The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years

[Finch]

Wes Anderson’s first ten films represent twenty-five years of irrepressible creativity, an ongoing ode to outsiders and quixotic dreamers, and a world unto themselves, graced with a mischievous wit and a current of existential melancholy that flows through every captivating frame. This momentous twenty-disc collector’s set includes new 4K masters of the films, over twenty-five hours of special features, and ten illustrated books, presented in a deluxe clothbound edition.






The films: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, and The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun

4K UHD + BLU-RAY BOX SET AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 30

[dwk]

Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch are also getting solo UHD and Blu-ray releases at the same time.

[denti alligator]

No sleeves! Steep price, but I have so few of these--and of course none in 4k. When the 50% sale happens, it may be worth it.

[aox]

I really wish this had included Asteroid City, which is quickly rising in stature for me with every viewing.

Beautiful set, though.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Will they preserve the cover art of the original editions one way or another? I love that new Isle of Dogs cover by Katshiro Otomo.

[pistolwink]

At list price that's $50 per film, yikes.

[dwk]

That is what the MSRP of their UHD are, so it isn't unexpected.

[Zot!]

Looks a bit TOO stripped down/generic to me. I'm surprised Anderson, for all his stylization decided on the "Amazon Basics" livery approach.

[Never Cursed]

How many of the Isle of Dogs bonus features have appeared somewhere else already?

[brundlefly]

Exciting and rare 2.5 week 4-title gap in Criterion spine numbers.

[Finch]

The 4K and BD for each film is housed within the respective book, it seems.

[soundchaser]

Even at $250, this feels like a poor value proposition. I’m sure it will sell — the number of people who picked up CC40 makes that clear — but it doesn’t feel in line with the “great deal” sense previous box sets have offered.

[criterionsnob]

They’ve had to pay for 4K remasters of 10 films, so the higher price makes sense.

[dwk]

Exciting and rare 2.5 week 4-title gap in Criterion spine numbers.

It looks like they fixed it, but initially they had The French Dispatch as spine #19XX, so it was like a 700-title gap in spine numbers.

[CSM126]

Looks a bit TOO stripped down/generic to me. I'm surprised Anderson, for all his stylization decided on the "Amazon Basics" livery approach.

I dunno. It looks like something you’d see in someone’s bookshelf in an Anderson movie. Over simplified for that twee effect he likes so much.

[domino harvey]

$500 MSRP and it looks like a bland cardboard box (as already pointed out). This label is cooked when it comes to box sets

[DimitriL]

It literally looks like a deluxe set of World Book encyclopedias, including the box with the official seal. What's wrong with that? There couldn't be anything more Wes Anderson if you tried.

[redbill]

At list price that's $50 per film, yikes.

ya, first boxset I can remember that has ZERO discount over the sum of the individual titles. Not including some of the old gift-sets which are actually the individual releases in a box, but even some of those were a few bucks cheaper, IIRC,.

[domino harvey]

It literally looks like a deluxe set of World Book encyclopedias, including the box with the official seal. What's wrong with that? There couldn't be anything more Wes Anderson if you tried.

Because you take a director known for intricate, ornate design, and decide to do a boring encyclopedia set that looks as exciting as a Field Notes journal. Also, how is this supposed to even be displayed?

[DimitriL]

On a bookshelf, like an encyclopedia. I'll personally put it on the very top shelf, probably on a little stand.

And this feels like his most personal memory from a kid. You call it boring - fine! I get it. But I say, as a kid in the 70s, there was nothing more magical than seeing something like this on someone's shelf. Callbacks to vintage, mid-century designs are literally one of the most common ongoing visual elements in his films. Of course he was gonna land on World Book encyclopedias at some point.

[Walter Kurtz]

Bauhaus must be in: First The Brutalist. Now the WAA!

[brundlefly]

how is this supposed to even be displayed?

I would hide mine thusly.

[mfunk9786]

Also, how is this supposed to even be displayed?

God always finds a way to display His greatest masterpieces.

[Finch]

Has anyone asked "Mulvaney" yet whether the first 8 films will get separate 4K releases down the line? At even $250, this doesn't feel like the best value for me when I only want four of the ten (and which I could get at an additional discount at the next 50% sale post-release) and the packaging is overkill for my liking. The 8 1/2 4K didn't take that long to appear after the Fellini set, right? 6 months or less?

[captveg]

The box set aesthetics being inferior to the individual releases, IMO, as well as the likelihood that most of these get the UHD upgrade outside the box down the road has me likely tilting towards picking up Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch individual releases.