Weekly RoundUp 6-2-2009 (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

The Features


– Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road – 2008)


– Macha Méril (Une femme mariée – 1964)


– Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly (He’s Just Not That Into You – 2009)


– Morgan Freeman (Glory – 1989)


– Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate – 1967)


– A. Fox & Bertille Noël-Bruneau (The Fox and the Child – 2007)

The Prices


SD-DVD TITLEAmazonBestBuyTargetCostcoAnaconda 4: Trail of Blood$18.99$19.99Army Wives: Season 2$31.99$34.99$34.99B.B King – Live @ Montreaux$13.49Baby on Board$22.49$14.99Cannon: Season 2 Volume 1$25.99$27.99Defiance$17.99$17.99$16.99$18.99Direct Contact$16.49$24.99Elsewhere$22.49$19.99The Fox and the Child$19.49$24.99He’s Just Not That Into You$16.99$17.99$16.99$18.99Home (2009) (Release Date 6-5-09)$14.99$14.99The Hunger: Season 1$31.99$31.99Inning By Inning: Portrait of a Coach$17.99The Jetsons: Season 2 Volume 1$25.99$27.99Neil Young Archives: Vol. 1 (1963 – 1972)$199.99$199.99Prison Break: Season 4$32.49$32.99$37.99Quincy, ME: Season 3$27.99$31.99Raising the Bar: Season 1$29.99$31.99$27.99Revolutionary Road$17.99$17.99$16.99$18.99Road to Super Bowl XLVIII: Pittsburgh Steelers$25.99$29.99Rugrats: Season 1$32.49Rugrats: Season 2$32.49Shaw Bros. Legendary Heroes (Box Set)$26.99$24.99Silent Venom$15.99$19.99Spring Breakdown$19.99$19.99Tender Mercies$13.49$12.99Une femme mariee (1964)$19.99$24.99Weeds: Season 4$25.99$29.99$24.99


BLU-RAY TITLEAmazonBestBuyTargetCostcoAir Force One$19.99$22.99Anaconda$19.99$22.99B.B. King: Live @ Montreaux$16.99Baby on Board$13.99$17.99Bruce Almighty$20.99$22.99Dark Blue$16.99$17.99Defiance$26.99$26.99$25.99$26.99Direct Contact$18.99$22.99Dragon’s Lair: Time Warp$22.49Elsewhere$16.49$17.99Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete$22.99$26.99$24.99Fletch$20.99$22.99Glory$19.99$22.99The Graduate$15.99$17.99Inside Man$20.99$22.99He’s Just Not That Into You$24.99$27.99$25.99Home (2009) (Release Date 6-5-2009)$19.99$24.99Live/Madison Square Garden: Clapton/Winwood$25.49$27.99Navy Seals$17.99$17.99Neil Young Archives: Vol. 1 (1963 - 1972)$279.99$279.99Out of Time$17.99$17.99Paul Simon & Friends: Library/Congress$19.99$27.99Revolutionary Road$26.99$26.99$25.99$26.99Road House$15.99$24.99Road to Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers$34.99$49.99Rollerball$16.99$17.99Spring Breakdown$26.99$27.99To Live and Die in L.A.$17.99$17.99Walking Tall (2004)$15.99$17.99Weeds: Season 4 $26.99$34.99$27.99

Individual titles included in box sets listed above:

Shaw Bros. – Legendary Heroes: Legendary Weapons of China, The Shadow Whip, The Shaolin Intruders, The Deadly Breaking Sword.

The Disclaimer Standard disclaimer: All prices are taken from the websites of each chain, or from their printed Sunday advertisements. All prices are subject to change by each chain. Prices and inventory in-store may or may not match the website price.

I, obviously, cannot include EVERY title released in a given week in the RoundUp. The titles included are those that I am interested in...as well as those which I consider will be of interest to a majority of consumers (and sometimes I’ll miss one!). I don't get paid for this, and I don't have the time to list every DVD. So, please don't complain! If there is a title not included in the RoundUp that you want to see, PLEASE just look it up yourself, and be nice enough to post and share the results with everyone!

Note that I cannot include Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club prices in the RoundUp. They set prices at individual stores based on nearby competition, so there is no way I can say here what price you'll find at YOUR local Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club location. And, Circuit City is still out of business...even in Hawaii (where they NEVER guaranteed their prices anyway).

The Specials

--At Best Buy this week, buy BOTH Defiance AND Revolutionary Road and save $10, instantly. The flyer actually says “Save $10 when you buy both titles” and connects the two Blu-ray representations of the titles…however, it also shows the DVD cases in the same space…so, maybe… Must be purchased on same receipt.

--Best Buy has Weeds: Seasons 1, 2 and 3 on sale for $16.99 apiece.

--Best Buy has the following Blu-ray collections on sale: The Bourne Trilogy ($64.99, The Godfather Trilogy and The Spiderman Trilogy ($49.99 apiece), The Rambo Collection ($34.99).

--The following Blu-ray titles are on sale for $19.99 @ BB this week: Apocalypto, Gone in 60 Seconds, Pearl Harbor, Pirate of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

--Best Buy Odds and Ends: BB has lists opf titles for $4.99 and $9.99.

--Target, this week, has a FREE $10 TARGET GIFTCARD if you buy BOTH Defiance AND Revolutionary Road on EITHER DVD OR Blu-ray. Target spells things out clearly. Quantities limited. No rainchecks. Terms and conditions apply to GiftCards.

--Also @ Target, buy BOTH Army Wives: Season 2 and Raising the Bar: Season 1 and SAVE $10.

--Target is also advertising the following Blu-ray/DVD combo packs for $24.99: Bedtime Stories, Bolt, Bride Wars, High School Musical 3, Marley & Me, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty.

--And, Target is advertising a number of TV two season value packs on sale this week. Titles shown include: 30 Rock, The Simpsons, Angel, House, Reba, That ‘70s Show. Titles shown plus selected others.

--Target Odds and Ends: Lists of titles for $6.50 and $15.

 

[MarkBirds]

$27 for new release Blu-rays? Really? Why on earth would anybody spend 27 bucks? Go pay 6 bucks to rent it next week at Blockbuster, wait two or three months and get for 15 on eBay, and voila, you've saved yourself 5 or 6 bucks.

Seriously, are there many of us dropping that much money on these overpriced new releases? If you're one of those people, why? It makes no sense. Do you drive out of your way to a gas station with prices that are 10 cents a gallon higher than everyplace else? Are you living out a real-life version of "Brewster's Millions"?

I have built a nice but modestly sized BD collection, and I have purchased very few of them at as new releases at BB or Target. No need to.

I know this is a free country, and if you've got the coin and you want to pay that much, more power to you, but criminey, for the price of that "Defiance" Blu-ray, you could buy 36 shares of GM stock. Maybe more if you wait till Wednesday.

 

[Peter McM]

quote: "...for the price of that Defiance Blu-ray, you could buy 36 shares of GM stock."


True enough, Mark--but which will be worth more by Wednesday?

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I understand what you mean and probably do my BD shopping in somewhat similar fashion as well although my "modest" collection has now sneakily reached the ~250(!) titles point, which is way higher than I expected when I first jumped into Blu ~1.5 years ago.

OTOH, I can still understand why these stores continue to mark new day-and-ate releases at such high prices. They are obviously *not* going after the avg/typical consumer w/ those price points (at lease when taken at face value).

However, notice also how they're offering these additional $10 discounts when you buy 2 such releases together. Me thinks part of their rationale for the high prices is that gives them some pricing room to play w/ when handing out such additional discounts to entice consumers to buy more. They want higher margins when faced w/ relatively low sales volume and would be willing to give up some margin when higher volume is essentially guaranteed (ie. when someone takes them up on the buy 2 offers).

Look at online shops like DeepDiscount for instance. They regularly charge those high prices for BDs too. As long as they can sell enough at the higher margins for it to make sense (while their other offers like SD DVDs continue to do fine), they will keep doing that. And then, when they eventually have their semi-annual 20-25% off sales (or whatever else), they will have the extra room to work w/.

BTW, anyone know when DeepDiscount (and DVDPlanet) will actually have their next semi-annual 20-25% off sale? Should be coming soon, no? I'm hoping it's 25% off again this time and maybe pick up Bourne Trilogy BD set from them -- depending on exactly what their pre-sale pricing will be for that set, the sale price could easily beat the $65 price that's currently floating around.

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hehheh. Was thinking the same here. Certainly, you'd be happier owning the Defiance BD (assuming you love the movie) than a few dozen shares of GM at this point.

_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Oh, BTW, I noticed that J&R has been pricing their BD selections more competitively these days w/ more sale pricing on a fairly regular basis (though their website is not always good at advertising such pricing).

I've been seeing some of these catalog titles of interest (along w/ the rare case of a somewhat recent day-and-date release like The Reader) getting best prices all-around at J&R near as I can tell -- and it seems Amazon has even occasionally pricematched J&R (along w/ other bigger names like Walmart).

Here's their current promo sale:

Build Your Blu-ray Collection Starting At $7.99 at JR.com

You can also find a bunch of catalog BDs (some somewhat recently released like American History X) for $11.99 to $14.99:

http://www.jr.com/category/movies/n/...-by-SKUName-0/


I just picked up these BDs locally from J&R over the weekend:

The Reader - $15.99
Planet Terror - $13.99
Oldboy - $13.99
Lonesome Dove - $11.99
1408 - $11.99
Awake - $11.99

They also had Death Proof for $11.99, but it's currently out of stock -- might get restocked at that price soon enough.

_Man_

 

[Peter McM]

Not only that, Man-Fai; I don't want Barack Obama owning 70% of my DVD collection!

 

[TravisR]

I thought this was the Weekly Round Up.

I may pick up Revolutionary Road on Blu-ray at some point down the road.

Thanks for the prices, guys!

 

[Jason_V]

At some point in the future: Revolutionary Road, He's Just Not That Into You, Glory. Definitely going to seek out Bug Life's at Toys R Us for $20 this week, though. The closest store to me didn't have any (not to mention a shelf tag) last night.

 

[Tom De Rosa]

Looks like Wal-Mart has some of the MGM Blu-Rays for $15.86.

No reason not to include them in the grid, since they're good for PM'ing.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Best Buy on sale DVD items:

$4.99 each:
Wedding Crashers (Uncorked)
Tin Cup
Shawshank Redemption
Caddyshack

$9.99 each:
The Hustler
Clint Eastwood (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly) trilogy

Friday Night Lights season 2 $16.99
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles $19.99


Blu-ray:

Rambo Collection $34.99
The Godfather Collection $49.99
Spider-man Collection $49.99
The Bourne Trilogy collection $64.99

$19.99 each:
Apocalypto
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pearl Harbor
Gone in 60 Seconds (Cage, Jolie)


---------

Target on sale DVD items:

TV on DVD:

Doublepacks:
The Simpsons season 1 and 2: $19.99
Angel season 3 and 4: $14.99
That 70s Show season 1 and 2 $19.99
Reba season 1 and 2: 14.99
Reba season 3 and 4: 14.99
House season 3 and 4: $34.99
30 Rock season 1 and 2: $29.99

$6.50 each:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Horton Hears and Who
Annie
Shark Tale
The Goonies
The Holiday
X-Men 3
Davinci Code

$15.99 each:
The Reader
Last Chance Harvey
Hotels for Dogs
Beverly Hills Chihuahua


Blu-ray:

Combo packs come with DVD/BD version:

$24.99 each:
Bolt
Bedtime Stories
High School Musical 3
Pinocchio
Sleeping Beauty
Marley & Me
Bride Wars

 

[Bill Thomann]

Thanks for the roundup. Nothing for me this week.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Tom:

Some questions. Do you mean walmart.com? Which titles? Wal-mart stores price regionally and most stores will not price match store-to-store. People who have posted here have had mixed results with price-matching walmart.com at their local store.

A title like The Graduate, for example, is listed at $15.86 at walmart.com...but the website also notes that it is a title not being stocked in-store.

 

[Malcolm R]

Figures. I was in Target on Friday and bought these at $19.99 (Reba) and $34.99 (30 Rock).

Oh, well. Still a good deal.

 

[Mike Frezon]

If the store's not too far from you, Malcolm, I'm sure they'd make the price adjustment--given you still have the receipt.

 

[Ric Easton]

Well, looks like a great deal on the Blu The Graduate... And who'd a thunk it... Last time I bought it was on laserdisc! Also Glory and Fletch look tempting!

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

What's really strange is that around here Sam's Club want more for many BRD titles than the Wal-Mart next door.

But Sam's Club does have cheap buys on selected old catalog titles. I got The Searchers and A Clockwork Orange on BRD for $10 each.

 

[David Deeb]

It doesn't seem like a week goes by that either Apocalypto, Gone in 60 Seconds, Pirates of the Caribbean, 300 or Space Cowboys isn't on sale.

Is everyone on the planet required to own these things?

 

[Chris S]

Thanks for the Roundup!

Picking up Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit Volume 4 and probably Glory [BD]. May wait for a sale on Glory... will have to make a in-store buy/no buy decision.

 

[Scott_J]

Getting Weeds S4 Blu this week (I love Lionsgate pricing their TV sets on Blu the same as the DVDs). I'll get Jetsons S2V1 when it hits the $20 price point. And some of this week's catalog Blu-rays are on my "I'll be when they're on sale" list.

And it's not one of this week's releases but it's a recent major Blu-ray release. If you haven't picked up A Bug's Life on Blu-ray and want a good price on it, see this thread.