SteelBook Alert: Take Your Protein Pills and Put Your Helmet On

As befitting its blockbuster status, Christopher Nolan’s space travel opus ‘Interstellar’ will hit Blu-ray next month in several deluxe packaging options, including at least two different SteelBook cases. Although I’m a big SteelBook collector, in this instance I may choose a different route.

While the American and Canadian SteelBooks technically use different images, they’re both based on versions of the movie’s kind-of boring poster art and work with a similar theme (i.e. Matthew McConaughey in a spacesuit walking on indistinct terrain). Of the two, I would prefer the Future Shop case if it weren’t the exact same artwork that will be seen on the standard keepcase Blu-ray release. Even if not for that, I’m not really thrilled with it.

The Target case, meanwhile, has a really ugly Photoshopped design that I don’t care for at all.

Target SteelBook, USA

Available at: Target
Release date: March 31, 2015
Price: $24.99 USD
Region code: Paramount Blu-rays are usually region-free

Interstellar SteelBook - Target

Interstellar SteelBook - Target inside

Future Shop SteelBook, Canada

Available at: Future Shop
Release date: March 31, 2015
Price: $26.99 CAD
Region code: Paramount Blu-rays are usually region-free
WARNING: Future Shop will not ship outside of Canada

Interstellar SteelBook - Future Shop

Better than either of those is the much sleeker, more evocative artwork shared by the Walmart NEO Pack and the UK Digibook.

(Note that ‘Interstellar’ is distributed by Paramount in North American but Warner Bros. in Europe.)

Walmart Collector’s Edition NEO Pack, USA

Available at: Walmart
Release date: March 31, 2015
Price: $29.96
Region code: Paramount Blu-rays are usually region-free

Interstellar Neopack - Walmart

UK Digibook

Available at: Amazon UK
Release date: March 30, 2015
Price: £20.00 GBP
Region code: Warner Bros. Blu-rays are almost always region-free

Interstellar Digibook - UK

Isn’t that much nicer?

For those of you unfamiliar with NEO Pack, it’s sort of a cross between a SteelBook and a fold-out digipak, and is the same type of case used in Warner’s “Diamond Luxe” line of discs. I think they’re very nice, and I favor that case out of these four options.

One thing that bugs me about all of them, however, is the way that the font used for the title highlights the “stellar” part of “Interstellar,” as if to subliminally suggest that this is a really stellar movie. I still haven’t seen it yet, so I’m not passing any judgments on that, but I find the cheap design trick really annoying.

To my knowledge, all Blu-ray copies of the movie will be presented in the gimmicky alternating aspect ratio format per director Nolan’s preference. I’m not too thrilled about that part, personally.

11 comments

    • Chris B

      Yeah I think I’ll end up grabbing the Wal-Mart version as well. The cover art of the spaceship is far more compelling than McConaghey’s awkward space-suit pose. Plus the film cell thingy is a bonus.

  1. William Henley

    Well, I guess I will be canceling my Amazon pre-order. I am actually shocked that Zavvi has not announced a steelbook yet, but I am willing to bet that is only a matter of time. I like the FutureShop version the best, but since I am not Canadian…..

    The UK art is the same as the Canadian Steelbook, so I would expect to see an announcement eventually for a UK steelbook with the same cover art. Zavvi usually announces Steelbooks just a couple of weeks out from the release, so the fact that there is nothing on their site yet doesn’t surprise me.

  2. Several countries will be getting the Steelbook that Target is getting. Of course that means if I want the Steelbook I may have to import it as finding one undamaged at Target will be next to impossible.

  3. Bill

    Warning. Future Shop will not be shipping anywhere. Their owner, US Best Buy, shut the whole chain down on Saturday.

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