Seven Samurai

[antnield]

Zavvi have a limited edition steelbook up for pre-order. Release date: October 21st.

[Bürgermeister]

Terrible decision to make this an exclusive to Zavvi, and an even worse one to make it steelbook.

I like many others want an amaray release thats available everywhere. Zavvi have terrible customer service, and packaging.

[Rsdio]

Reads to me like the steelbook is exclusive to Zavvi, not the release itself. So you may well be in luck.

[MichaelB]

For what it's worth, I've never had a problem with Zavvi and use them reasonably regularly.

[fatboyslim142]

For what it's worth, I've never had a problem with Zavvi and use them reasonably regularly.

Will this include any of the extras that are on the Criterion Blu-ray?

[Bürgermeister]

Reads to me like the steelbook is exclusive to Zavvi, not the release itself. So you may well be in luck.

BFI on Facebook & Twitter.

This October, we'll be releasing Seven Samurai as a limited edition Blu-ray, exclusive to Zavvi.com!

So judging by that, It's only getting one release.

[TheSilence]

A very strange - and poor - decision on the BFI's part in my opinion, and one that i hope doesn't set a precedent.

Any Kurosawa blu's would surely be some of their cast-iron biggest sellers?
Zavvi must have broken the bank to secure this an an exclusive, especially if no amray is forthcoming.

I didn't like MoCs 'Touch of Evil' HMV exclusive experiment - which incidentally is still available pretty much everywhere, getting on for 2 years after release despite it's 'limited' nature.

Doesn't this whole retailer exclusive business go against the BFI's very own mission statement of making film freely available?

[Rsdio]

Reads to me like the steelbook is exclusive to Zavvi, not the release itself. So you may well be in luck.

BFI on Facebook & Twitter.

This October, we'll be releasing Seven Samurai as a limited edition Blu-ray, exclusive to Zavvi.com!

So judging by that, It's only getting one release.

Well that sounds less promising, admittedly. But even so the wording doesn't seem completely definitive, all it really says for sure is that the limited edition (presumably the steelbook) is exclusive to Zavvi. I don't know if I'd read it as totally ruling out another edition, but that could just be me. Maybe they're just being a little coy about it, directing people to the steelbook for now with the possibility of a standard edition following a little while later?

[RossyG]

If a regular, Amaray version doesn't go on release, I'll show my arse in Tesco's.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

If a regular, Amaray version doesn't go on release, I'll show my arse in Tesco's.

Arse is two a penny in Tesco. Waitrose? Now you're talking.

[RossyG]

Tesco is nearer.

[MichaelB]

Given that Seven Samurai has long been one of the BFI's all-time DVD bestsellers, I'd be surprised to the point of slack-jawed astonishment if this was the only Blu-ray release. I suspect the steelbook is the "exclusive" part of the deal, not the disc inside.

[AidanKing]

Tesco is nearer.

If it's confirmed as a Zavvi exclusive, might it be worth taking your protest directly to the BFI Southbank? A longer journey still, obviously, but it might be worth it.

[Zot!]

Reads to me like the steelbook is exclusive to Zavvi, not the release itself. So you may well be in luck.

BFI on Facebook & Twitter.

This October, we'll be releasing Seven Samurai as a limited edition Blu-ray, exclusive to Zavvi.com!

So judging by that, It's only getting one release.

Yeah I think this is just the horrors of the English language. That sentence does not rule out a regular release, it's just poorly written and ambiguous.

[richard_t]

I 'tweeted' the BFI the following question yesterday...

So is the @BFI Seven Samurai BD a @zavvi exclusive full stop or just for a short time

...to which they've just replied...

Hi Richard, it'll be a Zavvi exclusive.

Sounds to me like it's only ever going to be available through Zavvi.

Just in time with any luck for me to order the Criterion Collection Kurosawa's which I've been hold on through the upcoming B&N Sale.

[MichaelB]

Right, just to clear this up, I contacted the BFI DVD Publishing Department directly, and the situation is exactly as I assumed a few posts above: the steelbook is indeed exclusive to Zavvi, but there will definitely be a more conventional Blu-ray package coming out through all the usual channels at a date that's yet to be set.

[RossyG]

Tesco is nearer.

If it's confirmed as a Zavvi exclusive, might it be worth taking your protest directly to the BFI Southbank? A longer journey still, obviously, but it might be worth it.

It's not a protest, it's a "This'll never happen" joke, like "If there's not a normal BD then I'll eat my hat."

[Ozu Teapot]

Right, just to clear this up, I contacted the BFI DVD Publishing Department directly, and the situation is exactly as I assumed a few posts above: the steelbook is indeed exclusive to Zavvi, but there will definitely be a more conventional Blu-ray package coming out through all the usual channels at a date that's yet to be set.

Excellent!

[AidanKing]

It's not a protest, it's a "This'll never happen" joke, like "If there's not a normal BD then I'll eat my hat."

I know and I enjoyed the joke!

However, you never know, it might be an effective protest that could be adopted elsewhere, maybe in a co-ordinated fashion by all the protestors. If so, Curzon Soho had better watch out if Artificial Eye doesn't get its act together with regard to fixed subtitles and Pathe would be in serious trouble following the Les Enfants du Paradis debacle.

[RossyG]

Ok, if the Bresson BDs have fixed subs then I'm going to do a squashed ham on the Artificial Eye office window.

[Orlac]

I'm glad BFI is doing this. I had problems reading the subs on the Criterion Kurosawas as they are too faint. Hopefully the BFi will do other titles like Yojimbo.

And is it a pipe dream or will anyone do BDs of Judo Saga and I Live In Fear? I keep eyeing those Eclipse boxes!

[kindaikun]

I'm glad BFI is doing this. I had problems reading the subs on the Criterion Kurosawas as they are too faint. Hopefully the BFi will do other titles like Yojimbo.

Actually I wasn't too fond of the Criterion subs for another reason. Since I had been used to watching the BFI DVD until I bought the bluray, Criterion's translation seemed really Americanised to me and strange. I can't remember exactly now but I seem to remember words like 'bozo!' and 'asshole!' appearing particularly incongruous.

Still, at least it'll presumably be uncut this time. I'll be waiting to see whether it's worth double-dipping with the otherwise great Criterion bluray.

[Orlac]

My problem with the BFI subs on their 1999 dvd is they were burnt in, and there were lots of random lines missing.

[MichaelB]

My problem with the BFI subs on their 1999 dvd is they were burnt in, and there were lots of random lines missing.

If I remember rightly, that was the BFI's second DVD release ever. To say that technical and presentational standards have improved since then is an understatement on the order of saying that the Pacific Ocean is quite large.

Presumably you wouldn't compare an impending Criterion release with something that they put out 14-15 years ago?

[AidanKing]

It's obviously going to be a new transfer: any idea whether it will be dual format when it's on general release?