Warner Bros. is one of the most famous and successful movie studios of all-time. Founded in 1923 by brothers Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner, the studio has been responsible for breaking some of the golden stars of Hollywood and for making some of the most-loved films in the industry’s history. This year, Warner Bros. hits a huge milestone as it celebrates its 100th anniversary and continues to be one of the leading studios in the world. To mark the occasion, Warner Bros has released ‘100 Years of Warner Bros. The Studio Collection’ 4K boxset, featuring 30 of the studio’s most iconic films spanning from 1939 to 2022. Enter our competition to win the boxset!
This stunning boxset is split into three eras – ‘Classic Hollywood (1930s – 1960s)’, ‘New Hollywood (1970s – 1980s)’ and ‘Modern Blockbusters (1990s – Today)’ – with 10 films included in each. Inside the golden boxset, which features a Warner Bros. logo clasp, there are 3 layflat hardback books. Inside each of these books is a timeline of Warner Bros. during that era along with information about the releases of the films included in the boxset. Each film’s poster is included and the 4K disc housed in a cardboard slipcase that features imagery from the relevant film. These look fantastic and the whole package feels incredibly special.
Across the 30 films included here, there isn’t a single duff one which is testament to the consistently high quality of Warner Bros. output over the last 100 years. The first film is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ from 1939 starring Judy Garland and the film has never looked more wonderful than it does in 4K. The colours are vibrant, the sound quality is better than it’s ever been and the film remains as magical all these decades on. Other highlights in the ‘Classic Hollywood’ section include Orson Welles’ ground-breaking feature ‘Citizen Kane’, the joyful Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds musical “Singin’ in the Rain” and the James Dean double bill of ‘East of Eden’ and ‘Rebel Without a Cause’. This set also features the first of three Stanley Kubrick films – ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ – which remains one of the most visually stunning films in cinematic history.
‘New Hollywood’ kicks off with another Kubrick classic, the controversial ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and there’s a rich variety of films on offer here. From the family friendly ‘Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory’ to the terrifying once-banned ‘The Exorcist’, there’s something for all ages here. Comic book fans will relish seeing Christopher Reeve as The Man of Steel in ‘Superman: The Movie’ and Michael Keaton as Batman in Tim Burton’s classic 1989 film ‘Batman’ and for those of us counting down to the long-awaited sequel, there’s another Keaton classic with the inclusion of the hugely enjoyable comedy horror ‘Beetlejuice’.
The third and final set, ‘Modern Blockbusters’ celebrates those films from the last 30 or so years that have stood, or will stand, the test of time. From gangster classic ‘Goodfellas’ through to last year’s acclaimed biopic ‘Elvis’, these are the films that have kept Warner Bros. at the top of their game. These films also show how Warner Bros. continually breaks ground with the mind-bending sci-fi hit ‘The Matrix’, starring Keanu Reeves, and the Oscar-winning ‘A Star is Born’ putting a new spin on the classic tale with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as just two examples. Horror fans get to enjoy the first part of ‘IT’, the Stephen King adaptation and relive the epic ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, which really is a feast for the eyes.
Inevitably, there will be criticisms of this release as some film fans may feel that their favourite films have been left out. It’s true to say that the big franchises such as ‘Harry Potter’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’ are omissions here but there’s no possible way they could have been included really. Putting just one film from those franchises in this set would have felt redundant and including them all would have meant many other deserving films were left out.
Alongside the films there are over 50 hours of extra features. For the most part these are audio commentaries and interviews with the cast and crew, but there are plenty of added extras such as featurettes and trailers too. It would make this review far too long to dig into every single extra but suffice to say there’s even more value for money thanks to the special features.
The boxset also contains a fourth book labelled ‘Premium Extras’. Inside this one is a 32-page glossy booklet with information and imagery for every film included in the boxset, along with a poster that depicts the posters and dates for each. There’s also a box containing 8 Warner Bros. logo pin badges from across the studio’s history. These are a really lovely touch and are nice collectibles for film fans.
‘100 Years of Warner Bros. The Studio Collection’ 4K boxset is simply a must-have for fans of studio blockbusters. Every single film looks stunning in 4K UHD and you won’t be able to believe your eyes at some of the older films, which are jaw-dropping. You can tell that time has been taken to curate this boxset and to ensure that the films contained within are to the highest standard in terms of audio and visuals, and narrative. While it’s difficult to please everyone, Warner Bros. has done a superb job of celebrating its incredible history with these 30 stone-cold classics housed in a high-quality presentation box. Simply stunning.
The films included in the boxset are:
Classic Hollywood (1930s -1960s)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
East of Eden (1955)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
New Hollywood (1970s – 1980s)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
Superman: The Movie (1978)
The Shining (1980)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Goonies (1985)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Batman (1989)
Modern Blockbusters (1990s – Today)
Goodfellas (1990)
Unforgiven (1992)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Matrix (1999)
Training Day (2001)
Argo (2012)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
IT (2017)
A Star is Born (2018)
Elvis (2022)
Released by: Warner Bros Release date: 9th October 2023 Buy ‘100 Years of Warner Bros The Studio Collection’ 4K boxset
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