This one’s for the hardcores.
Stanley Kubrick would have turned 97 this year. And yes, I’ll say it: in my view, he’s the greatest filmmaker to ever live. One could make a strong case for Hitchcock, Welles, or Kurosawa—their influence on the art form has indeed been immense—but for me, it’s always been Kubrick.
Kubrick’s influence is everywhere you look in modern cinema, yet his films remain impossibly, defiantly timeless. You can watch “Barry Lyndon” or “2001: A Space Odyssey” today, and there’s no sense that you’re looking at a movie made 50 or 60 years ago. That’s the extraordinary thing about Kubrick.
Which is why I am utterly excited for what The Criterion Collection is about to give Kubrick fans: a release of all 13 of the director’s features in one box set.
Every single one of Kubrick’s films will be in 4K, with the set hitting shelves on October 20, 2026.
The films are “Day of the Fight” (1951, in both original and RKO versions); “Flying Padre” (1952); “Fear and Desire” (1952); “The Seafarers” (1953); “Killer’s Kiss” (1955); “The Killing” (1956); “Paths of Glory” (1957); “Spartacus” (1960); “Lolita” (1962); “Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964); “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968); “A Clockwork Orange” (1971); “Barry Lyndon” (1975); “The Shining” (1980, in both theatrical and international versions); “Full Metal Jacket” (1987); and “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999).
Yes, even the international cut of “The Shining,” which I have never seen and runs about 20 minutes shorter, with less exposition and a tighter runtime, is part of this box set.
The collection features 25 hours of interviews, documentaries, and exclusive behind-the-scenes content, housed in deluxe packaging that includes rare photographs, newly commissioned illustrations, and artwork and documents personally annotated by Stanley Kubrick. Spanning 30 discs across 4K UHD and Blu-ray formats, the set is presented in a box design inspired by Kubrick’s famously meticulous archival collections.
Kubrick could tackle anything. Sci-fi, horror, war, period drama—no other filmmaker has navigated such varied genres with such technical precision and artistic merit. There’s truly something for everyone in this box set, and yet every single one of these films carries his unmistakable imprint.
The GOAT, as they say.
