Hello everyone,
Some people say that sales of DVD/Blu-Ray/4K are declining and may go away soon replaced by digital copies you can stream on your phone/tablet/television/computer/etc, others say it’s still going strong. No matter what side you’re on you probably know that studios are constantly re-releasing movies in “NEW” or “REMASTERED” or “SPECIAL EDITION BOX SET” in order to get even more money out of the people who buy them.
The latest re-release is the “Back to the Future – 40th Anniversary 4K Trilogy Steelbook Giftset” sold exclusively on Amazon for around $160/ Aat least it was – it sold out on Amazon so now other people are re-selling it for about $100 more on Amazon or Ebay). I managed to see a box set (I won’t embarrass the person who shelled out the money for the box set – you know who you are). Here are my comments.
I didn’t re-watch the movies. I watched just a little bit of the “OVER 9 HOURS OF BONUS FEATURES”(some deleted scenes are pretty interesting). I’m sure the movies look great. This is a review of everything else.
The first thing you see when you open the box is the replica of the license plate. It even comes with a little registration tag (under the “AT” in the center).
One of the next things you see is the “Certificate of Authenticity”. I’m guessing the limited quantities are the main reason the box set sold out so fast.
The next thing is the small version of the guitar that Marty plays at the dance near the end of the first movie. It comes with a guitar stand and a pick. The person who bought the DVD set said the strings were intertwined and one piece was broken (the slanted piece) when he first opened the box.
The next thing you see is a “visual history” book (I flipped through it – looks pretty interesting).
Next is the case which holds all 3 movies in 4K and Blu-ray plus 2 more discs of bonus features. The photo is the flux-capacitor from the DeLorean.
The final item is the envelope that holds the rest of the goodies….
A lenticular photo of the 3 children from the first movie. If you move the photo the other two children disappear.
A Marty McFly tardy slip from the first movie.
A imitation $20 bill from the second movie.
A receipt from the “Sports Almanac” bought in the future in the second movie (I was expecting the actual “Sports Almanac” – that supposedly was part of a previous box set see this link.
A photo of Marty’s parents from the first movie.
A photo of the click tower from the third movie.
A re-creation of the letter Doc Brown sends to Marty from the past at the end of the second movie.
A newspaper about Marty’s son from the second movie.
A re-creation of the book cover from the book Marty’s dad writes shown at the end of the first movie.
A sketch of the flux-capacitor that Doc Brown sketched in the first movie.
A reproduction of the “Save the Clock Tower” from the first movie complete with the girlfriends phone number on the back.
Recreation of the “Jaws 19” poster from the second movie. Directed by Steven Spielberg’s son.
Finally, a re-creation of the letter Marty writes to Doc at the end of the first movie.
Overall, I like the lenticular photo and the book. I’m sure all the bonus features on the DVDs are interesting. Everything else is pretty worthless. I would definitely not pay $160 or more for this unless you’re a big fan. I’m told a lot of the really cool stuff came before (including supposedly a floating skateboard – see this link).
I give the whole boxset 4 out of 10 stars.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 