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“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.

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