Physical media may be devalued by some in our streaming-dominated world, but you’d be surprised how many great titles are only available on disc. Also, some titles can be so much more rewarding on DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K UHD, especially when they’re loaded with special packaging and bonus features. 2023 saw the release of some impressive box sets, from genre collections by Warner Bros. and Paramount to complete sets of movie franchises such as John Wick, Jurassic World, Fast & Furious, and David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy. There were also complete TV collections of fan favorites such as Westworld, The Walking Dead, and Star Trek: Picard. Plus, special collector’s and anniversary editions of Titanic and JFK remind us that packaged media offers something extra—something tangible—that streaming never will.
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Titanic: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (1997)
Titanic: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (1997)
James Cameron’s historical romantic disaster epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, and Frances Fisher won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition includes bonus features such as the new retrospective “Titanic: Stories From The Heart” and “Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron.” What makes this set the “king of the world” are the packaged collectibles, including a handsome coffee table book, sheet music for “My Heart Will Go On,” and a detailed ship schematic, plus replica movie props of a Titanic boarding pass, launch-viewing ticket, menus, and notes from the movie characters to each other.
3 / 13
Jurassic World: The Ultimate Collection (1993-2022)
Jurassic World: The Ultimate Collection (1993-2022)
Best Buy will reportedly stop selling movies on physical disc sometime in 2024, so pick up exclusives such as Jurassic World: The Ultimate Collection before it’s too late. This 4K SteelBook box set timed with the 30th anniversary of the original Jurassic Park includes all six Jurassic movies: Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Jurassic World Dominion. Each SteelBook in the collection has a cover featuring a dinosaur prominently featured in that movie. The set comes with a certificate of authenticity showing what number you have out of a limited release of 5,325 copies.
4 / 13
The Walking Dead: The Complete Collection (2010-2022)
The Walking Dead: The Complete Collection (2010-2022)
AMC’s The Walking Dead is a horror-drama that follows the survivors of a zombie apocalypse. The ensemble cast includes Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The Complete Collection Blu-ray set includes all 11 seasons on 54 discs, including a bonus disc with a documentary about the making of the final season. All the extras from the individual seasons are included here as well. The packaging and disc art features never-before-seen designs by artist Oliver Barrett. The Walking Dead has spawned many spin-off shows—some of which are still ongoing—but this is the complete collection of the original series that debuted in 2010.
5 / 13
John Wick: Chapters 1-4 (2014-2023)
John Wick: Chapters 1-4 (2014-2023)
John Wick stars Keanu Reeves as the titular hit man who is pulled back into an underground world of assassins. This Blu-ray set features all four John Wick films to date: John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, and John Wick: Chapter 4. The set comes packaged with four art cards as well as seven pieces of interchangeable cover art that you can switch up on the front of the set. We wish a 4K UHD version were also an option, but this Blu-ray set with digital copies is the best John Wick collection currently available.
6 / 13
Westworld: The Complete Series (2016-2022)
Westworld: The Complete Series (2016-2022)
Westworld is a perfect example of why fans should not depend on subscription streaming services to access their favorite shows. The dystopian sci-fi series about a group of android “hosts” who rebel at the theme park where they entertain guests debuted on HBO to widespread critical acclaim in 2016. By 2022, not only did HBO unceremoniously cancel the show starring Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Ed Harris, and Aaron Paul after its fourth season, but all seasons were yanked off Max. Now the only way to watch Westworld is by purchasing digital copies of seasons on a TVOD service such as Vudu, or on 4K UHD or Blu-ray like Westworld: The Complete Series. The set contains all four seasons and over six hours of bonus features, including “Welcome To Westworld,” “The Truth Behind Delos,” “Escape From Westworld,” and more.
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Halloween Trilogy (2018-2022)
Halloween Trilogy (2018-2022)
The Halloween Trilogy SteelBook Best Buy exclusive contains all three movies in the recent David Gordon Green-directed Halloween series starring Jamie Lee Curtis: Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends. A Halloween Kills extended cut featuring more flashback 1978 footage is included here along with the theatrical version. The set comes with a certificate of authenticity, showing which number you bought out of a limited pressing of less than 5,400 copies. Again, Best Buy will stop selling discs in their brick-and-mortar stores as well as online in 2024, so Michael Myers fans will want to track down this Halloween treat while they still can.
8 / 13
Star Trek: Picard – The Complete Series (2020-2023)
Star Trek: Picard – The Complete Series (2020-2023)
Star Trek: Picard — The Complete Series Blu-ray contains all three seasons of the Paramount+ show starring Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard. The series—also starring Jonathan Frakes, Jeri Ryan, John de Lancie, and others from the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe—takes place at the end of the 24th century, 14 years after Picard retired from Starfleet. The nine-disc collection contains all 30 episodes of Star Trek: Picard as well as over seven hours of special features, including story logs, deleted scenes, and multiple featurettes.
9 / 13
Fast & Furious 10-Movie Collection (2001-2023)
Fast & Furious 10-Movie Collection (2001-2023)
The Fast & Furious 10-Movie Collection 4K UHD contains every movie to date in the never-ending action franchise: The Fast And The Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate Of The Furious, F9: The Fast Saga, and Fast X. The series starring Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and the late Paul Walker as LAPD officer Brian O’Conner comes packaged here with hours of bonus features, including deleted scenes, outtakes, and featurettes. In addition, extended or alternate versions of five films are included: Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate Of The Furious, and F9: The Fast Saga.
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100 Years Of Warner Bros. Volume Four: Thrillers, Sci-Fi & Horror (1933-2021)
100 Years Of Warner Bros. Volume Four: Thrillers, Sci-Fi & Horror (1933-2021)
In celebration of Warner Bros.’ 100th anniversary, the studio released four comprehensive Blu-ray box sets, each of which covers a different genre. Volume Four: Thrillers, Sci-Fi & Horror includes a 24-page booklet filled with production notes, original posters, and behind-the-scenes photos, as well as collectible Warner Bros. shield pins. The movies in this comprehensive set are King Kong, The Maltese Falcon, Children Of The Damned, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist, All The President’s Men, The Shining, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Full Metal Jacket, Goodfellas, Natural Born Killers, The Shawshank Redemption, Interview With The Vampire, Se7en, The Matrix, The Green Mile, Inception, The Conjuring, Gravity, Her, Annabelle, It, and Dune.
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Paramount Scares: Volume 1 (1968-2022)
Paramount Scares: Volume 1 (1968-2022)
The Paramount Scares: Volume 1 box set contains the kind of collectibles that we wish other studios would stuff into their collections. Not only do you get Rosemary’s Baby, Pet Sematary, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, Crawl, and Smile on 4K UHD, but the set comes packaged with a collectible pin, a collector’s edition of Fangoria magazine, and a sticker sheet featuring quotes from the five movies. The exclusive slipcovers for each movie feature a cohesive theme, as you can see in the image above. Additional Blu-rays for three of the movies (Rosemary’s Baby, Pet Sematary, and Sweeney Todd) contain additional previously released bonus features.
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JFK Collector’s Edition (1991)
JFK Collector’s Edition (1991)
Shout Factory’s 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition of Oliver Stone’s JFK starring Kevin Costner is a must-have for fans of conspiracy theories. Disc one contains a 4K UHD of the director’s cut, disc two features the director’s cut on Blu-ray, and disc three is a Blu-ray of the theatrical cut. Disc four is a Blu-ray with most of the bonus features, including a new featurette with Stone talking about John F. Kennedy, plus interviews with the film’s cinematographer, editor, coproducer, makeup artist, and Dallas location manager. There are also deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending, and more packed onto disc four.