Yeah that reasoning is pretty sound (as well as the IFC deal), I really did enjoy the movie but I did a double take upon initially looking at the releases. And as for the rest, City Lights and Tokyo Story are huge, and this Zatoichi box set is a very nice surprise.

I'm in for City Lights, Tokyo Story and the Zatoichi boxset.

Ugh. I can't believe they could make a 9 BD set out of this, but are only releasing a version that also makes you buy 18 DVDs and consume all the shelf-space they require!

I'm sorry, but anybody interested enough in this set to really consider buying it can also drop $50 on a damn Blu-ray player, if they don't already have one.

Hell, for the manufacturing cost they could save by removing the 18 DVDs from the set, they could include a Blu-ray player, instead!

Agreed. I don't mind Criterion releasing dual format, but I wish they would've started doing so after the Zatoichi set.

Damn, so they made 25 Zatoichi films in 11 years? Talk about over saturation.

Although the plots may have gotten a bit formulaic, they maintained a pretty incredible standard of quality filmmaking, IMO.

I've always heard decent things about the Zatoichi films so I don't doubt that but it would be like if all the James Bond movies ever made had been released from 2001 to now.

So does this mean Criterion is going to a single SKU for every new title?

Finally, City Lights!!! Thank you Jesus!

9BD, 18DVD...that really lowers my excitement for the Zatoichi set. I mean, I don't need another fucking copy of the films, especially in a box set that would look like shit if I sold them out of it. Would have rather had the choice to get it cheaper in more standard packaging without the damn DVDs. I hope this experiment falls on its ass and fails.

I'm pretty happy about the dual format change actually. There have been several occasions recently when I wanted to loan movies to my friends to watch, but they don't have a BD player. (I've told them that they could get a BD player for just $50-60 - but so far none of them cares enough.)

And even if I never use the DVDs, I have a hard time getting upset about an extra disc that doesn't affect the price.

Agree that the extra size will be annoying though - however, this is only the second time they've ever released a box set of this magnitude, so it's not as if it's going to be a frequent problem.I sure don't. Even if I don't end up liking the films, I think this is one of the coolest things they've done in a long time.

About goddamn time we get Zatoichi. I've been waiting for that since I saw them streaming those films on Hulu.

Goddamn. I posted about this on 9-19-11. Almost 2 damn years.

So....how happy are you now?

I agree with you. Shelf space is definitely at a premium, and having another 18 obsolete discs is just a lot of useless fluff at this point. I might just skip this and stream them. HOWEVER, after noodling the numbers a bit, I might just get this after all during the next B&N sale:

$225*.5=$112.50*.9(membership)=$101.25*.8(coupon)=$81

If I can dump the DVDs somewhere for $5 each that will more than cover the $81. Even though it'll be a "broken set", free is free, and I can always toss the monstrosity in the closet when not watching.

I'm starting to think that this set might have been the tipping point for them to go dual format. The positive thing for me is that it looks like the box will fit on normal shelving.

What's your source on that?

I will get the Zatoichi set. No doubts about that. But I am not jiving with the idea of straggling that many DVDs along with it.

I think people are assuming the disc count based on the photo. I don't think there has been any verification of it.

That's what I assuming. I just wanted to be sure. I've been waiting for this for two years almost.

I'm waiting for them to put out movies that I've actually heard of....

You've never heard of City Lights?

I know you've issues with people speaking foreign languages. So I'm assuming you're a cracker. So I'm going to stick to the English speaking films.

Saying that, if you're a supposed admirer of film. I'd assume you'd know a Chaplin film. And knowing that you'd also know his work to an extent. It's fucking City Lights, motherfucker. Even worse it's Chaplin. He's pretty damn big in film. Kind of a master filmmaker kind of guy. A very mainstream gringo.

And not knowing if you're taking about Criterion's entirety or not. They've released; The Rock, Traffic, The Blob, Armageddon, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Game, 12 Angry Men, Godzilla, and many other films that are pretty damn big enough or new enough for you to have heard about. So stop with the bullshit.

It is impossible for you to live in America and not have heard of at least a few movies put out on Criterion. I'm not even a classic or obscure film fan and I've heard of plenty.

This is your failing, not theirs. My advice is to get out of the house more.

The artwork looks like a DVD sized case though..

The BD artwork of last month's announcements and the dual format artwork of this month's are both posted on their website as 349X490 files. So the only thing that might vary is the thickness.