Cold Steve Austin movies or made for video horror films.

And this is exactly it. These movies would've NEVER been $16.66 each if bought individually. I'm just really not buying the argument that this was "too expensive" for most given the high profile titles in each set and the (relatively) low price point for what you got in each collection. Even if you only liked 2 of the films in the set, you sell the other 4 for $20 each and you've made back most of your money. Also, a studio releasing a collection of films that are exclusive to that collection is nothing new. Boutique labels do it all the time.

~Matt

[RevolverOcelScott]

Originally Posted by Matt89

And this is exactly it. These movies would've NEVER been $16.66 each if bought individually. I'm just really not buying the argument that this was "too expensive" for most given the high profile titles in each set and the (relatively) low price point for what you got in each collection. Even if you only liked 2 of the films in the set, you sell the other 4 for $20 each and you've made back most of your money. Also, a studio releasing a collection of films that are exclusive to that collection is nothing new. Boutique labels do it all the time.

~Matt

"Selling them for 20 dollars each" isn't as easy as you make it sound. I settled for less to sell Stripes, and I can't even get 15 shipped for Oliver. If my wife didn't love Sense and Sensibility, that one sells for less as well. And after eBay fees and packaging, you're doing a bunch of work for little return.

And yes, boutique labels bundle movies, but they are almost always of a genre or director. It's not like they're packaging I Spit on Your Grave with Drop Dead Fred.

All I'm saying is, the sets are fine, but not selling them individually doesn't help a format that is still niche. And in the case of these sets, you can't even get the first one anymore. So if you want those titles, you're stuck paying a premium, or hoping for an individual release.

[manwithnoname64]

Originally Posted by Filmmaker

And, hey, man, that’s awesome and I dig that for you, but it’s when the rest of us are forced to buy shit we don’t want to get the shit we do that my bitter button gets pressed. It’s one thing for me to maybe discover MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON deserves my attention after all, but quite another for me to have to have the grating, insufferable, already-seen-it-and-despise-it JERRY MAGUIRE on my shelf to get access to films I consider worthy.

I understand your point, and I don’t disagree with it. I’m just looking at it from the flip side to understand Sony’s logic behind releasing them this way. I’m sure their forecasts on these sets are that they will generate more profit this way than just individual releases. That’s likely why they’re doing it. They probably figure they’ll sell these sets, get some people to spend more than they would have if they were just buying say two of these movies, and possibly get them to buy more movies of a similar ilk when they find something new that they like. To top it all off, they probably will release them individually and make even more money on these films as people double dip or those who hold out buy them again. It’s about squeezing every dollar you can out of these films. At least that’s how I see it.

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by RevolverOcelScott

"Selling them for 20 dollars each" isn't as easy as you make it sound. I settled for less to sell Stripes, and I can't even get 15 shipped for Oliver. If my wife didn't love Sense and Sensibility, that one sells for less as well. And after eBay fees and packaging, you're doing a bunch of work for little return.

And yes, boutique labels bundle movies, but they are almost always of a genre or director. It's not like they're packaging I Spit on Your Grave with Drop Dead Fred.

All I'm saying is, the sets are fine, but not selling them individually doesn't help a format that is still niche. And in the case of these sets, you can't even get the first one anymore. So if you want those titles, you're stuck paying a premium, or hoping for an individual release.

But if Sony has manufactured X amount of sets and expects to sell all of them at a certain price point, and they end up selling out...then how is it not helping the format? They clearly made a ton of money off these things. So much so that they even put out a second set! Also, 4K will always be niche. There's no changing that, ever. Hell, even blu-ray is niche. DVDs still outsell both of them combined.

I guess I just don't see it as being damaging to the format for Sony to be putting out these lavish sets that always seem to sell out. Even studios like Shout Factory, who put out themed sets, don't even make those titles available individually down the line. You never were able to get the Amityville movies individually, nor can you get the Critters films individually, or The Omen franchise. And that never hurt the blu-ray format.

~Matt

[samuelkhan999]

Amazon US got 4K steelbook listing for $45.99 for June 2022. I bet this will be sold in no time

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by Matt89

And this is exactly it. These movies would've NEVER been $16.66 each if bought individually. I'm just really not buying the argument that this was "too expensive" for most given the high profile titles in each set and the (relatively) low price point for what you got in each collection. Even if you only liked 2 of the films in the set, you sell the other 4 for $20 each and you've made back most of your money. Also, a studio releasing a collection of films that are exclusive to that collection is nothing new. Boutique labels do it all the time.

~Matt

I think some of these titles will go below $16.66 it takes time. Many classic films on 4K have dropped to $10. Just past BF The Shawshank Redemption. Previous BF Full Metal Jacket also at different times Jaws, Forest Gump all hit $10. All of the Dark Knight Trilogy hit $10.

Sometimes patience is its own reward.

But I bought the box for $90 at Target with a Red Card 5% discount and it was a great deal for the box. $16.66 is a great price for a 4K that was just released. I kept my box for a year but while reading this forum I kept seeing posts on how much the box was selling for on ebay so I jumped in.

More than LofA I wanted Mr. Smith and when I saw someone on ebay early on was selling it for $11 I jumped on it because I thought Vol. 1 might go out of print.

I knew LofA was going to come out and happy for everyone that's been waiting. I have a very strong feeling a regular package will also be coming out later and it will be cheaper which is when I'll get it.

I'm still waiting for Dr. Strangelove to get somewhere around $10

I can afford to be patient as I have all of the titles in 4K digitally.

But LofA coming out is BIG news here on the forum and I actually like the cover also for Bridge on the River Kwai. I bought the digital 4K for River Kwai when it hit $4 on itunes

[trystero]

Finally, a US release… and it's in a steelbook, a format that I dislike. I'll hold off for now and hope for a non-steelbook release.

[kmhofmann]

Originally Posted by Matt89

Oh wow. I stand corrected, I had no idea these had individual releases in Europe.

To be fair, I also only realized when posting the above that some of these were only released individually in Europe and not in the U.S.

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by RevolverOcelScott

"Selling them for 20 dollars each" isn't as easy as you make it sound. I settled for less to sell Stripes, and I can't even get 15 shipped for Oliver.

I’m surprised about Stripes. That was suppose to be one of the hottest titles in the box, included theatrical for the first time. I saw that it was going for at least $30.

Oliver seemed to be getting good money too.

[UnionJackMix]

Is there any indication of past indicators that the steelbook with this particular artwork will be available in Europe as well?

[HuggyBear73]

So I finally broke down and bought .. Columbia 2 ..set for Taxi Driver 4K.

After seeing this awful looking steelbook... plus I don't like steelbooks in general... I'm not taking a chance of Taxi Driver finally coming out separately in a steelbook.

[RevolverOcelScott]

Originally Posted by 50strat54

I’m surprised about Stripes. That was suppose to be one of the hottest titles in the box, included theatrical for the first time. I saw that it was going for at least $30.

Oliver seemed to be getting good money too.

I had stripes and Oliver on eBay with buy it now make an offer for weeks on end without so much as a bite. A user on here bought my stripes with another title and I lowered the price for bundling. Still sold it , but not for 20 bucks.

[Biniaris]

Originally Posted by useless watcher

I'm sure this has been discussed to death somewhere if I knew on which pages to look, but does the 5.1 track (presumably the same across the various BD and UHD releases?) bear any strong similarity to the original 70mm mix?

not sure if it has, but the 5.1 sounds like it's based on the original mix. i just did some comparisons between the 7.1/atmos mix, the 5.1 that's also included, and the dolby stereo mix off this LD:
https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/00553...ence-of-Arabia

The 5.1 matches the LD mix. The Atmos mix seems to have lots of new foley (new explosions, new aircraft sounds, etc.)

[useless watcher]

Originally Posted by Biniaris

not sure if it has, but the 5.1 sounds like it's based on the original mix. i just did some comparisons between the 7.1/atmos mix, the 5.1 that's also included, and the dolby stereo mix off this LD:
https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/00553...ence-of-Arabia

The 5.1 matches the LD mix. The Atmos mix seems to have lots of new foley (new explosions, new aircraft sounds, etc.)

Nice!! I really appreciate you going to the extra trouble of comparing them, and I hope anyone else here who hasn't kept up with years of discussion might find it useful too.

[Geoff D]

Lawrence's audio was remixed and rebuilt when they did the 1989 restoration, and that's what that LaserDisc has, albeit in matrixed 2.0. So the Sony 5.1 is "original" in so much as it's a discrete rendition of that 1989 6-track mix, but it's not THE original mix as heard in 1962.

edit: I've been informed by top men (well, man) that Lawrence's OG mix was in fact a 4-track master, LCRS config, but the 6-track that went onto the actual prints blended the fronts to create two screen channels as per the L, Lc, C, Rc, R, S layout. (IIRC this was also done for 2001: A Space Odyssey's 6-track mix.) But when they did the mix for the 1989 restoration they opted to dispense with the extra screen channels as they were essentially 'fake' (emphasis my own, not of the person supplying the information) and opted for the standard 6-track LCRS arrangement with two 'baby boom' channels for low end.

[Jr7936]

This is why I bought both sets. It made sense due to price point of each disk that it would be cheaper then picking and choosing the ones I wanted indivually.
Like right out the gate. 5 movies for $100 come out to $20 each and after selling digital probably closer to a $12 to $15 price point per film on day one.

Instead of buying it when it was widely available for a while, people will be paying more to pick and choose the ones they want.

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by Poya

Nobody asked for this. We just want Vol 1 to go back in stock.

Funny, all I read about when Vol. 1 was released was people complaining they had to buy the whole set just for LoA & demanding a standalone.

[KidA]

I'm not in love with the steelbook art, but I really don't care. I'm 99.99% concerned with the content inside the packaging, and 0.01% concerned with the artwork on the outside. This seems to deliver on the content, so color me happy.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by samuelkhan999

Amazon US got 4K steelbook listing for $45.99 for June 2022. I bet this will be sold in no time

I'm waiting for Best Buy to put up the pre-order link. Not taking chances with a Steelbook after the shitshow Amazon played with us shipping Ghostbusters in a plastic bag.

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by RevolverOcelScott

I had stripes and Oliver on eBay with buy it now make an offer for weeks on end without so much as a bite. A user on here bought my stripes with another title and I lowered the price for bundling. Still sold it , but not for 20 bucks.

I'm amazed. I looked at the prices for each individual title on eBay. Even when some are sitting at $25, they still sell. It's possible that your list fell through the cracks, but these titles still sell well.

Now, they'll sell even better when the boxset is scarce.