The Birds (Blu-ray SteelBook) (Zavvi Exclusive) [UK]

[Noodles]

Release date: October 17, 2016
Purchase links: Zavvi.com - (Pre-order on Saturday 17th of September at 6PM BST)
Price: £15.99 / €19.35
Notes: Limited to 2000 copies

 

[munkideluxe]

This is very well done for a Zavvi. Got mine today.

 

[chunk]

I thought the birds (hitchcock's face) would be the back art.. just opened mine and thought for a second they'd put the back and front on wrong by accident lol.
It's a really nice steelbook, I'm very happy with it.. would love to see more hitch movies in steel

 

[Starling]

Would love to see the finish picked up if anyone has an opened copy.

 

[javiermendoza]

Would love to see the finish picked up if anyone has an opened copy.

Go back one page.

 

[Starling]

Go back one page.

None of the pics pick up the gloss finish as yet.

 

[djjez83]

None of the pics pick up the gloss finish as yet.

there is no gloss finish. i opened mine. its extreme matte and the front is awful. cheap finish steelbook

 

[javiermendoza]

None of the pics pick up the gloss finish as yet.

No one said it was glossy. And you can see from the pictures that it has a matte finish.

 

[Starling]

No one said it was glossy. And you can see from the pictures that it has a matte finish.

My mistake, I was looking at it through the side seal.

 

[Lollard2002]

According to my Zavvi account it won't be dispatched until Monday

 

[Ryan W]

Has anybody else spotted the rookey mistake? Underneath Hitch where it says posterwire.com or is that just my copy?

 

[steelmybeatingheart]

happy days. spent a while looking at it thinking my eyesight was really going off, then realised it's not really a white steelbook, more of a light grey.

@chunk , i really like the original poster at the back, and the modern take on the front (see also Zoom's Dracula and Mummy releases). it respects the original, while giving you something more adapted to modern tastes for the covers. what i don't like as much, as the eagle-eyed have spotted, is the use of a 3rd party repro poster for the back. it's not just you, @Ryan W it's really there!

agree with @Starling no idea how this is still available either! still, least that means @virkia will still get an untarnished one!

overall, i'm happy, but i still can't get my head around this idea of sticking a j-card over a fullslip. have one or the other, surely? i'll be using PET slips anyway, but having both just seems clumsy to me. @Lollard2002 hope yours arrives soon.

lots of other pics in previous posts, but for what it's worth, here are mine too:

Spoiler

The Birds (fronts)

• steelmybeatingheart
• Oct 15, 2016

The Birds (backs)

• steelmybeatingheart
• Oct 15, 2016

Spoiler

The Birds (steel)

• steelmybeatingheart
• Oct 15, 2016

The Birds (inside)

• steelmybeatingheart
• Oct 15, 2016

 

[ChrisIW]

I don't know why some people think this is such a good steelbook, seems pretty plain to me. I think the front slip art would have been better as the front of the steel itself, the vintage poster back art would have been better as a post card included in the package (just doesn't look right stuck on the back to me), and the front of the steel would have been better as back art.

Overall, I'm not at all impressed. I think some people are a little bit like "Ooh they made a flock of birds look like Hitchcock's face, I must have it!!!!"

 

[steelmybeatingheart]

I don't know why some people think this is such a good steelbook, seems pretty plain to me. I think the front slip art would have been better as the front of the steel itself, the vintage poster back art would have been better as a post card included in the package (just doesn't look right stuck on the back to me), and the front of the steel would have been better as back art.

Overall, I'm not at all impressed. I think some people are a little bit like "Ooh they made a flock of birds look like Hitchcock's face, I must have it!!!!"

i see where you're coming from, but i quite like it myself, and i like how they have tried to do something a bit different, even if there's no gloss or spot gloss or embossing, so i agree it's by no means a game-changer! i mainly bought it as i don't have it on blu ray, so it dovetailed nicely that it was a steel. plus i actually like steel fronts that don't have titles. i guess i assumed simply because it was Hitchcock it would sell out anyway, regardless of the price or artwork - shows what i know!

 

[ethnosax]

I don't know why some people think this is such a good steelbook, seems pretty plain to me. . . . Overall, I'm not at all impressed. I think some people are a little bit like "Ooh they made a flock of birds look like Hitchcock's face, I must have it!!!!"

I haven't seen anyone saying that at all, actually. Just different preferences. For me, I always feel like it's hard to beat an original movie poster on a steel, provided the original poster was thoughtful or interesting (which many of Hitchcock's posters were). Universal has had some bad missteps with cover art choices, including the "pop art" cover they did for The Birds a while ago. I just think it's nice to see Universal thinking through releases that are kind of matching--the modern image front/original poster back that we're getting with this one, Dracula, and The Mummy. I find it a nice, clean, elegant, uniform look, and I hope they'll continue it with more classic releases.

As for why this one hasn't sold out yet . . . 2,000 is pretty generous for a title that's already been released a lot, and can be had as part of a boxed set for just about the same price as the single steelbook. Most people who want to own this movie already do, so they'd have to really want it as a steelbook. 1,000 or fewer would probably have been adequate, but this way gives most people who want one a chance of getting it, which is nice.

 

[virkia]

I'm very happy with it.. would love to see more hitch movies in steel

Yes, got to agree with you there - Hitch is very well represented on Blu-ray here in the U.K. - as he should be - with those lovely de-luxe boxsets/giftpacks as well as a fair number of standalones from ITV Studios/Network including one of his earliest ("The Lodger" from 1927) and others from his pre-Hollywood period but unfortunately not represented at all well in steelbooks. Still with the Amarays, it's a pity that you have to go elsewhere for three of his best loved films on Blu-ray (or shall I say two of his best loved and one other) - "Rebecca", "Notorious" and "Spellbound").
Hitch steelbooks in the U.K. apart from "The Birds" are very thin on the ground with only "North by Northwest" (original poster art front), "Psycho" and "Lifeboat" as the only three I can recall off the top of my head.
Regarding future Hitch steelbooks I'm hoping for three maybe four others :-
1) "Vertigo"
2) "Rear Window"
3) "Marnie"
4) "Frenzy"
Likelihood of other or early titles I'm guessing slim to non-existent.

 

[BluSteel2012]

 

[Goonboy]

Haven't got round to opening mine yet, but that looks real nice

 

[BluSteel2012]

Haven't got round to opening mine yet, but that looks real nice

It is. It's a nice little package.

 

[chunk]

Yes, got to agree with you there - Hitch is very well represented on Blu-ray here in the U.K. - as he should be - with those lovely de-luxe boxsets/giftpacks as well as a fair number of standalones from ITV Studios/Network including one of his earliest ("The Lodger" from 1927) and others from his pre-Hollywood period but unfortunately not represented at all well in steelbooks. Still with the Amarays, it's a pity that you have to go elsewhere for three of his best loved films on Blu-ray (or shall I say two of his best loved and one other) - "Rebecca", "Notorious" and "Spellbound").
Hitch steelbooks in the U.K. apart from "The Birds" are very thin on the ground with only "North by Northwest" (original poster art front), "Psycho" and "Lifeboat" as the only three I can recall off the top of my head.
Regarding future Hitch steelbooks I'm hoping for three maybe four others :-
1) "Vertigo"
2) "Rear Window"
3) "Marnie"
4) "Frenzy"
Likelihood of other or early titles I'm guessing slim to non-existent.

I'd like to see those released in steel too, one a month would be great

 

[ethnosax]

I'd like to see those released in steel too, one a month would be great

A lot depends on which studio owns which titles, and who has distribution rights. It might be difficult to get a matching set for movies that have different owners, unless they all decide to be nice to each other (which has happened occasionally for boxed sets).

I agree with you, though, that it would be excellent to have a set of Hitchcock steelbooks--especially for some of the movies that don't get as much love.