Wearing Your Art on Your Sleeve

As if Blu-ray fans really needed yet another form of collectible packaging to add to their shelves full of box sets, SteelBooks, Digibooks, NEO Packs and what have you, the UK branch of Disney has now introduced “Big Sleeve Edition” Blu-rays with LP album-style 12″ jackets.

I have no doubt that these are primarily designed to appeal to the type of hipsters who fetishize vinyl records. However, as an old Laserdisc collector, I also think they’re kind of neat.

The concept is explained in a post on the Zavvi blog. Each movie comes in a gatefold-style jacket stuffed with art cards. I believe all of these Blu-rays are region-free, but the included DVDs are Region 2 PAL. Although not shown in any of the photos, I have to assume that the small discs are held in some sort of platter so that they don’t slide around inside the much larger sleeves.

The product listings make no mention of whether any of these include 3D copies of the movies when available, which makes me assume that they don’t.

I’m a little disappointed that most of these feature the standard home video art, just oversized. I’d have preferred something more unique. I think ‘Ant-Man’ looks to be the best of them, and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ the lamest.

I don’t know that I actually plan to buy any of these. I prefer to keep my Blu-rays all together and wouldn’t want to mix them on my Laserdisc shelves. Nonetheless, I think it’s an interesting development as the home video studios struggle to keep physical media relevant in the streaming age.

‘Aladdin’

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Available Now
Price: £19.99

Aladdin Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Aladdin Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Aladdin Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

‘Ant-Man’

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Release date: March 6th, 2017
Price: £31.99 (Amazon) / £22.99 (Zavvi)

Ant-Man Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Ant-Man Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Ant-Man Big Sleeve Blu-ray backer

Ant-Man Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991, Animated)

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Available Now
Price: £19.99

Beauty and the Beast Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Beauty and the Beast Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Beauty and the Beast Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

‘Cinderella’ (2015, Live Action)

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Available Now
Price: £22.99 (Amazon) / £19.99 (Zavvi)

Cinderella Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Cinderella Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Cinderella Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

‘Doctor Strange’

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Release date: March 6th, 2017
Price: £31.99 (Amazon) / £22.99 (Zavvi)

Doctor Strange Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Doctor Strange Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Doctor Strange Big Sleeve Blu-ray backer

Doctor Strange Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

‘Finding Dory’

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Available Now
Price: £19.99

Finding Dory Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Finding Dory Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Finding Dory Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Available Now
Price: £19.99

Guardians of the Galaxy Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Guardians of the Galaxy Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Guardians of the Galaxy Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

Available at: Amazon UK or Zavvi
Available Now
Price: £19.99

Star Wars The Force Awakens Big Sleeve Blu-ray front

Star Wars The Force Awakens Big Sleeve Blu-ray back

Star Wars The Force Awakens Big Sleeve Blu-ray contents

11 comments

  1. Chris B

    Huh. That’s kind of neat. I think GOTG looks the best. The problem is most fans of these movies already own the original blu ray and probably dont wanna shell out again for the oversized jacket and art cards. If they really want to make these things sell they need to issue them on the same release date as the regular releases so consumers have a choice of what to buy. Instead of just going for the double or triple dip.

  2. Thulsadoom

    It’s definitely one of those “Nice idea, but what’s the point?” things. The great thing about steelbooks is that they can sit with the rest of your collection without looking out of place. Now you have to find some separate storage location for record-sized sleeves? It really is just a marketing gimmick to sell more/repeat copies. 😉

  3. I bought the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Big Sleeve Edition. I already own the regular Blu-ray and the 3D Blu-ray, but I love the movie, I love vinyl records and I love LaserDiscs. I plan to put it next to my ‘Beauty and the Beast’ LaserDisc, so a “separate storage location” (as Thulsadoom alluded to) is not an issue.

    To answer Josh’s remark (“I have to assume that the small discs are held in some sort of platter so that they don’t slide around inside the much larger sleeves.”), the discs are actually stored inside the gatefold in a sort of inlet, a pouch akin to how you would fold a hardkerchief in a suit. Am I making sense?

  4. Trond Michelsen

    I kinda like the concept. But, I find all of these covers utterly uninteresting. Yes, they’re beautiful. But, they seem to be completely without any sort of information. Not even a chapter list. They’re all about the pretty pictures.

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