“This is the work of an artist so sublimely confident that he doesn’t include a single shot simply to keep our attention. He reduces each scene to its essence, and leaves it on screen long enough for us to contemplate it, to inhabit it in our imaginations.” – Roger Ebert on “2001: A Space Odyssey”
Criterion has recently developed an annual tradition of exhaustive box sets for some of history’s most notable filmmakers. Must-owns in recent year have included collections built around the oeuvres of Agnes Varda, Ingmar Bergman, and Wes Anderson. For 2026, the Criterion Collection has assembled every film directed by one of the most influential filmmakers of all time: Stanley Kubrick. While most of Kubrick’s films have been available in standalone, often standard Blu-ray versions in the collection for years, this is the first time everything he ever made has been upgraded to 4K, as well as accompanied by all previously available special features along with some excellent new ones. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it.
What does it mean to be “Complete”? Of course, all 13 feature-length films are included, from 1953’s “Fear and Desire” to 1999’s “Eyes Wide Shut,” but the set also includes three early shorts from the filmmaker made from 1951 to 1953. The first Kubrick film, “Day of the Fight,” is the best of the three. It merely follows a boxer named Walter Cartier in the lead-up to an important fight in his career, but it’s remarkable evidence of Kubrick’s future skill with framing and composition. All three shorts are on the first disc of this massive collection, “Killer’s Kiss,” along with “Fear and Desire,” included as bonus material instead of on its own Blu-ray.
The first thing one notices about “The Complete Kubrick” is the inventive packaging, designed to mirror Kubrick’s obsessive journals, note-taking, and archiving. All of the discs are housed in a box with familiar poster images, but also new riffs on notes that Kubrick might have taken or drawings he might have put in the margins of one of his journals. The collection also includes a book with rare photographs, artwork, and documents. Criterion often puts inspired effort into making their biggest releases into items that collectors would want to display, and this is one of their most inventive product designs.
The main draw will always be the films, which I sampled for this review, impressed by both the 4K restorations (especially the works from the ‘50s and ‘60s), and the consistent audio tracks. “The Shining” has never looked better, but it’s “Lolita” and “Killer’s Kiss” that felt like I had never seen them before.
As is often the case, Criterion includes enough special features that someone who watched them all could teach a class on Stanley Kubrick. A few highlights:
Novelist Jonathan Lethem and film historian Kevin Wynter have a half-hour conversation on the “Lolita” disc about Kubrick’s relationship to authors. He almost exclusively adapted novels and short stories, but he also almost aggressively making them his own. Famous examples include how he excised Arthur C. Clarke’s narration for “2001” and completely reshaped Stephen King’s intent with “The Shining.” Lethem and Wynter brilliantly use this almost contentious dynamic between Kubrick and his sources as a window to his entire approach to filmmaking, one that creates a space for the viewer between the original and new visions.
Many people will be drawn to the first 4K version of Kubrick’s international cut of “The Shining.” Between the U.S. and international releases, Kubrick went in and radically changed his film, cutting out so much material that it completely shifts the tone from a slow burn to a relentless thriller. Kubrick expert Lee Unkrich (also the director of “Toy Story 3” and “Coco,” believe it or not) provides a phenomenal commentary on this version, offering insight into maybe the most over-analyzed movie of all time that still feels fresh.
Finally, there’s an expanded version of “Staircases to Nowhere,” about the making of “The Shining,” along with a 4K restoration of Vivian Kubrick’s “Making The Shining.”
Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s worth noting that most of the other material was previously available on standalone Criterion releases, such as last year’s excellent 4K release of “Eyes Wide Shut.” That has a fantastic special feature with the self-explanatory title “Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick.”
How many filmmakers could possibly make the same impact as Stanley Kubrick with only 13 feature films? How many could support a 30-disc release almost three decades after his death? Kubrick was a pioneer and a visionary, the kind of filmmaker who justifies a release this, well, complete.
Special Features
- 4K restorations of director Stanley Kubrick’s thirteen features and three shorts, presented in Dolby Vision HDR, with the original monaural PCM soundtracks and 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio remixes, restored and remastered
- Kubrick’s international version of The Shining
- New 4K restoration of Vivian Kubrick’s behind-the-scenes documentary Making “The Shining”
- New audio commentaries featuring filmmaker Lee Unkrich (editor of the book Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”) and author Michael Benson (Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece)
- New conversation between novelist Jonathan Lethem and film historian Kevin Wynter on Kubrick and authorship
- Unseen Lolita screen tests with actors James Mason and Sue Lyon and rare Full Metal Jacket behind-the-scenes footage
- Archival interviews with Alexander Singer, Christiane Kubrick, Kirk Douglas, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov, George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, Sue Lyon, Scatman Crothers, Kelvin Pike, John Alcott, Wendy Carlos, Douglas Trumbull, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese
- Documentaries including Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001), directed by Jan Harlan and narrated by Tom Cruise; Kubrick by Kubrick (2020), told in Kubrick’s own words; Staircases to Nowhere (2013, expanded 2026), about the making of The Shining; and Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes (2008), about the trove of archival materials left behind by Kubrick
- Deluxe packaging illustrated with rare photographs, artwork, and documents annotated by Kubrick himself, all housed in a singular box inspired by the director’s legendary archive
- An essay by author and critic Nathaniel Rich
- And much more . . .
