The History of Region 1 G1 steelbooks

Mar 28, 2012
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I have seen a lot of people on here don't have much knowledge on G1 steelbooks and I have been collecting since back in 2006. Remember the first Bluray g2 steelbooks to appear wouldn't happen until the Bonds were released as Best Buy exclusives in 2008. So G1 was what everyone collected back then. I am going to limit this to Region 1 because I don't know that much about the other regions, I had just started collecting Uk G1 steels when I fell out of collecting (got laid off an food on the table was more important than steels its just been in the last 2 years that I have returned to a point where I have plenty of discretionary cash again for steelbooks). All told I believe there is 173 Region 1 steelbooks from Canada and the US. This is paltry in comparison to the 560 I think there were just released in Region 2 with Scanavo being a European country. I just didn't collect them so I didn't know that much about them.

There were no sites dedicated to steelbooks in 2006. Most people didn't even knew they existed in the US as you would only see a title every now and then most steels were released maybe one a month if you were lucky back then hence even though G1's were made from 2005 to 2009 pretty much you only saw 173 titles made in that time. Almost all knowledge of steels could be found in single threads that you stumbled upon in dvd forums like dvdtalk or joblo. I started the very first thread at joblo that actually would spawn into the very first site dedicated to just steelbooks. Now we have sites like this wonderful site and the collection manager that makes it so easy to see what is available in every region in the world. I just wish we could get a G1 section as the love is still there for some and I would never sell my G1 collection (a paltry 68 but still a nice mostly Region 1 collection).

The very first Region 1 steelbook was Appleseed it was released in 2005, I think there was only a couple steels even released in Region 1 in 2005, I believe Ong Bak came out that year too. The big kickoff for most steelbook collectors was the release of Boondock Saints in May of 2006 or even the Departed that came out in February of 2007 (this was a big tentpole film at the time something you didn't see too much in the infancy of R1 steels). 2007 was the big push into the market for steels in the US as Best Buy got a ton of exclusives that year a lot of category titles but even some new releases. Futureshop and Best Buy got almost all the steels for Canada and then FYE got into the exclusive business as well. A lot of the category titles for Best Buy sat on the shelves for years.

In 2008 you saw the first release of G2 steels to the US with the Bonds and then came the First Line Studio releases. First Line movies were D movies at best and not that good of artwork and they flooded the US with a dozen titles most people probably never heard of which to me heralded the end of G1 and the birth of G2. Most of these could be found at Target for like $9.99 and now sell on Amazon a lot of times for less than a dollar. With G2s grabbing popularity and an influx of unpopular titles G1s died.

Now I am OCD and I used to create lists like crazy and half the reason I created this thread was to give a brief history of the region 1 steels but then also share with you some of my lists I made way back in 2008.

I made this list of Region 1 steels sometime in 2009 and this is what existed back then.

Region 1 UNITED STATES Steelbooks:
10,000 BC (FYE & TWEC Exclusive)
Batman Gotham Knight (Best Buy Exclusive)
Beowulf (Futureshop & FYE Transworld Exclusive)
Boondock Saints
The Bourne Ultimatum (Future Shop & Best Buy Exclusive)
Cast Away
Cloverfield (FYE & Transworld Exclusive)
Dario Argento Collection
The Dark Knight
Day After Tomorrow, The
Death Trance
Die Hard
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (Best Buy Exclusive)
Die Hard 3: Die Hard with a Vengeance (Best Buy Exclusive)
Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard (Best Buy & Future Shop Exclusive)
The Departed (Best Buy Exclusive)
Doctor Who: Season 4 (Best Buy Exclusive)
Dragon Wars (FYE Transworld Exclusive)
Dune
Fight Club
The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Collection (TWEC Exclusive)
Grindhouse: Death Proof (Best Buy Exclusive)
Grindhouse: Planet Terror (Best Buy Exclusive)
The Grudge 2 (Best Buy Exclusive)
Hancock (Best Buy Exclusive)
Hannibal
I Am Legend (Best Buy & Future Shop Exclusive)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (TWEC Exclusive)
Iron Man (FYE & TWEC Exclusive)
Man on Fire
The Omen
Platoon
Primeval Vol 2 (Best Buy Exclusive)
The Quiet Earth
The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Series (5 SteelBook™ cases)
Robocop
Sex and the City: The Movie (Best Buy Exclusive)
Spawn - The Animated Collection
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (TWEC Exclusive)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Best Buy Exclusive)
Sweeney Todd (FYE & TWEC Exclusive)
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 1 (Best Buy Exclusive)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Transformers (Futureshop & TWEC Exclusive)
Ultimate Versus
Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter/Under the Hood (Best Buy Exclusive)
The X-Files: I want to Believe (TWEC Exclusive)
X-Men 1.5 (Best Buy Exclusive)
X2

Coming Soon:
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (TWEC Exclusive)- 10/20/09
Gi Joe: The Rise of Cobra (TWEC Exclusive)- 11/03/09
Up (Best Buy Exclusive)- 11/10/09
Star Trek (TWEC Exclusive)- 11/17/09
Terminator: Slavation (TWEC Exclusive)- 12/01/09
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (TWEC Exclusive)- 12/08/09


Region 1 First Look Studio Releases
Bone Snatcher, The
Breed, The
Contract, The
Dead Girl, The
Dog Soldiers
Eye See You
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Hard Cash
In Hell
Immortal
Military Special Operations 2-Pack (Terminal Countdown/Black Ops)
Paris, Je T'aime
Proposition, The
Strays
Trauma

Coming Soon:
Killer 3 Pack (Ed Gein/Dahmer/Gacy): 06/02/09
Avenging Angelo: 06/02/09
Kill Switch: 08/01/09

Misc. Region 1 steelbooks:
The Boston Red Sox Essential Games of Fenway Park
Daft Punk's Electroma
Dane Cook's Tourgasm
NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt -10 Greatest Wins
The New York Mets Essential Games Of Shea Stadium
The New York Yankees: Essential Games of Yankee Stadium
PrideFC 2000GP (Best Buy Exclusive)
When We Left Earth, The NASA Missions

Region 1 CANADIAN Steelbooks:
300 (Futureshop Exclusive)
Battlestar Galatica Season 3 (Futureshop Exclusive)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0 (Future Shop Exclusive)
Bee Movie (Futureshop Exclusive)
Cars (Futureshop Exclusive)
Chronicles of Narnia (Futureshop Exclusive)
DaVinci Code (Futureshop Exclusive)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Futureshop Exclusive)
I Am Legend (Blu-ray Steelbook) (Future Shop Exclusive)
Ice Age 2 (Futureshop Exclusive)
The Incredible Hulk (Futureshop Exclusive)
Indiana Jones Trilogy (Futureshop Exclusive)
Jungle Book (Futureshop Exclusive)
Little Mermaid (Futureshop Exclusive)
Mission Impossible 3 (Futureshop Exclusive)
Ocean's Thirteen (Futureshop Exclusive)
Ong-Bak
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Future Shop Exclusive)
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (Future Shop Exclusive)
Ratatouille (Futureshop Exclusive)
Scary Movie Collection (Futureshop Exclusive)
Sex and the City: The Movie (Future Shop Exclusive)
Shrek the Third (Futureshop Exclusive)
Spider-Man 3 (Futureshop Exclusive)
Superman Returns (Futureshop Exclusive)
Underworld: Evolution (Futureshop Exclusive)
V for Vendetta (Futureshop Exclusive)
Wanted (Futureshop Exclusive)
X3: The Last Stand (Futureshop Exclusive)


Misc. Region 1 Canadian Steelbooks
Canada Russia '72 (Future Shop Exclusive)
Don Cherry's Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Hockey
World Hockey Association Chronicles
WWE Presents: Royal Rumble 2009

Region 1 Bluray Steelbooks
Bond: Dr. No (Best Buy Exclusive)
Bond: From Russia With Love (Best Buy Exclusive)
Bond: Thunderball (Best Buy Exclusive)
Bond: Live and Let Die (Best Buy Exclusive)
Bond: For Your Eyes Only (Best Buy Exclusive)
Bond: Die Another Day (Best Buy Exclusive)
The Dark Knight (Future Shop Exclusive)
I am Legend (Future Shop Exclusive)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Future Shop Exclusive)
Iron Man
Snow White (Best Buy Exclusive)

Region 1 Anime Steelbooks
Appleseed
Appleseed Ex-Machina
Black Lagoon Vol. 1
Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, Vol.1
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock/Trunks
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge/The Return of Cooler
Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone/World's Strongest
Dragon Ball Z: Tree of Might/Lord Slug
Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13/Bojack Unbound
Dragon Ball Z: Broly Triple Feature:
Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (DE)
Silent Möbius: The Motion Picture Movie
Silent Möbius: The Motion Picture Movie 2
Sukiyaki Western Django
Ultimate Hellsing Volume 1 (Best Buy Exclusive)
Ultimate Hellsing Volume 2 (Transworld Exclusive)
Ultimate Hellsing Volume 3 (Transworld Exclusive)
Ultimate Hellsing Volume 4

Region 1 History Channel Seasons:
Ax Men Season 1
Monsterquest Season 1
Monsterquest Season 2
Battle 360 Season
Shockwave Season 1
Tougher in Alaska: Season 1
UFO Hunters Season 1
The Universe: Season 2

This was the list of UK steels at the time as I had just started to collect UK steels

Region 2 UK Steelbooks
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Reusrection
alien Vs Predator
All About Eve (cimena reserve line)
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypto (HMV exclusive)
American Gangster
Aviator, The
Batman Begins
A Better Tomorrow
Braveheart
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (cimena reserve line)
Chicago
Clerks X
Cold Mountain
Conan the Barbarian
Daredevil
The Day the Earth Stood Still (cimena reserve line)
Day watch (HMV exclusive)
Days of Glory
Death Race
Diary of the Dead
Flash Gordon
The Fly (cimena reserve line)
From Hell
The Godfather Trilogy (amazon.co.uk exclusive)
The Great Escape
Highlander
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hustler (cimena reserve line)
I, Robot
Independence Day
Kagemusha (cimena reserve line)
Kingdom of Heaven
Laura (cimena reserve line)
The League of Extraordinary Gentleman
Letters to Iowa Jima/Flags of our Father
Lifeboat (cimena reserve line)
The Lives of Others
Master and Commander
Midnight Cowboy (cimena reserve line)
Minority Report
Moulin Rogue
Mr. and Mrs Smith
My Darling Clementine (cimena reserve line)
National Treasure
Night Watch (HMV exclusive)
No country for Old Men (HMV exclusive)
Patton (cimena reserve line)
Pearl Harbor
Planet of the Apes
Predator
Predator 2
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Ronin
Sahara
Scum
Sin City
Silence of the Lambs
Some Like It Hot (cimena reserve line)
Speed
Terminator
Tora Tora Tora(cimena reserve line)
Total Recall
Ultimate Bourne Collection
Valley of the Dolls (cimena reserve line)
Verdict (cimena reserve line)
Vexille
Windtalkers


Oh and just for fun so you could see what G1 steelbooks went for in auctions on Ebay in 2008 (I was on the hunt to complete my collection and would watch Ebay like a hawk).

Ebay Auctions on Rare Steelbooks
300 - $97 - 09/04/08
300 - $117.50 - 09/18/08
300 - $55.50 - 09/21/08
300 - $53.37 - 10/14/08
300 - $50.67 - 10/14/08
300 - $46.05 - 10/24/08
300 - $57.50 - 12/15/08
300 - $58.17 - 01/10/09
300 - $39 - 03/22/09
300 - $55 - 03/26/09
300 - $40 - 04/23/09
Battlestar Galactica Season 3 - $64 - 05/08/08
Battlestar Galactica Season 3 - $46.05 - 06/09/08
Battlestar Galactica Season 3 - $31 - 08/03/08
Bee Movie - $26 - 08/30/08
Cars - $76.50 - 04/18/08
Cars - $53 - 06/08/08
Cars - $71.01 - 07/18/08
Cars - $56.55 - 10/18/08
Cars - $71.07 - 05/02/09
Chronicles of Narnia - $100 - 04/18/08
Chronicles of Narnia - $68.50 - 05/08/08
Chronicles of Narnia (empty) - $41 - 09/21/08
Da Vinci Code, The - $82 - 04/29/08
Da Vinci Code, The - $64 - 06/08/08
Da Vinci Code, The - $86.50 - 07/22/08
Da Vinci Code, The (broken) - $34.88 - 05/14/09
Ice Age: The Meltdown - $76.50 - 04/30/08
Ice Age: The Meltdown - $84 - 06/05/08
Ice Age: The Meltdown - $70 - 06/08/08
Ice Age: The Meltdown - $96.76 - 07/22/08
Ice Age: The Meltdown - $102.50 - 12/21/08
Ice Age: The Meltdown - $96 - 01/26/09
Jungle Book - $69.99 - 12/20/08
Jungle Book - $49.51 - 05/13/09
Little Mermaid - $150 - 06/08/08
Little Mermaid - $165 - 09/12/08
Little Mermaid - $152.50 - 09/21/08
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - $151 - 04/18/08
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - $55 - 06/08/08
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - $152.50 - 07/22/08
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - $43.50 - 09/15/08
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - $75 - 10/16/08
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - $55.50 - 10/24/08
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - $102.50 - 05/14/09
Ratatouille - $41 - 05/02/09
Ratatouille - $61.03 - 05/13/09
Real Ghostbusters Complete Set - $152.50 - 05/14/09
Scary Movie Collection - $70 - 10/21/08
Scary Movie Collection - $38.01 - 05/13/09
Underworld Evolution - $188.50 - 04/18/08
Underworld Evolution - $132.50 - 04/24/08
Underworld Evolution - $51 - 02/03/09
Underworld Evolution (Region 2) - $70.99 - 05/14/09
V for Vendetta - $102.50 - 04/18/08
V for Vendetta - $99 - 06/08/08
V for Vendetta - $81 - 07/18/08
V for Vendetta - $102.50 - 07/24/08
V for Vendetta - $102.50 - 09/23/08*
V for Vendetta - $178 - 05/12/09
X-Men 3 - $257.89 - 04/18/08
X-Men 3 - $280 - 09/07/08
X-Men 3 - $202.50 - 09/26/08
X-Men 3 - $205 - 10/05/08
X-Men 3 - $230 - 10/16/08
X-Men 3 - $170.57 - 10/24/08
X-Men 3 - $170.26 - 11/15/08*
X-Men 3 - $99.23 - 11/20/08
X-Men 3 - $300 - 04/05/09
X-Men 3 - $182.50 - 05/16/09


The rarest steel at the time was X3 followed by some of the Disney titles and then V for Vendetta all Futureshop exclusives (man I'd love to still get some of those g1s that I was never able to get during the day).

Also here is some pictures of my steels of G1

sb1sm.jpg


sb2sm.jpg


sb3sm.jpg


sb4sm.jpg


Also this was a collectors collection that I drooled over in the day because of his rare ones so much so I actually saved these images, these are not my steelbooks but an awesome representation of what was available at the time.

r1a.jpg


r1b.jpg


r1c.jpg



I thought this would be just fun, if you have any questions of Region 1 steels I am your man.
 
Last edited:
Very informative! Especially interesting to look at what the prices for the rare ones were back then.

I recently came across a few Robocop G1's at HMV here in Canada but they were $25 each and it seemed pricey to me. But that is one of the G1's I would like to have.
 
Yea that seems pricey as they retailed for 19.99 back in the day and were by no means rare. Most g1s have plummeted in price with only the disneys holding some value. I bet you could find a robocop for under $10.
 
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Great thread! Do you know if there are multiple versions of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence ? Someone is selling a version with a cover I've never seen before, and he is asking 390$ EEK!
 
Great thread! Do you know if there are multiple versions of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence ? Someone is selling a version with a cover I've never seen before, and he is asking 390$ EEK!

Never heard of a second cover for Ghost in the Shell 2, I believe there is only one. Sounds like a custom mod to me or a slip cover someone trying to make a profit on something that never existed.
 
Love this thread, I recently bought all the Alien ones to complete my Alien collection (got the last one, avp2 last month). :)

I was really getting into the UK steels right when I fell out of collecting because of funds. To me some of the G1s are so much better looking, take Pulp Fiction for example I still want that steel but I'd rather have the G1 than the G2 because it looks so much better. The G1 looks like that new Japanese G2 that just came out with all silver and Uma Thurmans looking out the G2 just looks like your standard release to me. That was something that was fun about the G1 steels is they did unique artwork that set themselves aside from regular releases. First Look killed that though as they flooded the market with substandard steels of D movie titles that didn't set themselves apart.

I was just going through my lists to see what I was missing and it looks like the last batch of First Look steels even got canceled in Shade, Smiley Face and Transsbiberian. As far as I can tell I am still missing 11 First Look studio steels and like 14 regular ones. I don't know if I'd ever do the MISC steels or the anime steels thats why my spreadsheet always had them separated out. I would totally do the 24 missing Canadian steels G1 though that I am missing. I am going to have to do more research to get a definitive G1 list again as a lot look like they got canceled near the end like Terminator Salvation and the First Look Studio ones. G1 was dying by then that was 2009 and G2 was taking hold.
 
Great job, sirdizzy! I actually still enjoy the G1s...video games steels are almost all G1s and finding older G1s used is a nice treat too when the price is right! Would really love to get a copy of that Dr. Who fourth series...I just got the Battlestar Galactica 3 and 4 and wanted to buy the duplicates so I can have it airbrused ("the Season..." on the spine and front so it can say "Season One" and the other one "Season Two"...I just don't know anyone who can make it flawlessly!
 
Great job, sirdizzy! I actually still enjoy the G1s...video games steels are almost all G1s and finding older G1s used is a nice treat too when the price is right! Would really love to get a copy of that Dr. Who fourth series...I just got the Battlestar Galactica 3 and 4 and wanted to buy the duplicates so I can have it airbrused ("the Season..." on the spine and front so it can say "Season One" and the other one "Season Two"...I just don't know anyone who can make it flawlessly!

Dr Who Season 4 steel was crazy, Best Buy was supposed to sell it for $74.99, luckily a lot of them rang up wrong for like $34.99. This was when all the Doctor Who seasons were like $70+ just crazy prices.

I got mine from someone on the internet at a SB site for the $34.99 luckily, my wife was tricky though she had him mail them to her and she held them until Christmas for me and I was freaking out the whole time that the mailman hadn't delivered them yet (I think I had a couple more in there too like the Dark Knight G1).
 
A little late but the Ghost in the shell i think he's probably referring to is the Japan one. I still love g1 steels and am still trying to complete alot of them. I think i finished the canadian g1 series and am just missing like 1 anime and a couple History U.s. Steelbooks.
 
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A little late but the Ghost in the shell i think he's probably referring to is the Japan one. I still love g1 steels and am still trying to complete alot of them. I think i finished the canadian g1 series and am just missing like 1 anime and a couple History U.s. Steelbooks.

That's pretty impressive, I don't know if I'll ever finish the G1 series its a lot to tackle and I am like %75 there already, some of them are just hard to find and some I am not interested in like the anime ones. I have taken a steel break for a bit too while I get my new TT bike for the ironman in May so no back cataloging right now.
 
Great thread! Do you know if there are multiple versions of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence ? Someone is selling a version with a cover I've never seen before, and he is asking 390$ EEK!

Might be the Metal pak version - recall seeing that a year or so back its very nice :)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
 
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