A 2024 Blu-ray Gift Guide for Movie Lovers

The Blu-ray release of the year is this absolutely stunning ode to the 40th anniversary of the Criterion Collection, the most important company around when it comes to film preservation and exultation of physical media. For years now, the good folk at Criterion have allowed filmmakers, actors, and just movie lovers access to a physical place called the Criterion Closet, a room with hundreds of Criterion releases, resulting in a video series called Criterion Closet Picks. To celebrate, they have collected the 40 films that were most frequently chosen and collected them in a gorgeous box set complete with all previously available special features and essays in a lovingly assembled book. The volume also includes quotes from the people who chose these films in the Criterion Closet. There’s much to love about this massive set, but one of the most wonderful aspects of it is the variety of films on display, spanning genres, nationalities, and film styles. It really is a perfect gift to introduce someone to the collection through films as different as Tokyo Story, Do the Right Thing, Barry Lyndon, Night of the Hunter, His Girl Friday, and 35 more. Buy it for someone and give them an assignment to watch them all in 2025. In many ways, it’s like giving them a film class in a box.

If you weren’t there, you can’t really understand the instant impact of Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi, a movie that the filmmaker reportedly made for under $7k that took the action world by storm. The success of that film led to two sequels with much bigger budgets: Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. The fine folks at Arrow Home Video have not only remastered all three films in glorious 4K but accompanied them with an insane number of special features, including new interviews, featurettes, and more. Watching these films again, one is reminded of how much has been lost in the CGI era. Much has been made of Antonio Banderas’s screen presence (and he truly is magnetic) but it’s Rodriguez’s editing and action choreography that truly take your breath away. We didn’t know how good we had it.

Arrow has such sights to show you. This is the horror release of the year, a 4K remastering of the first four films in the never-ending Hellraiser franchise. Including the remake, there have been a stunning 11 films in the series that Clive Barker started almost four decades ago with one of the most influential genre flicks of all time. 1987’s Hellraiser was such a hit that it produced a quick sequel the next year and Hell on Earth followed in 1992, joined by Bloodline in 1996. (Sadly, we don’t get the directorial debut of Sinister and The Black Phone filmmaker Scott Derrickson in 2000’s Inferno.) The films themselves look better than they ever have in this set, but as is often the case with Arrow, it’s the special features that will blow your mind. Not only are there new commentary tracks on all four films, new visual essays, and new conversations, but it comes with a 200-page hardback book and some of the coolest packaging in the history of the form. Pick this up for the horror fan on your list this holiday, or face the torment of Pinhead.

As streaming services continue to dismantle the influence of physical media, it becomes increasingly disconcerting that hit shows like What We Do in the Shadows or hit movies like Hit Man will probably never see a physical release. So it’s notable that Disney+ has been releasing special-edition steelbooks of its hit original shows. The third wave launches this holiday season with collector’s editions of the third season of The Mandalorian, the first season of Ahsoka, the second season of Loki (the best of this bunch), and the first season of Hawkeye. They also include some special features unavailable on Disney+ like a tribute to Carl Weathers and a bunch of deleted scenes from the MCU shows.

Who doesn’t miss the Coen brothers? One of the best films in their remarkable (and seemingly over as a duo) career was this 2007 winner for Best Picture, releasing on Criterion Collection special edition this holiday season. It’s wonderful when Criterion digs into the vault and finds movies that even hard-core cinephiles don’t know, but it’s also pretty cool when they just pull out the big guns for a film you already love, especially around the holidays. Not only has the story of Anton Chigurh been remastered in 4K for the first time, Criterion got the wonderful writer Megan Abbott to sit with the Coens for a new conversation about the film, and a separate chat with the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins and associate producer David Dilberto. It also includes previously available material like a behind-the-scenes documentary by Josh Brolin himself, three other docs, and archival interviews. Pick it up, friendo.

One of the best American films of all time finally got a 4K release this year in a limited edition steelbook that’s a must-own for all fans. It’s been restored from the original camera negative, making the story of Travis Bickle’s journey through the underbelly of New York City grittier and more tactile than ever before. It also includes some fascinating storyboard to film comparisons and a 40-minute conversation about the film with Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Jodie Foster that was recorded during the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. Not enough? How about a commentary with Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader, two of the most knowledgeable speakers in the history of the form?

People adore these two Jim Henson ’80s classics, films that refused to talk down to children, transporting them to magical worlds of danger and wonder. While they have been given a few physical media releases over the years, late 2024 saw the release of the most expansive and impressive collections to date, filled with new special features and wicked physical collectibles. Both films have been remastered in 4K and include previously available bonus material alongside new featurettes like a Q&A with Brian Henson and Labyrinth conceptual designer Brian Froud. But it’s the physical design of these box sets that will likely be the most attractive to collectors — the Labyrinth one has an actual crystal ball! And The Dark Crystal has a physical crystal shard! Both come with books and other physical collectibles too. It’s as much a display item as a Blu-ray release. Find someone you love who would want to show it off.

Back in July, Shout Factory released a gorgeous steelbook edition of one of the best animated films of the decade, Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning The Boy and the Heron. While the film is undeniably adored, it still somehow feels a bit underrated in that its legacy will only grow over time as parents pass it down to their children generation after generation. Not only does this steelbook contain a mesmerizing 4K version of the film (with a great DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track for both the Japanese original and English dub), it also includes interviews with composer Joe Hisaishi, producer Toshio Suzuki, and animation supervisor Takeshi Honda. Not enough? You also get a storyboard reel, music video, drawing lesson with Honda, and teasers. Finally, look at that cover art — it’s a beautiful new design for a beautiful movie.

A24 has quietly been amassing a remarkable collection of physical media releases that befit its reputation as a leader in the form. Collector’s editions of Midsommar and Love Lies Bleeding are must-own, as is its lavish release for Jane Schoenbrun’s breathtaking feature. Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine star in one of the best films of 2024, one that’s accompanied by a commentary with Schoenbrun and Lundy-Paine, deleted scenes, a new featurette, and even six collectible postcards. When people look back on the year in film that was 2024, this is going to be one of the essential artworks cited, so why not add it to your collection?

Moving quickly from TIFF premiere to theatrical release to physical media, one of the best animated films of 2024 wants to be on a lot of holiday shopping lists this season, and it deserves to be. This is the kind of gift that works for all ages, a moving adaptation of Peter Brown’s work that filmmaker Chris Sanders once said was intended to be like “a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest.� It’s a bold bar to reach, but The Wild Robot does so with its blend of heartfelt emotion and peak craftsmanship. As they often do, Universal/Dreamworks are packing the physical release with copious special features, including an alternate opening to the film, footage of the ace voice cast at work, a deleted sequence in storyboard form, a look at Kris Bowers’s stunning score, and much more. They’ll even walk you through making your own Brightbill Kite! The Wild Robot feels like an instant classic already.

Yes, Paramount has gone back to the well a few too many times on the story of Ron Burgundy, but the 20th anniversary release marks the first time that it’s been available in 4K, and one of the most influential comedies of its era has never looked better. That’s the main reason to pick this up, San Diego, but it helps that it’s been accompanied by every special feature imaginable, including not just the extended version of Adam McKay’s film but the entirety of Wake Up Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, a whole separate film of alternate takes and deleted scenes from the original movie. Not enough? How about a poster, art cards, a sticker, and too many special features to count? It’s an insanely packed release for a truly beloved comedy, and one presumes, the final, definitive one.

Paramount does an underrated job of remastering and rereleasing its catalogue films on Blu-ray, and this is one of its best of 2024, a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Nicolas Cage drama that has only grown in esteem in the past quarter-century. Awash in religious imagery, Bringing Out the Dead features Cage as a Manhattan paramedic who might be losing his mind. With a script by Paul Schrader that’s one of his best, it’s held up remarkably well, and Paramount has not only remastered it in 4K from the original negative but included never-before-seen special features that include contributions from Martin Scorsese, Cage, Schrader, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony, and the great cinematographer Robert Richardson.

Red alert, Christopher Nolan fans! This is what you want this holiday season. A decade after one of the beloved filmmaker’s most divisive films, Paramount is issuing a special edition of Interstellar that includes physical collectibles like costume patches and poster reproductions in a massive box set. There are 4K and standard Blu-ray discs included, but it’s the third disc of special features that will be a big draw, especially a new featurette called “The Future Is Now: A Look Back at Interstellar� that not only includes Nolan himself discussing the film but luminaries like Peter Jackson and Denis Villeneuve contributing their takes on it. Interstellar feels like it’s a greater part of the cinematic conversation than most films turning 10 this year, and this is the release that a film this essential deserves.