Commissions Earned

“The Wes Anderson Archive“ box set is coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray on September 30th via The Criterion Collection. This set assembles ten films that span over 25 years of writer/director Wes Anderson’s career. Here’s the full description of the release, via Criterion.

“Wes Anderson’s first ten features represent twenty-five years of irrepressible creativity, an ongoing ode to outsiders and quixotic dreamers, and a world unto themselves, graced with a mischievous wit and a current of existential melancholy that flows through every captivating frame. This momentous twenty-disc collector’s set includes new 4K masters of the films, over twenty-five hours of special features, and ten illustrated books, presented in a deluxe clothbound edition.”

This 20-disc set will be a “combo pack.” It includes 10 discs for the Blu-ray Disc counterparts for each film. There are also extras on those discs. The ten films included in this set are as follows:

• “Bottle Rocket” (1996)
• “Rushmore” (1998)
• “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001)
• “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” (2004)
• “The Darjeeling Limited” (2007)
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009)
• “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012)
• “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014)
• “Isle of Dogs” (2018)
• “The French Dispatch of the Liberty Kansas Evening Sun” (2021)

The tech specs list a 4K 2160p video presentation for each film. They include Dolby Vision and HDR10 forms of high dynamic range as well as lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound mixes. All of the transfers were supervised and approved by Director Wes Anderson. The bonus materials will span across a total of 10 Blu-ray Discs. They will also be available on the 4K discs for things like audio commentaries.

You can now find The Wes Anderson Archive on 4K UHD Blu-ray available for preorder at Amazon. It’s currently unavailable at Walmart, but here is a link, so stay tuned. But, for now, you can preorder directly via the Criterion website. A brief bit about the bonus materials is also included. Here are some specifics about the box set via Criterion’s website description.

“Over twenty-five hours of special features, including audio commentaries, interviews, documentaries, deleted scenes, auditions, short films, home movies, commercials, storyboards, animation tests, archival recordings, still photography, discussions/analyses, and visual essays

PLUS: Essays by Richard Brody, James L. Brooks, Bilge Ebiri, Moeko Fujii, Kent Jones, Dave Kehr, Geoffrey O’Brien, Martin Scorsese, and Erica Wagner

Design by Beth Mathews”

Here is both a photo and a teaser video of the set, giving you a further glimpse at the packaging.

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Last, but not entirely last, nor least. This is most certainly worth noting, especially for those who don’t want to purchase this rather extravagant box set. There will be individual 4K UHD Blu-ray releases of these films. Starting on September 30th with the individual releases of the films “Isle of the Dogs” (2018) and “The French Dispatch…” (2021). You can find their artwork below, along with links to their preorder listings on Criterion’s website. Theoretically, more of the 8 remaining films will get 4K UHD Blu-ray releases in the coming months and/or years.

One other thing. For those of you wondering why “Asteroid City” (2023) is not in the set. It specifically says it is meant to span 25 years, the first bit of his career. The films in the set start in 1996 and stop at 2021, for that very reason. He plans to do another set someday spanning another 25 years.

Finally, the descriptions of the films included are listed further below.

Films In This Set

Bottle Rocket (1996)

Wes Anderson first illustrated his lovingly detailed, slightly surreal cinematic vision (with cowriter Owen Wilson) in this visually witty and warm portrait of three young misfits. Best friends Anthony (Luke Wilson), Dignan (Owen Wilson), and Bob (Robert Musgrave) stage a wildly complex, mildly successful robbery of a small bookstore, then go “on the lam.” During their adventures, Anthony falls in love with a South American housekeeper, Inez (Lumi Cavazos), and they befriend local thief extraordinaire Mr. Henry (James Caan). Bottle Rocket is a charming, hilarious, affectionate look at the folly of dreamers, shot against radiant southwestern backdrops, and the film that put Anderson and the Wilson brothers on the map.

Rushmore (1998)

The dazzling sophomore film from Wes Anderson is equal parts coming-of-age story, French New Wave homage, and screwball comedy. Tenth grader Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is Rushmore Academy’s most extracurricular student—and its least scholarly. He faces expulsion and enters into unlikely friendships with both a lovely first-grade teacher (Olivia Williams) and a melancholy self-made millionaire (Bill Murray, in an award-winning performance). Set to a soundtrack of classic British Invasion tunes, Rushmore defies categorization, capturing the pain and exuberance of adolescence with wit, emotional depth, and cinematic panache.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife, Etheline (Anjelica Huston), had three children—Chas, Margot, and Richie—and then they separated. Chas (Ben Stiller) started buying real estate in his early teens and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of international finance. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of $50,000 in the ninth grade. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior champion tennis player and won the U.S. Nationals three years in a row. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. The Royal Tenenbaums is a hilarious, touching, and brilliantly stylized study of melancholy and redemption from Wes Anderson.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Internationally famous oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) and his crew, Team Zissou, set sail on an expedition to hunt down the mysterious, elusive, possibly nonexistent Jaguar Shark that killed Zissou’s partner during the documentary filming of their latest adventure. They are joined on their voyage by a young airline copilot (Owen Wilson), a pregnant journalist (Cate Blanchett), and Zissou’s estranged wife (Anjelica Huston). Wes Anderson has assembled an all-star cast that also includes Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Noah Taylor, Seu Jorge, and Bud Cort for this wildly original adventure-comedy.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

In director Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, three estranged brothers reunite for a meticulously planned, soul-searching train voyage across India one year after the death of their father. Armed with eleven suitcases, a laminated itinerary, a can of pepper spray, a supply of over-the-counter painkillers, and a host of family conflicts ready to erupt, Francis, Peter, and Jack eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert—at which point an unexpected new chapter in their journey begins. Featuring a sensational cast including Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, and Anjelica Huston, The Darjeeling Limited is a dazzling and hilarious film that takes Anderson to deeper places than ever before.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox is the story of a clever, quick, nimble, and exceptionally well-dressed wild animal. A compulsive chicken thief turned newspaper reporter, Mr. Fox settles down with his family in a new foxhole in a beautiful tree—directly adjacent to three enormous poultry farms owned by three ferociously vicious farmers: Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Mr. Fox simply cannot resist. Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel is a meticulous work of stop-motion animation featuring vibrant performances by George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Michael Gambon, and Bill Murray.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

An island off the New England coast, summer of 1965. Two twelve-year-olds, Sam and Suzy, fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As local authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing offshore . . . Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom stars Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the young couple on the run, Bruce Willis as Island Police Captain Sharp, Edward Norton as Khaki Scout troop leader Scout Master Ward, and Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as Suzy’s attorney parents, Walt and Laura Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban. The magical soundtrack features the music of Benjamin Britten.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Wes Anderson brings his dry wit and visual inventiveness to this exquisite caper set amid the old-world splendor of Europe between the world wars. At the opulent Grand Budapest Hotel, the concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and his young protégé Zero (Tony Revolori) forge a steadfast bond as they are swept up in a scheme involving the theft of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune—while around them, political upheaval consumes the continent. Meticulously designed, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a breathless picaresque and a poignant paean to friendship and the grandeur of a vanished world, performed with panache by an all-star ensemble that includes F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Mathieu Amalric, Tilda Swinton, and Bill Murray.

Isle of Dogs (2018)

Wes Anderson conjures a dystopian future Japan in magical stop-motion. After a canine virus outbreak, the dogs of Megasaki are exiled to a vast island garbage dump. When Atari (the daring twelve-year-old ward of the city’s mayor) sets out to rescue his beloved Spots, he meets a pack of mongrel friends and is launched on an epic quest. Innovatively blending English and Japanese dialogue through a cross-cultural voice cast that includes Bryan Cranston, Greta Gerwig, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Yoko Ono, and Koyu Rankin, this fable of loyalty and disobedience combines Anderson’s signature themes—friendship among outsiders, the adventure of rebellion—with a delight in the boundless possibilities of animated storytelling.

The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)

A salute to writers and expatriates, Wes Anderson’s tenth feature takes the form of the final edition of The French Dispatch, a weekly magazine chronicling life in the city of Ennui-sur-Blasé, France (for American readers). Made up of three featured stories—a profile of a tortured artist, a report on student revolutionaries, and a recounting of a tabloid kidnapping with a gourmet twist—plus an obituary and a travelogue, this dazzlingly constructed anthology mixes everything from theatrical interludes to tableaux vivants to comic-book animation. The superb ensemble cast includes Adrien Brody, Timothée Chalamet, Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand, Léa Seydoux, Owen Wilson, and Jeffrey Wright.