Malcolm, regarding your "
" response. Here's what probably happened:
1) Paramount releases SoaF for the first time, and sends copies to the retailers to put on their shelves.
2) Best Buy location #1234 gets, say, 144 copies to try to sell.
3) After several months go by, only 70 copies of SoaF have sold at that location. Other locations also have extra stock. Best Buy recalls the extra copies back to their warehouse, all but a reasonable count (leaving around 3-5 copies per store). Location #1234 sends back about 70 copies of SoaF to the warehouse as a result of this "overstock return". They are SUPPOSED to remove all their price tags and so forth before boxing them up, but someone's late going home that day and rushes, and misses getting the price tag off of yours.
4) Best Buy's warehouse has too many copies of SoaF to use for the conceivable future, so they negotiate with Paramount to return these unused, unsold copies to the studio for credit. Paramount agrees, they negotiate a deal, and the Best Buy central warehouse returns all those copies.
5) Paramount receives all those copies of SoaF at their distribution depot, checks to make sure these are all unused, unopened, and undamaged. Then they store them.
6) Paramount decides to issue a Jack Ryan box set, and will include copies of SoaF into that box set. Should they create new product just for the set? Heck, why? They have a kajillion extra copies sitting at the depot! They go grab them out of the storage section and prep them for inclusion in the box set.
7) While prepping them, some copies that formerly sat on the shelf at Best Buy location #1234 are being inspected and they spot one with a price tag on it still. Exchange between two workers probably went something like this: "Huh...that tag should have been removed at the store." "Well, taking it off isn't our job; it'll leave that sticky residue and crap." "We can't just leave it showing like that." "I got an idea...gimmee an extra security sticker; we'll cover it over."
8) Looking "good enough", the item in question gets put into a box set slipcover along with three new copies of the other (SE version) Jack Ryan films on DVD. The thing is shrinkwrapped, boxed for shipping, and that box is palletized.
9) Paramount ends up sending that to some retail store in San Fransisco (it was never named, but could be a Fry's, a Wal-Mart, a Costco, a DVDPlanet, or even a Best Buy!). On street date the box gets put out, and someone name of Alan Horner buys it.
10) Alan opens up the package, notices some weirdness, and posts a note on the Home Theater Forum. End of story.
