John Wick (Standard or Amazon.co.jp Limited) (Collector's Edition) (Japan)

[McCrutchy]

UPDATE (12/16/15): Amazon appears to be sold out. You may want to order from:

HMV

CDJapan

In order to try and get a copy. Note that I do not have much experience with either vendor personally, so I can't vouch for whether they will be able to fulfill all orders, but they do ship internationally.



Large images:

Front:

[Show spoiler]

Back:

[Show spoiler]

Non-SteelBook Standard or Amazon.co.jp Limited Editions:

[Show spoiler]

Pony Canyon will release John Wick (2014) in Japan on February 16th, 2016. As I anticipated, it looks like the release will be something special.

First of all, there will be both a standard, single-disc edition, and then a two-disc Collector's Edition, with a Japan-Exclusive SteelBook design. Beyond that, each configuration will also be available as an Amazon.co.jp Exclusive, with poster/posters, but those images have not been loaded yet.

According to the specs available now, each edition will present the film with either English: Dolby Atmos or English: DTS Headphone X (likely via DTS-HD MA 2.0) audio, as well as a Japanese: DTS-HD MA 5.1 dub track. Only Japanese subtitles will be included. I am unsure if the film was screened in Japan with the very colorful English subtitles for the non-English dialogue, but, based on precedent, if they were there theatrically, then there is a good chance that they would be on the Blu-ray (along with optional Japanese translation subtitles).

The Collector's Edition SteelBook will feature an additional disc, and Amazon has the following to say about the extras on it:

Originally Posted by Amazon.co.jp

【特典映像】(予定)
[本編DISC]
●6種のドキュメント
●チャド・スタエルスキ×デヴィッド・リーチ オーディオコメンタリー
●予告編

[特典DISC]
●キアヌ・リーブス来日時スペシャルインタビュー
●NYジャンケットインタビュー

他

[Bonus] (scheduled)
[Main DISC]
● 6 kinds of documents
● Chad Sutaerusuki × David Leach audio commentary
● Trailer

[Benefits DISC]
● Keanu Reeves Japan during the Special Interview
● NY junket interview

other

You could expect that the standard edition will include the extras specified for the main disc, and that the additional extras revealed so far would be in English.

[TheCollector86]

I need this. I have no problem to pay ebay prices!

[Heapashifter]

It's almost exactly the same as the Nova Media steelbook.

[McCrutchy]

NOTE: For whatever reason, I cannot seem to pre-order either of the Amazon.co.jp Editions to a non-Japan shipping address. I am unsure why this is, as there is no shipping restriction stated on the product pages, and both the general Standard and Collector's Edition SteelBook editions will go through fine.

Unfortunately, the chat service is unavailable right now, and will not be available until 9:00am JST, which is just over six hours from now. Until then, I will keep trying to put through an order for the Amazon.co.jp Limited SteelBook periodically.

Both variants of the SteelBook are highly likely to sell out, and since the only difference appears to be the addition of a / some poster(s), I would recommend that interested parties order the "standard" SteelBook immediately. The price is likely to drop somewhat, and Amazon.co.jp also has a Pre-order Price Guarantee.

[KazzPetrelli]

Damn, amazon.jp please don't rob me!

[Smigro]

Looks nice but I am happy with my Nova release.

[ChoppedUp]

first posts needs to add link to purchase.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by ChoppedUp

first posts needs to add link to purchase.

The picture links are clickable.

[brian9229]

I've been having the same problem with preordering on Amazon.jp. Everything I try to preorder now shows up in red before the check out, meaning they don't deliver to the US. Funny, seeing that I've ordered countless Amazon.jp exclusives and non exclusives as well. Something amiss here, I wasn't able to preorder the x files collection either, starting to get pissed.

[ChoppedUp]

Tried to order both but can't.

I was able to order the non poster one.

[SteelMaiden]

So very happy with my FilmArena Collection

[McCrutchy]

I have successfully contacted Amazon.co.jp Customer Service, and they will reach out to their "business team" to find out why there is a shipping restriction placed on their exclusive version. Right now, I have only inquired about the SteelBook version, because I don't want to complicate the situation with two ASINs.

Hopefully, this is just some sort of system error which they will correct shortly, but just be aware that, we may not be able to get a straight answer regarding the issue, and we may never be able to order the Amazon.co.jp editions to a non-Japan address.

[UniBlu]

I am also unable to order the poster one and this is not the first time this has happened when trying to order A.jp exclusives. I've tried to order exclusives for Night at the Museum trilogy box, How to Train Your Dragons 2, Star Wars saga boxset, and most recently the X-Files set so I thought it was just me. I contacted them about it by Star Wars when I had enough of them claiming that these items can ship to US addresses yet unable to order and get the red message. I kind of forgot what they told me but they will probably tell McCrutchy the same. What I noticed is that all of these exclusives were for the B2 posters. I checked other items with B2 posters and found that only some others I was not able to order yet others I could so I don't know why I had gotten the response that I received from them. I was also able to order the exclusive for Mockingjay Part 1 and Mad Max Supercharger edition steelbook which had posters of another size even so I remember their response not making sense. This is a real bummer specially now when it's for a steelbook. I hope they quit doing this. Let us know what A.jp tells you, McCrutchy.

[McCrutchy]

Hey all,

No update from Amazon, yet, but I wanted to alert interested parties.

It seems that Amazon may have "sold out" of the standard SteelBook edition, because it is now no longer available from them. This has happened before when Amazon has carried both Amazon.co.jp Limited and "standard" editions of a title which is limited to begin with, and I believe that they do this so that they can continue to allocate their portion of stock towards their Amazon.co.jp Limited version.

EDIT: I just realized that the issue is probably not the poster, because I was able to order this:



successfully back in August of 2015. It appears to also come with a B2 size poster, which I was sent.

I spoke with a customer service supervisor at Amazon.com just now, and she told me that the listing for the items are not fully "live" yet because they are pre-orders, and that it is possible that, should we get to the release date, international shipping would become available after that time. Clearly, this is a huge gamble, as historically, most Pony Canyon SteelBooks sell out in days or weeks, and don't make it to release date.

Obviously the problem here is that, Amazon are refusing to ship their editions of this title overseas,

[Show spoiler]and I believe that UniBlu is correct above in saying that the culprit is the Japanese B2 Size of the included poster. Because other items listed with B2 Size posters are similarly unavailable for international shipping. Naturally, I thought that the size of the poster was an issue, but then I discovered that items listed with B1 Size posters are available for international shipping, but these appear to all be fabric posters.

A Japanese B2 Size poster is apparently about 20"x29", while B1 posters are much bigger, at 29"x40". However, I must assume that fabric posters may be smaller, as there does not appear to be a BD/DVD available from Amazon with a B1 poster that is not fabric.

It is also possible that the issue stems from the fact that this is a movie poster, as B2 fabric posters seem to go through fine, too.

In the meantime, if we do not get this issue sorted, you may want to order from:

HMV

CDJapan

In order to try and get a copy. Note that I do not have much experience with either vendor personally, so I can't vouch for whether they will be able to fulfill all orders, but they do ship internationally.

[McCrutchy]

More bizarre restrictions regarding these Amazon.co.jp Limited Editions with B2 Size posters (I am only looking at Western films):

Pre-orders (as of today's date)

Restricted:



Not restricted: Everything? else other than John Wick (although there are not any more Hollywood movies available yet)

Already available (non-restricted):

Release Date: November 25th, 2015:



Release Date: April 3rd, 2015

DVD of Gone Girl (the Amazon Blu-ray edition is sold out)

But here's the rub, this is already available since July 3rd, well before the Hobbit releases, but it is still restricted:



Note that though both Gone Girl and How to Train Your Dragon 2 are Fox discs, the latter is from Dreamworks. Although on the other hand, both The Intern and The Hobbit franchise are WB properties (though MGM is involved with the latter).

It's clear now that the size of the poster, and whether the item is a pre-order, or a Hollywood film, has nothing to do with whether this hidden restriction is placed on the item. I wish I had tried to order Birdman recently, as that only just went out-of-stock.

So in summation, unless there is some case-by-case basis where the producer/distributor makes a deal to allow/disallow international distribution (of a poster!) then this is just something that Amazon.co.jp have screwed up several times, one way or another.

[McCrutchy]

Update: It seems that Amazon are now totally sold out of the Collector's Editions they had.

Copies are still available to order from:

HMV

CDJapan (6 left, apparently)

For the record, here is the e-mail response I received this morning regarding the hidden restriction on the Amazon exclusives:

Greeetings from Amazon.co.jp.

I am writing to let you know that I got an update regarding the following item.

【Amazon.co.jp限定】ジョン・ウィック コレクターズ・エディション(スチールブック仕様・日本オリジナルデザイン)(オリジナルデザインB2ポス ター付) [Blu-ray]
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B018VI1Q00

This item is not eligible for international shipping because it contains B2 size poster (728mm x 515mm).

I would appreciate your cooperation that we cannot meet your request at this moment, but we keep continue to improve our service.

If you have any questions and concerns, please write back to us by replying to this email directly or clicking the link below.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/help/contact-us/english-speaking-customer.html

We look forward to serving you again soon.

Best regards,
山口/Yamaguchi

Unfortunately, we know that is not true.

[manicsounds]

Why would a poster be of concern whether to ship internationally or not? It's just a piece of paper...

[darkodineon]

Originally Posted by manicsounds

Why would a poster be of concern whether to ship internationally or not? It's just a piece of paper...

I am guessing it has to do with size. But maybe they could just charge more for the extra space/weight

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by manicsounds

Why would a poster be of concern whether to ship internationally or not? It's just a piece of paper...

Originally Posted by darkodineon

I am guessing it has to do with size. But maybe they could just charge more for the extra space/weight

I really doubt that it has anything to do with the size of the poster, because as I noted a couple of posts above, some of these are restricted, and some are not, irrespective of whether they are pre-orders. And beyond posters, there are plenty of other large-size Amazon.co.jp Exclusive editions that Amazon.co.jp has no problem shipping overseas, and I know that, because I have received a few of them, as recently as earlier this month.

In the case of Pony Canyon's John Wick, my suspicion is that it was probably just something that Amazon either incorrectly flagged as restricted, or a conscious decision on their part to decrease foreign orders, and allow more Japanese orders.

Thankfully, this time, the exclusive was just a poster.

[Hendritz]

HMV already Sold Out but CD Japan still available. Got mine..