I love DVDs — something I've made pretty clear while the Netflix DVD service was ending, including explaining why we're in need of a DVD revolution. November is often a great time for DVD deals, most prominently with Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, but there's another sale that tops the annual shopping holiday for movie lovers, the Criterion Collection sale.
- Shop Criterion Collection titles on Amazon Prime and the Barnes & Nobles website
The Criterion Collection is a home video company whose primary goal is "publishing important classic and contemporary films from around the world in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements." In a nutshell, they create special DVD editions (in DVD, Blu-ray and 4K formats) of some of the best movies ever made from around the world.
Because of the high quality work that the Criterion Collection puts into these DVDs, they often carry a higher price tag than your traditional DVD, with most costing at least $40. While they are worth the price if you have the money, if you're a bit more budget conscious you'll be happy to know that the Criterion Collection does a bi-annual sale that cuts the price of these DVDs in half every November and July for any Criterion Collection DVD bought on Amazon Prime or on the Barnes & Noble website or at their physical store locations.
The deal is currently underway and runs all throughout November. There are occasional "flash sales" that offer 50% off for Criterion Collection DVDs throughout the year, but those typically last only 24 hours. The Criterion Collection sales in November and July are some of the best DVD deals you will find all year.
I always make sure to add a Criterion Collection DVD to my DVD shelf when this sale rolls around. In fact, I just recently purchased the Criterion Collection version of Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush.
There are a number of reasons why the Criterion Collection sale has become a beloved tradition for me and many other movie lovers. The people at Criterion do an incredible job creating a unique package for the movie, including original cover art, special booklets talking about the making of the movie or its cultural impact as well as interviews and special features not available anywhere else. But the biggest reason why I throw my money down each year is because the Criterion Collection has beautifully restored movies that are extremely difficult to find.
While they are doing great work highlighting and packaging more recent movies like the collection of Wes Anderson, The Princess Bride and Wall-E, physical copies for older movies like Chaplin or Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 or Marlon Brando's On the Waterfront are often much harder to find. Some of these movies may be available to watch on various streaming services, but it's not guaranteed that they always will be, so having that physical copy is reassuring to know I won't lose out on watching them whenever I want. Speaking of streaming, the Criterion Collection also is the only way you can get DVD copies of Netflix original movies like Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, Adam Driver's Marriage Story and Alfonso Cuaron's Roma.
Also, for longer movies (like Seven Samurai) or ones featuring multiple titles from a specific director or actor (Wes Anderson or Jackie Chan), this sale allows you to buy at a more reasonable price (down to $62.49 from $124.99 on Barnes & Nobles website).
While there are other ways to enjoy the offerings from the Criterion Collection, like its own streaming service, the Criterion Channel, for any one who enjoys physical media as much as I do or perhaps wants to start their own DVD collection, there are few options better than the bi-annual Criterion Collection sale.
