Full Metal Jackets: Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

This one’s a gimme. I don’t imagine that it will surprise too many metal case collectors to hear that the summer blockbuster ‘Man of Steel’ will be made available on Blu-ray in SteelBook packaging. After all, the movie has “steel” right in the title!

Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot received mixed response from both viewers and critics, but did plenty of business to qualify as a hit. As we’ve talked about here in the blog recently, Snyder has already been confirmed to helm a Superman/Batman team-up film with Henry Cavill returning as Superman and Ben Affleck taking over the role of the Dark Knight.

In the meantime, ‘Man of Steel’ will be released on Blu-ray in the United States on November 12th. Walmart has a listing for an exclusive Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet edition in SteelBook packaging. Unfortunately, the retailer has not yet posted any photos.

However, I’d expect that the case will match this handsome UK SteelBook scheduled for release on December 2nd (available for preorder at Amazon UK).

Neither the Walmart nor Amazon UK listings make any mention of 3D. I take that to mean that both will be 2D only. Frankly, I’m not overly bothered by this. Most accounts of the theatrical release have claimed that the 3D conversion was rather shoddy and unnecessary. [Update: Amazon UK and fellow British retailer Zavvi now claim that the UK SteelBook will contain both 3D and 2D copies of the movie. Walmart in the U.S. is still unconfirmed.]

If you’re a big 3D fan or simply a completist collector who must have everything, Amazon Germany will carry its own similar SteelBook that does include 3D.

That one’s scheduled for October 25th.

13 comments

  1. Drew

    I ordered my 3D SteelBook from Zavvi. It looks identical to the Amazon Germany version. I’m surprised you were unaware that Zavvi was offering the 3D SteelBook.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Hmm. Zavvi says that it contains 3D on the listing page, but the cover art is identical to the Amazon UK version and doesn’t actually say 3D on the case. I suspect that Zavvi may have an error in the description, but I’ll send them a question about it.

      • William Henley

        My experience with Zavi and Amazon.co.uk is that they are TERRIBLE with proper disc descriptions. They will say a release is 3D when its a 2D release, and vice versa, region codings will be listed wrong, audio tracks will sometimes be listed Dolby Digital when its DTS-HD Master Audio, and many times, audio and subtitle track listings will be taken off of a non-UK release of the disc. As such, i have only ordered a couple of Blus from the UK, usually after HDD or Blu-Ray.com reviews the UK import of the disc and verifies the disc specs.

        Ordering from Germany and Asia has lead me to disappointment. Discs will specify a Lossless Audio 5.1 mix, just to find out its a matrixed stereo mix from a DD source, video transfers are sometimes much worse than later US or Canadian releases, and the 3D versions usually turn out to be crap-on-the-fly conversions or worse, anaglyph.

        Being burned so many times by importing, I almost always try to wait for a review site to review the discs before ordering.

      • Josh Zyber
        Author

        I received a response from Zavvi today confirming that the SteelBook will have both 2D and 3D. I don’t know if that means that the copy sold at Amazon UK also has 3D, or if the 3D SteelBook bundle will be exclusive to Zavvi, but that’s the story they’re sticking to.

  2. Drew

    With that said, you do have me a little bit concerned, now. When I ordered mine, it was showing 3D, right on the case. The listing that they have up now, does not. Please update me, after you hear back from them.

  3. Timcharger

    Nothing against the Watchmen and 300, but it seems tacky to me to put that info
    in the top line for your collectible steelbook.

    I can’t imagine anyone saying, I’m not sure about watching the Man of Steel… but
    look here, it’s directed by the same guy as Watchmen and 300, so that will push
    me over the edge and buy this.

    If Snyder did a small, indie film, I can understand that you would want to
    emphasize his previous more notable projects to move sales of the indie disc.
    But this is Superman!

  4. Drew

    William,

    My experiences have been the total opposite. I’ve had great success ordering from both Zavvi and Amazon UK. My disc buying is probably 50/50 US and UK, now.

    I ALWAYS buy a blu-ray from the UK, when it is released a significant amount of time, before its US counterpart. The UK also offers better collectible blu-rays than the US does.

    I don’t really pay attention to the description of the audio track, because I have bought enough discs from the UK to be confident that the audio track is going to be identical to the US release, 99% of the time (On new releases, at least).

    • William Henley

      I usually try to keep my imports limited to BFI or BBC titles, as I usually do not have issues with them. I would import more if I had a region-free player. That is in my To-Do list – everytime I save up to buy one, something comes up.

      I have bought a couple of Disney films from UK, but those are hit and miss if they are going to be region free or not. I’ve canceled a few preorders before when different listings can’t seem to agree on its region coding. I just need to get a region-free player – that would take care of most of my issues.

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