Did I miss them or was this year's Black Friday Deals on Movies the worse ever? (1 Viewer)

[Orlando]

I always had a list of movies I wanted and would always wait for Black Friday to stock up on a bunch of those titles.

However those sales never came. The usual Amazon, Deep Discount, GRUV, etc almost nothing. Target did have an interesting buy 2 and get one free promo. Until you saw the price of a single movie. WTH!

I remember back in the day cleaning up on the most wanted titles and some titles the price was too good to pass up.

Maybe its me (And I know physical Media isn't the money maker it was) But since Best buy dropped out the game the real sales are far and wide. And strangely enough since they stop selling movies I never go there at all. When I used to go once a week just to see what was available.

 

[Citizen87645]

My purchase of physical media has tapered off, but I wound up with about 15 titles between Black Friday sales and the Criterion sale. I did notice that a majority of the BF titles were from Warner Bros., but I'm not sure if that's just because those were the movies I was interested in or more of what was available.

Even before Best Buy got out of the media business, it was unusual for me to go into the store. And a gift card from there (e.g. through various promos) was usually kind of useless as a result. I do purchase from Best Buy, but for large ticket items like cameras and appliances and maybe the occasional computer accessory.

My spending has definitely shifted more toward digital copies through Apple now. I get physical media for the titles I really want to collect collect, if that makes sense.

 

[Malcolm R]

With fewer retailers selling discs, especially the major chains, there's no real incentive to be aggressively discounting any more. With lower volumes of disc sales, they're also not the attractive loss leader on BF that they once were when you'd see a full page or two of the BF sales flyer dedicated to movies.

Those that want to continue to be collectors of physical discs will need to be prepared to pay more.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Really the Criterion sale is my Black Friday every year. That's the biggest sale for me. And because there are two of those and Criterion themselves do their own flash sales, most of the time there are only 3 or 4 things I pick-up during each sale.

 

[Citizen87645]

With fewer retailers selling discs, especially the major chains, there's no real incentive to be aggressively discounting any more. With lower volumes of disc sales, they're also not the attractive loss leader on BF that they once were when you'd see a full page or two of the BF sales flyer dedicated to movies.

Those that want to continue to be collectors of physical discs will need to be prepared to pay more.

I didn't want to thread crap in the other thread about the Panasonic 4k player selling for a great price but apparently not going out of stock as it would have before, but that is a bit ominous to me. Having higher priced media is one thing but if the hardware becomes less available...I guess it would ultimately go the same path where a boutique hardware brand (what are they now?) would monopolize the market for those who want a 4k player.

 

[OttoIsHere]

There's just been so many shifts in the marketplace that DVD/Blu-Ray/4K-UHD isn't a useful promotion for retailers any more. I can remember 15-20 years ago (pre-streaming really) most everybody I knew owned a DVD player and I would give out discs as gifts. Today, most people I know don't own a player of any type (nevermind a Blu-Ray or 4K-UHD player) so discs really aren't a thoughtful gift anymore which is another development to take them out of black Friday sales.

I live in a low population density area and my local Target stopped selling discs in-store completely a few months ago (not that they had a huge selection at all). . .at this point the only place I can physically purchase discs is from Wal-Mart (which I've done once this year). The Barnes and Noble near me has NEVER sold discs, and Best Buy disappeared around here many years ago.

 

[OttoIsHere]

I didn't want to thread crap in the other thread about the Panasonic 4k player selling for a great price but apparently not going out of stock as it would have before, but that is a bit ominous to me. Having higher priced media is one thing but if the hardware becomes less available...I guess it would ultimately go the same path where a boutique hardware brand (what are they now?) would monopolize the market for those who want a 4k player.

That's an excellent point too. . .I bought one of the ubiquitous Panasonic players last year (on sale) but eventually the affordability and availability of players could become an issue.

It's all a little ominous right now. . .I've seen a few more posts on here about people starting or planning to cut back on their physical disc purchases. I'm moving in that direction too; I've certainly moved a lot of money from my bank account to my shelves in the past few years, but my "watch pile" is just out of control as there are only so many free hours I have in a week. Right now my plan is to shop the Kino Lorber sale happening now and then really evaluating my library before 2025 starts. I love collecting and I love this hobby but I have to be a realist too. . .

 

[Garysb]

I would say aside from the Criterion sale, there have not been deep discounts on new titles. There were good discounts on titles released a year or more ago. So if you waited to get Barbie, Oppenheimer, the 4Ks of Casablanca, Cool Hand Luke, or Rebel Without a Cause, there were deals. If you were looking for $9.99 to $12.99 deals on new to 4K titles like "North By Northwest" or "Blazing Saddles" or soon to be released "Wicked "or "Gladiator II", so far you are out of luck.

There have been good deals on the recent Frank Capra gift set but this is still over $100 for 20 films is probably not what you are talking about.

 

[SD_Brian]

There were plenty of bargains to be had, but the major studio discounts always tend to be on the same handful of titles. Since I already own all of those that I have interest in, there were fewer deals that spoke to me.

In the end, I managed to accumulate an insane number of new discs during the months of October and November, so it's probably a good thing the BF sales were lackluster.

 

[JohnRice]

I got 19 titles during November, with 9 from Amazon 3 for 2 sale, which was much better than Target's, several Criterions, and just some other random deals. It could be almost double that, but I didn't end up going for the sales at Gruv, Kino, and whoever that is on eBay. Some of those are still going. As everyone is saying, physical media isn't what it used to be.

It isn't declining because Best Buy got out of it, Best Buy got out of it because it's declining.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I give Santa a list of titles I would like in November, some of which have been reduced. Here's hoping!

 

[BobO'Link]

I purchased a few things and had waited for "sale" prices on some... prices that, unlike prior years, never materialized.

I took advantage of Target's B2G1 for a half dozen titles, 4 Criterions from Amazon (who was PMing B&N), and 3 from Gruv. I passed on Kino's sale as I still have quite a few unwatched from their last one and no "must have" titles in my wishlist were in that sale. That's it... roughly a dozen titles total when in previous years a dozen would be normal from *one* of those vendors with anywhere from 2-4 dozen total being normal.

I fully expect what we saw this year to be the "new normal" in years to come. I also expect my purchasing to decline similarly as I'm pretty much at a point where I own a copy of most of what I'd like to own. If there are any "New to BR" or "worthy upgrade to BR from DVD" titles I "need" from WA or Kino I'll get those and likely little of anything else.

This year, board games made up the bulk of my BF purchases.

 

[Orlando]

I agree with everything said and points made. I also know that streaming put the physical media on life expectancy.

But as a college trained musician, listening to Music that is an MP3 on ear pods, well lets just say No!

And same for movies again on an 8" screen with ear pods no big deal. But, I have a Atmos Setup with 120" HDR screen and streaming sucks. So to really enjoy I "need" physical media, lol. And I know there are enough of us out there to keep it alive at least until streaming can truly reproduce with no difference.

But crazy enough as these things go. My 17 year old musician son's number one Christmas item was a vinyl turntable and some LP's. As he got a taste at a friends house and was like it was night and day different.