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Minkin wrote:Did the Phibes set just sell out from Arrow's website? I can't find it on their store (same with other titles that have sold out, so I assume the worst).

This blog post from nine days ago indicated that they were already 45% sold out at that time. I imagine other retailers still have it but I wouldn't wait to purchase this if you want it.

This situation is worse than the time all those plagues happened.

What is the reasoning behind such small print-runs if they all sell out before release date?

I was about to ask the same. I had planned on getting Phibes too but hadn't been able to yet - oh well. I hope this doesn't turn out to be another Twilight Time situation.

I'm delighted that Arrow is meeting with such success and I hope they can extend their print runs in the future.

Making sales predictions for an unknown quantity as pricey as the Borowczyk set must be a very tense business, but I understand the real limiting factor in that instance was the book licence. I'd much rather Arrow budgeted conservatively and stayed in business longer than overextended themselves and fell flat on their face.

That these editions are selling out (or near enough) pre-release suggests that word has got out about the label's QC and reliability. They're certainly one of the labels I feel most secure about blind buying from at the moment.

The Phibes set is still available from Amazon.uk. The price is at full whack (as is Price in the films), but it looks like the package is well worth it.

I guess Arrow might have strongly miscalculated the sales potential of these titles (plus, even Hellgate and Frogtown 1000 copies of each sold out pretty quickly too). Hopefully, it is more a sign of sky-rocketting success and recognition than a really huge screw up in batch size calculation.

In France, we do have had some nice limited editions in the past months. Some of them sold out (sometimes pretty quickly like Night of the Hunter), but others are still in stock months later.

Gaumont did a very nice 50th anniversary collector's edition of Les tontons flingueurs. 1000 copies only while some people (I think the retailers) told them to do more because 1000 wouldn't be enough.
Well, this was in November, and as for today, there's still plenty in stock everywhere...

zedz wrote:That these editions are selling out (or near enough) pre-release suggests that word has got out about the label's QC and reliability. They're certainly one of the labels I feel most secure about blind buying from at the moment.

I do believe the seizable improvement of their QC and CS services have been very well noted everywhere, and has been a real game changer for them. I'm still a bit worried about Stray Cat Rock, due to their Japanese titles having a wrong color-space, but otherwise, I'm blind buying from Arrow like never before.

They really rose to a very high level of quality, and I can only hope it's paying in sales for them (it seems so), that they will keep on like this, and even more : that it will drive other labels (or, let's say, the video market in general) to go into the same high quality direction (ah, such a nice utopia).

Stray Cat Rock is also apparently 70% sold out, despite being 3 months away from release (well, it was claimed to be anyway; I can't find the referenced post about it on Arrow's Facebook)

I posted the following question on their wall

How is the Stray Cat box looking sales wise? Would I need to order it soon to avoid missing out? Was going to grab a few more sale items first but can shuffle this around if the box is starting to disappear!

and they responded back

Hi Anthony, we've done a quick calculation and it looks like we are nearly 70% sold out of this one now so would suggest putting in your order as soon as you can so you don't miss it!

At this rate I'm guessing it'll be well gone by September. I ordered mine and have already bugged some friends to do the same. I completely agree with Tenia's comment above, and feel comfortable blind buying whatever Arrow brings out (though hopefully the Japanese titles don't or won't suffer from the issues that have been noted). Ideally they'll keep on at this rate for years and I'll be able to fill my shelves with cool special editions.

EddieLarkin wrote:Stray Cat Rock is also apparently 70% sold out, despite being 3 months away from release (well, it was claimed to be anyway; I can't find the referenced post about it on Arrow's Facebook)

Not sure this is correct - it's very difficult to properly ascertain what's sold out in pre-order stage as the retailer ordering a high quantity doesn't necessarily mean they have lots of customer pre-orders, they may just think they will get a lot based on previous pre-orders (say it's strong for one week they may think it'll keep at that level for more weeks but that isn't always the case). Anyway we'll have calculation and update on our Facebook/twitter etc. on Monday.

domino harvey wrote:What is the reasoning behind such small print-runs if they all sell out before release date?

Borowczyk was a small run due to the licensing of Boro's short stories ANATOMY OF THE DEVIL which we are only allowed to do a run of 1000 so that dictated the run of the box. Also everything will likely get a standalone release (with dramatically smaller booklets). Regarding PHIBES, as explained with STRAY CAT ROCK above this may not be so cut and dry, based on previous weeks pre-order information and similar releases this is quite surprising, it could well have sold out but as above we will 100% confirm by Monday. If it has indeed sold out we will think about slightly longer runs. Though don't forget both PHIBES films (with smaller booklets) will be available as individual releases when this has sold out.

Ah, damn it - the day my copy arrives - the Dr Phibes set is finally available once again from the Arrow shop. I had a dickens of a time trying to get a copy - when it was soldout on Zavvi/Arrow's site. Then my Base.com order went from "instock" to "backorder" - eventually got it from Amazon. Would've liked the few quid saved + the points from Arrow. Ah well, glad to just have a copy at this point (versus all the limited editions that are selling out within a month now these days).

Lots of Arrow titles are on sale at Zavvi at the moment.

Just got myself "White Of The Eye" and "Deadly Blessing" for £8.99 each.

Arrow "Time Bandits", "Dressed To Kill", "Runaway Train", "Django Prepare A Coffin", "I Wish", "Ashes & Diamonds" Blu-rays etc are £5.00 each, part of a 2 for 10 deaｌ

(Trying to cancel my Zavvi order of "Deadly Blessing" now, since it's also part of this amazon deal...)

This is why I'm pretty sure I'm going to cancel my Boro boxset order: the individual releases are going to be be several quid under a tenner within six months and I'll be able to sweep the lot for somewhere around £40.

It all depends on how much you value the texts that won't be in the individual booklets.

perkizitore wrote:Withnail & I for £39.99 delivered in Europe, potentially even cheaper for non-Europeans.

Zavvi will probably ship it in a padded envelope.

By my count, we're due for another sale on the Arrow site any day now. (The last three started on 12/2, 3/7, and 6/13.)

swo called it

Running for the weekend. New discounts include White of the Eye, Sullivan's Travels, Qatsi set, Blind Woman's Curse, Remo Williams, The Beast Within, The Delta Force, Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters, The Killers, The Stuff, TCM2, and more.

Quite a nice sale, though of course it's always frustrating to see some very recent releases being already discounted when you have just bought them at a higher price.

This being said, there are some very attractive prices, such as Tin Drum at £4.99 (!), and also some posters at £7.99.
Miracle in Milan is still a bit expensive at £9.99, but there is The Beyond steel at £9.99.
Surprisingly, Porky's is in the sale, but not its Steelbook.

Amazon UK's 2 Blu-rays for £10 is finished and has been replaced with 3 Blu-rays for £17.
Lots of Arrow titles are included.

Bicycle Thieves
The Car
Deranged
Foxy Brown (Steelbook)
The Fury
Knightriders
The Long Goodbye
Motel Hell
Night Of The Hunter
Remo Williams
Sullivan's Travels
Time Bandits (Steelbook)
Vamp

etc

3 for £20 at the Arrow Store, including some never before discounted titles (including Night of the Comet, Mark of the Devil and Salvatore Giuliano). Titles are still only £7.99 if you don't want 3 of them.

Also, a separate Steelbook and Box Set sale. Everything for £9.99, including TCM2 and Koyaanisqatsi+Powaqqatsi

Thanks for the heads-up! How long is it supposed to take before they ask what you want in your bundles?

swo17 wrote:Thanks for the heads-up! How long is it supposed to take before they ask what you want in your bundles?

Within five minutes for me.

Oh, my email went to my junk folder for some reason. Thanks for prompting me to look for it.

They're giving double reward points on sale items as well. I got £10 worth back for my £50 order.

Thanks for the heads up. I found 13 bundle titles, and 1 steelbook, without which my enormous "to watch" pile would not be complete! For 11 of the bundle items, and the steelbook, Arrow's offer prices were the lowest I could find. Two of my selections were in zavvi's "£6.99 each or 2 for £12" offer, so I went to them for number 13. BTW, zavvi seemed to have quite a few Arrow titles in that offer, but I had already bought the ones I wanted…at higher prices.

manicsounds wrote:Arrow Blu-rays 2 for 12 at Zavvi