Studio Distribution Services released a newer version of the Daniel Craig “James Bond” collection to 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 1st, 2022. This is the final and complete collection of the James Bond films that star Daniel Craig, as the actor announced he would not return for a sixth film in the franchise. The collection has been previously released with 4 movies prior to No Time To Die, both on Blu-ray and 4k Blu-ray.
The cover art and design for the 5-film collection looks similar to previous editions, so much so that you may have to look twice to notice the newer promo photo of Daniel Craig as James Bond.This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray collection also includes Blu-ray copies and a code to redeem a digital copy in 4k through Vudu. The 5-film collection includes Casino Royale (along with the extended unrated version of the film on 4k Blu-ray only), Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and last year’s No Time to Die. Bonus features are available with each title, but you’ll find more extras on the Blu-ray discs rather than 4k discs.
The Daniel Craig films, of course, were previously released in single-disc 4k Blu-ray editions both in standard and SteelBook packaging. But those editions (hitting stores in February 2020) were released long before No Time To Die finally hit theaters in the fall of 2021 (originally slated to release in the first quarter of 2020 but delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic).
We were wondering if there is a possibility of MGM/SDS completing the single-disc series from 2020 in the same type of packaging art that was used, but this is highly unlikely. Maybe a later batch of all five films will share the same packaging as single editions or newer collection.
Packaging
The 5-film collection comes with a slipcover and 1-inch-thick black plastic 4K Blu-ray case that share the same front artwork but a different back design. The cardboard slipcover shows thumbnails of each film but the paper insert for the case does not. To be honest the graphic design looks unfinished on the back of the insert. This is atypical for disc packaging.
Inside the case are 4 foldout disc holders, each holding two discs — one on the front and one on the back. The disks were a mess of course when opening for this first time, but luckily it’s pretty rare to have a disc be scratched by the soft plastic inside. The 5-film Collection is not very impressive in terms of packaging, but it does deliver what we want — that is a bundled deal on all James Bond films starring Daniel Craig. We’ve straightened out the disks so you can have a better look at what they should look like when opening.
Inside the case, the 1080p Blu-rays are to the left and 4k discs to the right. It may have made sense to keep each movie title together but just as logical to separate them by side.
What’s sort of disappointing is that the discs for No Time To Die is not designed like the other four Daniel Craig films. Instead, the 4k disc has a plain black background the Blu-ray disc a silver background. The 4 films previous to No Time to Die have been styled with a 007 logo over the background color.
Digital Code
There is one digital code provided (expiring 3/31/2024 in this batch) that activates all five films at wb.com/redeemdigital. Unfortunately, the only digital service to activate the code with is Vudu, even though a Movies Anywhere graphic is shown at the bottom of the screen. We were hoping to get the Bond films on Apple TV through the Movies Anywhere partnership, but instead stuck with Vudu for streaming. The nice thing about Vudu though is you can download a copy to mobile devices for viewing off-grid.
Casino Royale Extended Unrated Version
The Extended Unrated Version of Casino Royale is only provided on the 4k Blu-ray Disc, adding an extra minute to the 144-minute PG-13 film to make it 145 minutes. The difference in material can be found in the fight between Bond and the MI6 contact Fisher, as well as the stairway fight with Obanno at the Casino Royale, both of which were censored for the more box office-friendly rating of PG-13.
Video & Audio
There are differences between the video and audio qualities of the Daniel Craig movies, although the first 3 titles share most of the same specs. Spectre grabbed a couple more audio channels with DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1. But most notably, No Time To Die is the only Bond film so far to feature Dolby Atmos audio. Here’s a breakdown of the specs.
Casino Royale (2006)
4k, Dolby Vision & HDR10, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Quantum of Solace (2008)
4k, Dolby Vision & HDR10, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Skyfall (2012)
4k, Dolby Vision & HDR10, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spectre (2015)
4k Ultra HD, DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
No Time To Die (2021)
4k, Dolby Vision & HDR10, Ultra HD, Dolby Atmos
