Akira Kurosawa Samurai Blu-ray Boxset Arrives Nov. 2025
Akira Kurosawa’s influence on world cinema is hard to overstate. His samurai films, starring the legendary Toshiro Mifune, shaped the language of action storytelling and inspired everything from Star Wars to The Magnificent Seven. This November, BFI brings five of Kurosawa’s iconic works together in a definitive new Blu-ray collection for UK audiences: Akira Kurosawa Samurai Collection.
The Box Set at a Glance
BFI will release Akira Kurosawa Samurai Collection on Blu-ray in the UK on November 17, 2025. The 6-disc set features newly remastered High Definition presentations of five classic samurai films, with optional English subtitles.
The collection showcases Kurosawa’s long-running collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune, offering a sweeping journey through the director’s most iconic period dramas.
Included Films
The five films included in the set are:
- Seven Samurai (1954) – Kurosawa’s groundbreaking epic about a group of masterless samurai hired to protect a village from bandits.
- Throne of Blood (1957) – A powerful adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, relocated to feudal Japan and steeped in fog, blood, and Noh-inspired performances.
- The Hidden Fortress (1958) – An adventure tale told from the point of view of two bumbling peasants; the film famously inspired George Lucas when developing Star Wars.
- Yojimbo (1961) – A nameless rōnin pits rival crime lords against one another in a war-torn town, crafting the archetype for the modern antihero.
- Sanjuro (1962) – A leaner, more satirical sequel to Yojimbo, with Mifune returning as the sharp-tongued swordsman navigating bureaucratic corruption.
Technical Specs
- All five films presented in High Definition
- Optional English subtitles
- 6 discs
- Region B
Special Features Overview
This edition is loaded with archival and newly produced extras, including over six hours of documentaries, interviews, and critical analysis:
- Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create (2002, 195 mins): Five-part Toho Masterworks series exploring each featured film, with interviews from Kurosawa and his collaborators
- Commentary on Seven Samurai by Adrian Martin
- Selected scene commentary on Seven Samurai (1999, 20 mins) by Philip Kemp
- The Art of Akira Kurosawa (2013, 49 mins) with Tony Rayns
- My Life in Cinema (1993, 116 mins): In-depth conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima
- Throne of Blood Introductions: Sir Ian McKellen (2016, 2 mins) and Mamoun Hassan (2012, 7 mins)
- Commentary on Throne of Blood by Michael Jeck
- Macbeth (1945, 16 mins): Two scenes from Shakespeare’s play with Wilfrid Lawson and Cathleen Nesbitt
- Commentary on The Hidden Fortress by Tony Rayns
- BFI Screen Epiphanies: Steven Berkoff (2015, 18 mins) on The Hidden Fortress
- Interview with George Lucas (2001, 8 mins) on Kurosawa's influence
- Sword for Hire (2024, 25 mins): Jasper Sharp on Yojimbo and Sanjuro
- Commentary on Yojimbo by Philip Kemp
- Introduction to Sanjuro (2003, 5 mins) by Alex Cox
- Audio commentary on Sanjuro by Kenta McGrath
- Out of the Dust Storm and into the Koi Pond (2025, 18 mins): Nic Wassell on Kurosawa’s use of nature in Yojimbo and Sanjuro
- Alex Cox on Kurosawa (2003, 9 mins)
- Original Japanese trailers
- Seven Samurai trailer (2024)
- Image galleries for Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro
Release Details
The 6-disc Akira Kurosawa Samurai Collection is now available to pre-order via hmv.