Weekly Roundup 4/14 (Hayao Miyazaki Week!) (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

You'd think they'd never seen a girl and a cat on a broom before.

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Standard disclaimer: All prices are taken from the websites of each chain, or from their printed advertisements, the Sunday of the week of release (so as to catch any week-of-release sale prices). All prices are subject to change by each chain. Prices and inventory in-store may or may not match the website price. If a price is marked "$_N/A_" in the grid, it means that this title is not shown as available on that chain's website or perhaps in their ads...but it COULD still be in-stores!

$_"LP" means the advertisement says "Low Price", and $_"HP" means the advertisement says "Hot Price". Use of either of these in the Roundup grid indicates that I could not locate a definate price for the item, and the ad is all I have to go on. Retailers use these phrases in advertisements so that they do not violate MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) agreements with the studios. Doing so can cost them thousands or even millions of dollars in co-op advertising funds.

I only include the titles I feel like including. In fact, the titles are pretty much the ones I'm personally interested in, with few exceptions. I don't get paid for this, and I don't have time to devote to doing every DVD. I have a lovely wife and a five-year-old son I'd rather spend time with. Please don't complain. If there is a title not included in the Roundup that you want to see, just look it up yourself, and be nice enough to post and share the results with everyone...like I do!

Note that Circuit City does not guarantee their sale prices in Hawaii.


[c]
__________TITLE____________Amazon_BestBuy_CrcCity_Target__CostCo__SamsClb
Absolute Beginners________$11.21__$ 9.99__$10.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Breakin' 2: Elec Boogaloo_$11.21__$ 9.99__$10.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Castle In The Sky_________$22.49__$19.99__$22.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A_
A Chorus Line_____________$11.21__$ 9.99__$10.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
The Chubb Chubbs__________$ 9.95__$ 9.99__$ 9.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Drumline - WS_____________$20.99__$17.99__$15.99__$_"LP"__$17.49__$17.67
Family Guy - Volume 1_____$37.49__$35.99__$35.99__$_N/A___$34.99__$34.37
Kiki's Delivery Service___$22.49__$19.99__$22.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A_
Lambada___________________$11.21__$12.99__$10.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Rabbit-Proof Fence________$22.49__$19.99__$22.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Ran - Masterworks Edition_$26.24__$24.99__$22.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Roadie____________________$11.21__$ 9.99__$10.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Salsa_____________________$11.21__$12.99__$10.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$_N/A_
Spirited Away_____________$22.49__$17.99__$19.99__$19.99__$18.29__$_N/A_
The Transporter___________$20.99__$17.99__$15.99__$_"LP"__$_N/A___$17.76
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* BE CAREFUL! Drumline is available in both Widescreen and Fullscreen versions...get the correct one.

* Circuit City will take $3 off the purchase of Drumline if you buy the soundtrack CD on the same transaction.

* Target's "Low Price" on Drumline is almost certainly $14.99; Transporter's "Low Price" might be $14.99 as well but I suspect it's $19.99 instead, based on the way the ad is laid out. My inside source didn't come through for me on this one, so Tuesday someone's gonna have to walk into the store and find out!

* Best Buy will take $5 off when you buy Drumline and The Transporter together.

* Best Buy will give you a free copy of the previous major Miyazaki release, Princess Mononoke (a $22.99 value) if you purchase the three new Miyazaki titles at the same time: Oscar-winner Spirited Away, Castle In The Sky, and (my favorite) Kiki's Delivery Service.

* For anyone buying the three Miyazaki titles, be sure to get the current issue of Woman's Day magazine (with Easter Eggs on the cover). For $1.99 (or $1.79 at Target or Wal-Mart, since they automatically discount their magazines) you can get a coupon on the inside front cover that's good for $3 off a long list of Disney titles. Spirited Away, Castle In The Sky, & Kiki's Delivery Service are all on the coupon. This is the same coupon mentioned a few weeks ago for the Who Framed Roger Rabbit release. I snagged 4 copies today...the extra one is for the upcoming Treasure Planet release in two weeks. That will be $1.20 x 4 so I net $4.80 back on this deal. Kewl!


The latest markdowns according to VideoTropics web site (DVD Title/Old SRP/New SRP):
-------------------------
• Batman: The Movie (1966) $19.98 $ 9.98
• Bedazzled (Special Edition) $19.98 $ 9.98
• Best Laid Plans $19.98 $ 9.98
• Beyond Suspicion (2000) $19.98 $ 9.98
• Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, The $19.98 $ 9.98
• Midsummer Night's Dream, A $24.98 $ 9.98
• Nine Months $24.98 $ 9.98
• Polish Wedding $24.98 $ 9.98
• Simply Irresistable $19.98 $ 9.98
• Tigerland $19.98 $ 9.98
• Towering Inferno, The $24.98 $ 9.98
• Truth About Cats and Dogs, The $24.98 $ 9.98
• Waking Life $29.98 $ 9.98
• Woman On Top (Fullscreen) $19.98 $ 9.98


The latest markdowns according to DavisDVD (there may be 100% duplication of the above, but read through it anyway):
-------------------------
EFFECTIVE 4.15.03
20th Century Fox - Batman The Movie, Bedazzled, Best Laid Plans, Beyond Suspicion, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Nine Months, Polish Wedding, Simply Irresistable, Tigerland, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, The Towering Inferno, Waking Life, Woman On Top 9.98


Sorry that this is posted so late on a Sunday...I took advantage of a great day to fix up the garden outside the house. Sorry...house and family are a priority!

 

[Bill Gato]

Hey! I'm the first person to post and I have absolutely nothing substantive to say!


JK. I think that Ran sounds like a good DVD for me to purchase to introduce myself to Akira Kurosawa. I see myself spending some of my hard-earned birthday money at Circuit City (or Costco, if they get any).

Thanks again for all of your hard work, Dave.

 

[george kaplan]

My wallet was afraid that something might be coming out this week I hadn't heard of. My wallet can rest easy, it won't be opening to buy any dvds this week.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

The Best Buy Miyazaki deal says 'not valid with other offers'. Some locations may refuse coupons with this purchase.

I understand there is a $4 mail-in rebate if you buy Spirited Away and one of the other two titles.

 

[Adam_WM]

Dave, I work at Circuit City and I checked our computer the other day...
Chorus Line will be $9.99, not $10.99

 

[Adam Tyner]

Cube - Signature Edition

Amazon - $14.99
Best Buy - $17.99
Circuit City - $17.99

Breakin' 2, Salsa, and Lambada are full-frame only, BTW.

 

[RossTerry]

i was planning to pick up Family Guy this week but i found a local place that broke the street date... :b

all is well though

 

[Adam_D]

on a side note, the best buy ad stated that both toy story and toy story 2 are being put in the disney vault so if you have been wanting a copy you may want to pick one up soon.

 

[John Berggren]

Trying to figure between the Best Buy deal (free Mononoke) and the Womans Day Deal, with bonus bucks off. I figure I'll give the Mononoke to a friend or family member.

Random heads up. I was at CC Saturday picking up my Harry Potter DVD, and I found Waking Life for $6.99! So, I bought it, having only rented it after hearing good things. A VERY good deal for a VERY good movie.

 

[Kenneth Cummings]

While I will get Spirited Away later on, I will just wait until I see it first (my brother is buying it ). But oh the other hand, the same two dvd mention last week are getting bought (curse you Final Fantasy Origins ), unless Back to the Future correction is out. Thanks again David.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

RAN is so great you will find yourself yelling for "RAN BEAU"......

 

[David Lambert]

Dave, I work at Circuit City and I checked our computer the other day...
Chorus Line will be $9.99, not $10.99

As you surely know, different CC's carry items at different prices on a regional/competitive basis. The price of a particular DVD SKU in New York, Chicago, or LA might be lower than in, say, Peoria, Santa Fe, or Memphis.

I always go with the website price as the lowest commen denominator, and if the price is different in your local store - for better or worse - then that's just the way the ball bounces.

CC's website price for A Chorus Line shows at $10.99, so that's what I used.

 

[David Lambert]

Let's think about this Best Buy deal for the Miyazaki titles:


$17.99 - Spirited Away
$19.99 - Castle In The Sky
$19.99 - Kiki's Delivery Service
$00.00 - Princess Mononoke
------
$57.97 SUBTOTAL
-$9.00 ...3 Coupons for $3 off (Woman's Day magazine)
------
$48.97 Taxable total
-$4.00 In-the-box mail-in rebate for buying any 2 of these
------
$44.97 Your total price for 4 Miyazaki films on DVD
and ÷4
------
$11.24 Your per-item price on each of these great DVDs



Not bad! Now the trick is getting Best Buy to honor the free Princess Mononoke AND the $3-off coupons at the same time since their fine print on the free deal says "not valid with any other offer". If they offer resistance I'd go straight to the manager as these are Manufacturer Coupons and should be accepted regardless of any other offer that the retailer makes...they get 100% reimbursed for those coupons and they have nothing to lose. In fact, they get a small handling fee for each one they take.

On top of that, the wording on the coupon is such that there is no reason for them not to take three of them at once, as long as you are buying three qualified items listed on the coupons. To quote: "Limit one coupon per specified item purchased." That's the only limiting term on the coupon!


Don't forget that Wal-Mart will probably have all this 5% to 10% cheaper in stores that compete with Best Buy. However, they probably won't have any copies of Mononoke to give away free. Nor will they - at least in my experience - "compensate" by deducting more or giving away something else free. Only a good place to go if you already have or are not interested in Mononoke.


Costco is VERY likely to have all three items at no more than $18.29, and perhaps even less. However, they don't take coupons because of their wholesale club status. So I'll go there just for Family Guy.

 

[Joe Fisher]

Yikes!!!!! Thank heavens I sold off about 50 DVD's this past few weeks, otherwise I wouldn't have the cash for this week.

Count me in for the 3 Miyazaki titles:Spirited Away,Castle In The Sky & Kiki's Delivery Service. Also Family Guy & Akira Kurosawas Ran(Masterworks Edition). Looks like I'm dropping a C-note++ this week.

Thanks as always Dave for your efforts.

Joe

 

[Bob Black]

FYI - This week's TV Guide (week ending April 25th) also has the $3 coupon on the inside cover. Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere, but there it is!

 

[Bob Pierce]

Thanks again for the roundup, Dave!

Just curious, has anyone seen a good B&M price on The Singing Detective? Maybe it's too obscure to merit a good deal out there, but I wanted to ask.

Thanks,

- Bob P.

 

[Malcolm R]

For anyone with a BJ's Wholesale Club nearby, they DO take manufacturer coupons. So if they have the titles, you may be able to get warehouse pricing plus the coupon.
And for anyone who hasn't yet picked up Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the best price this week seems to be at Circuit City for $16.99. Best Buy has for $17.99, and Kmart is back up to $19.99 (with a coupon for a free 2-liter Coke).

 

[Adam Tyner]

Tony -- no real eye-catching deals.

Deep Discount DVD - $17.09
Amazon - $18.74
Circuit City - $19.99
Wal-Mart - $21.24
Best Buy - $22.99

 

[DeborahK]

Bob,

Is The Singing Detective even on DVD? It's a title I have wanted for years, but I thought it had only been released on tape, now long out of print. Please tell all!

Dave,

Thanks as always for the Roundup, always my first stop on the HTF. I think I am going to break down and buy a DVD this week . I missed Spirited Away when it was in the theaters, and I am a big Mononoke fan, so I may just have to pick this one up from Best Buy. (Last DVD purchase was ANGEL, Season 1). As I have said before, I don't buy as much as you guys but I always enjoy reading about what's out there and what others are buying.

Deborah

 

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My "Singing Detective" shipped last week from DeepDiscountDVD at a price of $43.19. It should be in the stores tomorrow.