Norbie wrote:I've gone back ten pages or so in this Forum to find more info/discussion about re-releases of certain DVDs like Salo (the digipak was one of the first Criterion I purchased along the 3 disc Seven Samurai, and back then living in Australia these beautiful sets opened new waters for me) but I didn't come across anything about it in this forum. There is some discussion in the Criterion OOP forum, but if someone could be so kind and direct me to more relevant information/discussion about these editions going out of print it would be much appreciated.
I keep track of the status of all of the digipacks and releases with "larger booklets" on the
Criterion FAQ page. There hasn't been any official word, but a number of titles have been reissued in plastic cases from digipacks / reissues where the larger book(let) is either removed or slimmed down. With the parallel rise in the appearance of leaflets, the conclusion is that Criterion is reducing costs by eliminating the heavy book(let)s - which make the packages alot heavier to ship, cost more to print, etc (leaflets can just be printed in one size, and then refolded for both DVD + Blu releases, thus even further savings). As some consolation, most of the removed essay content has been posted on Criterion's website.
A few months ago, someone noticed that Salo + Repo Man on DVD were being repackaged (on Jan 26, 2016) - thus we all assumed they would go from digipack to standard case DVD. I still don't know whether any of the booklet content was slimmed down in the process (the Criterion site doesn't indicate, so does anybody know for sure?). I do know that Burden of Dreams was recently reissued and that the large included book is now absent in the reissue (though it still might be available at Criterion.com). Most of the discussion here has been on a case by case basis with someone noticing a forthcoming reissue, so there hasn't been too much discussion on this topic (its been more about leaflets and less about losing digipacks).
For those that enjoy digipacks / the large book(let)s, I'd use my reference as a guide as to what to purchase sooner than later (unless you enjoy paying high priced gambles on Ebay). There isn't any word about any further reissues at the moment, but I expect the rest of the large books (and more digipacks) to go OOP at some point. So I wouldn't be waiting for a blu upgrade of The Furies / Mr Arkadin if you are interested in the book, best to get it now.
