In the age of shifting streaming rights, it’s never a bad idea to actually own physical, hard copies of your favorite movies and TV shows. And thanks to Amazon Prime Day, a bunch of really good ones are available for cheap(ish) right now.
But which ones should you buy? There are at least ten box sets on sale today that have timely connections to films or shows on the horizon, collections that fans will reach for to remind them of the path they’ve been down already before a franchise or series breaks off in a new direction. Let us guide the way through not only some of today’s best deals, but the timeliest ones.
It’s all about family, man. And unlike some deals on Amazon Prime Day, this family comes in the highest caliber quality with all eight movies in the Fast & Furious series collected in 4K ultra HD. Celebrate the arrival of the long-delayed F9 with the entire arc of the saga of Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) in the two decades since the 2001 original film launched one of the most successful film franchises of all time. The eight films include digital copies and hours of bonus features, including deleted scenes, commentaries, and outtakes. The best news for your family? It’s a clean 50 percent off.
It’s the one with all the episodes. The massive success of Friends: The Reunion on HBO Max has rekindled America’s love affair with Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe. A sitcom that almost feels just as popular now as when it was on TV, Friends has been one of the most successful offerings for streaming companies for years (and it’s now exclusively on HBO Max), but maybe your love for the comedy smash hit has been renewed lately? And you want to express that love by owning every episode of the classic show? Well, you can do so today with a Blu-ray release of the entire run of the show from 1994 to 2004.
The HBO adaptation of the world of George R.R. Martin may have come to a controversial end, but it feels like it didn’t die as much as go to sleep for a little bit. With recently released photos from the spinoff House of the Dragon, premiering in 2022, the world of this show is about to spring back to life, so it’s as good a time as any to revisit Game of Thrones. The truth is that HBO complete-series box sets often cost about as much as a mortgage payment, so being able to get the entire run of Game of Thrones on Blu-ray or DVD is a chance that every fan should take. It’s still not cheap — the Blu-ray is $89.99 today — but there’s a reason HBO sets cost so much money. No one does it better in terms of video/audio quality and special features.
Remember when No Time to Die came out way back in April 2020? It didn’t! One of the first film victims of the pandemic, the fifth action adventure to feature Daniel Craig as 007 was delayed multiple times, finally landing on October 8, 2021. (Fingers crossed.) as it happens, The Daniel Craig Collection, which collects the last four Bond films, is marked down today by 46 percent to $34.99.
Amazon is all in on the idea that people want to return to Middle Earth, committing about $465 million to their Amazon Prime series that they’re so confident will be your next fantasy show obsession that they’ve already renewed it for a second season. With Amazon about to be all about J.R.R. Tolkien, there’s no way the company would let a Prime Day go by without marking down the three-film collections of the Peter Jackson blockbuster hits. The cool news is that the discounted versions this year are the relatively recent 4K sets that include both extended and theatrical editions of all six films.
Most of the big news surrounding HBO’s reboot of their beloved Sex and the City has centered on the lack of Samantha. The drama between Kim Cattrall and, well, everyone else means this HBO Max reboot is going to feel a bit different; to get the real stuff, you’ll have to take in the original series. Fortunately, this one is one of the biggest deals of the day, coming in at only $39.99, which means the set is marked down — wait for it — 69 percent.
Not only is this arguably the best show you could buy today, but it’s literally the best deal of the day, marked down 71 percent — an incredible deal for one of the best TV on Blu-ray box sets of all time. And remember: The story of Tony Soprano is going to get a new chapter. Once set to hit theaters in fall 2020, prequel story The Many Saints of Newark is set to drop this September in theaters and on HBO Max, with Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James, set to play young Tony. We’re already crying.