Along with Black Friday and when The Criterion Collection decides to have a sale, few times of the year are better for building out a collection of phyiscal media than Prime Day. After scouring pages of thousands upon thousands of Blu-Ray and 4K discs, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Amazon's deals (which, naturally, turned into a game of chicken between the shiny new object and my bank account). Here are some of the best ones to consider grabbing – but do it fast since many are likely to sell out at these prices.
Best Prime Day Sales on Movie Collections:
Buying collections is a great way to get a whole bunch of movies on a discount, and Prime Day deepens the price-per-unit investment gap. (Six Lord of the Rings movies at just $2 an hour? Do you know how much those cost to make?) We've written about the $16 The Conjuring seven-movie box set, which includes the first Conjuring movie through The Nun, the lowest-ever price for the original Matrix trilogy, and the $25 six-film Terminator collection, but plenty more are out there waiting to be bought. The collections below are up to 65%+ off.
Best Prime Day Deals on Anime Blu-Rays:
Some truly surprising sales in the anime series space, including some hefty discounts for seasons of Attack on Titan, a cool-looking Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1 box set with its thrumming snyth soundtrack, My Hero Academia, and One Punch Man. But the standout for me is by far the worst actual sale: The 1997 Berserk series, nearly impossible to watch through legitimate means via streaming, getting some attention for Prime Day is a treat in itself.
Anime movies are also getting some love. A few of the Ghibli steelbooks are on sale, as are several movies from other notable directors. Some of Makoto Shinkai's tearjerkers – Your Name. and a lovely Suzume box set specifically – are discounted specifically for Prime Day, and Satoshi Kon's incredible mind-breaking films have gotten price cuts, but I'm particularly fond of the limited edition set for Paprika for 40% off.
Best Movies to Buy During Prime Day:
Of course, this all comes down to personal preference, but if there are some films you've been waiting to pick up until the price was just a little more justifiable, now's the time to do it. A bunch of no-brainer collection adds (Back to the Future, The Thing, Blade Runner Director's Cut, and so many more), newer grabs (the Dune movies, Nope, your pick of Christopher Nolan movies), and cool limited edition steelbooks and anniversary sets (Taxi Driver, Titanic, The Exorcist, etc.) are all getting a nice little price drop.
Best TV Shows to Buy During Prime Day:
With TV shows no longer safe from being pulled from streaming services, it's a great time to invest in physical copies some of your favorite series so it won't disappear into oblivion. Not only can you then revisit it any time you want, you'll also get to explore some fun DVD extras. I've tried to include as many complete series sets as I could find. Some great prestige TV picks (The Wire, The Shield, others that start with "the"), older stone-cold classics (the original Star Trek, Batman: The Animated Series, etc.), and newer celebrated series round out my top picks for Prime Day.
What's the difference between a Blu-Ray and a DVD?
A Blu-Ray is basically an overall better-quality DVD that can also store a lot more information on it. The downside is that you'll need a Blu-Ray player to watch Blu-Ray discs. (The upside is that if you have a PlayStation 4, you can use that to watch Blu-Rays but sadly not Ultra High 4Ks. The PS5 and Xbox Series X support both formats.)
Leanne Butkovic is an Editorial Project Manager at IGN and has previously written about movies, TV, and anime.
