Inside Oscar voters' most coveted piece of swag: the Neon DVD box

Swag tin look endless during awards season, whether it’s acquisition bags astatine red-carpet events oregon for-your-consideration collectibles that studios nonstop journalists.

But since 2017, the astir highly anticipated promotional point among movie critics has been the Neon container set, a gorgeous yearly bundle containing each the indie distributor’s releases connected idiosyncratic DVDs. In an epoch erstwhile impersonal screener links are ubiquitous, the Neon container feels artisanal, exclusive, classy and tangible.

In the process, it’s go the 1 portion of swag critics brag astir receiving, posting photos connected societal media arsenic soon arsenic the acceptable arrives astatine their doorsteps — and, not coincidentally, providing Neon with ample escaped publicity. Not that the bully folks astatine Neon would ever suggest that’s portion of the strategy.

“It’s not unwelcome,” says Andrew Brown, Neon’s president of integer distribution, laughing implicit Zoom erstwhile this perchance devious ulterior motive is mentioned. “We emotion that radical privation to stock it — we emotion that radical consciousness enthusiastic astir it. I can’t accidental it was the intent, but we’re truly blessed that determination are fans of it.”

Brown is joined connected the telephone by Spencer Collantes, vice president of originative marketing, to recount the container set’s origins dating to the aboriginal days of the institution led by Chief Executive Tom Quinn. “In our archetypal year, we were fortunate capable to person a existent large contender with ‘I, Tonya,’” Brown recalls. “We had a fig of truly large films and I’m beauteous definite it was Tom’s idea: ‘Hey, we should physique a publication astir it.’ We wanted thing truly bold. Primary colors. Very reproducible.”

The indie distributor’s main executive, Tom Quinn.

(Los Angeles Times Photo Illustration. Photos by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

The plan for Neon’s archetypal acceptable successful 2017 — which, ironically, didn’t see “I, Tonya” but did diagnostic the studio’s archetypal cult successes, specified arsenic “Ingrid Goes West” — was simple: conscionable immoderate DVDs with critics’ blurbs and stills packed successful a glossy book. But Brown’s squad had lofty aspirations for it.

“In our New York office, we person the Janus 50,” says Brown, referring to Criterion’s container acceptable “Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films,” the hefty 50-disc survey of the beloved label’s indispensable masterpieces that was produced successful 2006. “That was astir apt the great-granddaddy of [ours]. Obviously, we’re doing a overmuch smaller mentation of that, but we wanted thing that looks bully connected a support oregon a java table. It is simply a instrumentality to observe our movies and garner attraction astir them for grant season, but we truly wanted thing that’s a measurement above.”

After fundamentally sticking to the aforesaid packaging for its archetypal 4 years, Neon reimagined the container successful 2021, creating circumstantial plan elements for idiosyncratic movies successful that year’s slate. Sturdy without being bulky, each caller eye-catching variation present sports its ain arresting plan and theme, the set’s expanding grandeur reflecting Neon’s increasing stature arsenic an Oscar player. (Its 2019 sensation, “Parasite,” became the archetypal planetary movie not chiefly successful the English connection to win the coveted champion representation trophy.) Just don’t inquire Collantes to explicate the hidden communicative down a peculiar book’s theme.

“I don’t cognize if I privation to enactment it retired determination due to the fact that that’s the amusive of these sets,” helium says erstwhile discussing past year’s strikingly minimalist layout. “Every azygous year, there’s thing antithetic that everyone picks up from it. There’s a batch of treatment and information that goes into each of the antithetic elements — we’re excited astir what radical person been remarking astir online.”

Mikey Madison stars successful Neon’s Oscar-nominated “Anora,” from manager Sean Baker. (Festival de Cannes)

The boxes look pricy, which lone adds to their desirability. Past sets merchantability connected EBay for astir $150 to $200, comparable to immoderate Criterion container sets.

“Financially, it makes nary consciousness whatsoever — those things are ridiculously expensive,” Neon’s main selling officer, Christian Parkes, admits successful a abstracted telephone call. “But they’re besides truly important due to the fact that that’s the end-of-year statement. It’s a mode of saying convey you to everyone that supported us. And it’s a mode for everyone to look backmost and beryllium like, ‘Yeah, bully work, Neon — that’s a bully slate.’”

But conscionable however overmuch does Neon walk connected these sets? Brown won’t divulge nonstop numbers, though helium confirms that Neon sends retired astir 3,000 of them to the members of antithetic critics organizations. Is the terms tag six figures?

“We walk what we deliberation needs to beryllium spent,” says Brown, drafting a line. “We don’t privation it to consciousness flimsy” — and past adds, jokingly, “We besides don’t consciousness the request to stud it with precious gems.” He points retired that the sets incorporate DVDs alternatively than higher-resolution options. “These are inactive [just] screeners. We don’t privation these movies to leak successful precocious definition. Some of these movies are successful these boxes earlier they’ve adjacent travel retired successful theaters.”

As the manufacture continues to grapple with carnal media’s driblet successful popularity, the entreaty of Neon’s container acceptable mirrors that of vinyl’s old-school carnal pleasures. The handsome bundle caters to critics who deliberation astir movies arsenic meaningful, enduring objects. And if Neon’s attack helps animate those voters to subordinate the specialty distributor with the creation and trade of film, well, Brown won’t object.

“We’re good alert that it does acceptable america apart,” helium says of the container sets. “We cognize that radical invited our books and we cognize that our chap studios look astatine america and go, ‘Wow, that’s beauteous amazing. We privation we could bash thing similar that.’ It’s not a contention — I mean, it’s a contention for the films, but it’s not a contention for the book. We invited much of this benignant of thing.”