Arrow Booklets: An International Tragedy

[Adam X]

Yeah, I feel like it’s really the last year of release where the booklet print run has been obviously reduced. I bought all four of the Pam Grier films during the last Arrow website sale and they all came with booklets.

[swo17]

I bought a Very Good copy of Horror Express from DeepDiscount at this eBay listing and it turned out to be a shrinkwrapped copy including a booklet. Which was very good! They still have a few copies left if anyone is interested (though I suppose it's possible they don't all have booklets).

[Cronenfly]

Anyone know about the UK Phantom Lady booklet? My guess is it’s still safe but I was wondering if anyone who has bought it recently could say. I’ve had good luck with, for instance, the two recent Joseph H Lewis titles (which I’m guessing to be in the same ballpark as Phantom Lady would be in terms of units moved), in that I waited for a sale but still got the booklets.

[reaky]

I bought it sealed on eBay last week, and got a booklet. Only one 5 1/2-page essay by Alan K Rode in it, mind you.

[Adam X]

I feel like the Academy titles aren’t affected by this under-printing yet? Or maybe it’s just that less people buy them?

[tenia]

Considering how much slower (compared to the Video ones) the Academy LE boxsets seem to sell, I always assumed the Academy titles are selling much less copies than the Video ones, so that might be the explanation.

[What A Disgrace]

My Andromeda Strain arrived today, without a booklet.

[swo17]

I also just got the US version of The Hired Hand without one

[Cash Flagg]

My Andromeda Strain arrived today, without a booklet.

Which was released two weeks ago - are we getting to the point where even pre-orders may not include booklets?

[swo17]

My Andromeda Strain arrived today, without a booklet.

US or UK version?

[xxnomad]

My Andromeda Strain arrived today, without a booklet.

uhhhhhhhhh yeah to jump on this train, this literally just came out 2 weeks ago. did you technically pre order, or order when the price was lowered?

i ask because now with amazon uk price matching pre orders again, i'm curious if anyone who actually PRE ORDERS will not get a booklet. once that happens, all bets are off.

[tenia]

My Andromeda Strain arrived today, without a booklet.

Wasn't that the first allocation Arrow even received ?

[senseabove]

FWIW, in the BOGO sale, Andromeda Strain was initially listed as Out of Stock and reappeared as In Stock on the second day of the sale.

[reaky]

Possibly a skimpy first pressing quickly sold out, as it was released just as the HMV/Fopp BOGOF Deal launched, making it effectively £7.50 from Day One.

[domino harvey]

I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but no booklet when buying in the second week of release is next-level absurd— why ever even try to order these when released at this point?

[swo17]

To be fair, most titles still seem to come with a booklet, and hopefully this thread can help people know when to look on eBay instead of Amazon or Arrow direct

[KJones77]

At this point, it seems best to just assume there'll be no booklet when you order. Then, if there is one, it's a pleasant surprise.

[ranaing83]

I pre-ordered Andromeda Strain the day it was announced on Arrow’s website. I pre-ordered it with a couple other titles that were announced around the same time (Def-Con 4, The Sender, The Double Face) that had street dates a week to two weeks after Andromeda so my order wasn’t sent until the last of those was officially released. My day one pre-order does not have a booklet. So yes, this whole booklet situation is officially fucked.

[domino harvey]

Has there been any kind of statement or explanation from Arrow on this? Is there anything we can do about it other than just not buying these until they're on sale for cheap and forgoing booklets by default? If booklets are supposed to be incentives to purchase early in the same manner of slipcovers and other limited edition packaging choices, it's a colossal failure that is doing nothing but spreading ill will at this point

[Adam X]

I’ve been thinking of contacting them about it, so we’ll see how that goes... unless someone’s already done this & not posted their response?

[ZHansen]

Last year I ordered Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji from Amazon UK, not long after the release, and it arrived without a booklet. I sent Arrow a Facebook message and their reply was something like "Yes, that must be a mistake, that should still have a booklet" and they sent me a PDF of it. I wrote back and said I'd really prefer to have an actual booklet and they mailed one to me for free. The e-mail confirmation I got was from [email protected], so that might be a good place to start. FWIW, I live in the US but order most Arrows from the UK since it's usually cheaper.

If this is becoming a bigger issue, they might not be that willing now, but it worked not that long ago!

[Adam X]

Yeah, my first sign of this issue was a booklet missing from my (pre-ordered w/ Arrow) copy of Heathers. After that, a copy of Detective Bureau 2-3 I bought 9 months after release, and Strip Nude for Your Killer 2 weeks after. I contacted them about all three.
For the first, they apologised & had “one last booklet” lying around which they sent me; the 2nd I was told

Booklets are limited so only come with the first pressings of films. As this has been out for a long time, it is no longer available.

and was offered the PDF. For Strip Nude, they never responded.

[Cash Flagg]

I pre-ordered it with a couple other titles that were announced around the same time (Def-Con 4, The Sender, The Double Face)

Did the first two include booklets? My pre-orders haven't shipped from Amazon yet (being held up by a 6/24 pre-order) so now I'm worried they will be booklet-less.

[ranaing83]

I pre-ordered it with a couple other titles that were announced around the same time (Def-Con 4, The Sender, The Double Face)

Did the first two include booklets? My pre-orders haven't shipped from Amazon yet (being held up by a 6/24 pre-order) so now I'm worried they will be booklet-less.

Yes. Only Andromeda Strain did not have a booklet.

[Orlac]

I've decedied not to pre-order Arrow's standard discs now if they're going to be silly with the booklets. Will get them in the discount sales at HMV a few years down the line.