Is the Premium Steelbook Market Winding Down?

BluMan Chu

Premium Supporter
Nov 21, 2014
729
Hey fellow Collectors, I've been somewhat out of the loop lately with regards to Premium Steelbooks and the companies that specialize in them. I've been coming back here on occasion but each time I do I'm left pretty much deflated. Is steelbook fever winding down? I just don't see much activity anymore. Maybe it's COVID-related? And what little is trickling out is still heavily skewered towards Superhero stuff, with many versions of the same titles across different labels. What the heck has happened to Plain Archive? Kimchi? They're active but sticking mostly to semi-obscure local films. Have they mainly given up on Hollywood product? Maybe it's just me. BTW, I wasn't sure where to post this - it seems this section is mostly dedicated to Product announcements/discussion - so mods please move to appropriate section if needed.
 
That Steelbook thing is more present in the states (I´m in Europe) with much Best Buy Steelbooks. And because of the fact, that you will not find any Steelbook on the market for less than €10 and everything has to be 4K I lost interest in it and the times where the Steelbooks are cheaper than the Amarays are over and the first releases on Blu are going out. The resell market is very active and the thinning out of my steelbooks was a success with getting nnearly the original price fore unsealed mint ones.
Interesting is that here in Germany much 4K steelbooks are sold out in no time and that for the price of a premium version with slip and booklet years before. But there´s nothing in between and only the 4K-ones sell, so the Blu-Ray ones get just a standard keep-case release. For Kimchi etc it is probably more profitable to sell the plain archive standard editions, that didn´t lose quality, but steelbook-ones become more seldom. If it is Corona-related: I would say yes, but it´s probably not the only reason. Digital market, more niche-releases and the popularity of Collector´s Editions with digipacks, digibooks etc. also have to be taken into account. Do you buy steelbooks in general or just the Premium-ones?
 
  • Like
Reactions: trinitycorps
That Steelbook thing is more present in the states (I´m in Europe) with much Best Buy Steelbooks. And because of the fact, that you will not find any Steelbook on the market for less than €10 and everything has to be 4K I lost interest in it and the times where the Steelbooks are cheaper than the Amarays are over and the first releases on Blu are going out. The resell market is very active and the thinning out of my steelbooks was a success with getting nnearly the original price fore unsealed mint ones.
Interesting is that here in Germany much 4K steelbooks are sold out in no time and that for the price of a premium version with slip and booklet years before. But there´s nothing in between and only the 4K-ones sell, so the Blu-Ray ones get just a standard keep-case release. For Kimchi etc it is probably more profitable to sell the plain archive standard editions, that didn´t lose quality, but steelbook-ones become more seldom. If it is Corona-related: I would say yes, but it´s probably not the only reason. Digital market, more niche-releases and the popularity of Collector´s Editions with digipacks, digibooks etc. also have to be taken into account. Do you buy steelbooks in general or just the Premium-ones?

I rarely buy regular steelbooks anymore. My take is there's no steelbook that is better than standard retail editions in terms of artwork. I think there's a general lack of creativity out there, plus stores like Best Buy don't care about protecting their steelbooks
 
  • Like
Reactions: trinitycorps
Every decent premium release sells out in minutes, so I dont see it slowing. Releases are slowing but that seems more related to turn around from studio approvals and starting to wonder is scanavo is over loaded with work.
 
I rarely buy regular steelbooks anymore. My take is there's no steelbook that is better than standard retail editions in terms of artwork. I think there's a general lack of creativity out there, plus stores like Best Buy don't care about protecting their steelbooks
Yeah - these Best Buy steelbooks are mostly awful. Ok - they create new artworks and here and there some good ideas, but the execution is only average in most cases. Affordable steelbooks, that are simple, but effective are missing imo. Doesn´t have to be the best finish and all glossy. When I´m serious do I likre the steels from the beginning (not the blue-banner ones - they look awful). The matte-ones often had a rougher surface and more color was used, what resulted in more plasticity of the images and the steel-effect was used often just to increase the overall-impression and was more decent. An example is the German steelbook of The Take with Tom Hardy, that was very cheap. I paid €5 for it on E-Bay and most people would say it´s a bad one, but somehow the cover profits from the steel-background and the image looks quite good with minimal steel-effect for the text.
Not my photo
picture_12.php.jpg


The last on I got that rememberd me on that times is the Doors-4K-steelbook, that was very minimalistic and the steel-effect isn´t visible on first sight and looks very cool. Ok it has a beter finish, but I hope it is clear what I mean.
20200206_014250.jpg
 
Last edited: