Is E.T. really limited? It sounds like it. (1 Viewer)

[Nathan*W]

It must have been Disney themselves, because in my Musicland days (LONG time ago) we also sold through.

It's going to be interesting to see the direction this thread takes if ET is indeed pulled from shelves.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It doesn't make sense to me, the whole concept of limited release windows. Most people don't even know that it's limited, so it doesn't boost sales significantly. It also leaves a large gap where no profit is being made on profit, and then you get another mass profit for the rerelease, but it's doubtful they make up for ALL the sales they lost during the time it was pulled. It just seems like a way to jerk their customers around and deny themselves profits. Is there any sound economic basis for the technique?

 

[HienN]

As Tom Ryan mentioned above, the DVD announcement did mention that the release was for a 10-week period, but it wasn't clear what would happen to the discs after that.

Universal City, California, June 6, 2002 -- For the first time ever, Universal Studios Home Video will release ET the Extra-Terrestrial, the third highest-grossing domestic film of all time, on DVD for a limited 10-week period beginning October 22, 2002.

I was at Target yesterday to pick up Barbershop (not out yet, have to wait until today Jan 1), and there was a rack full of ET widescreen. There is still time for those interested.

 

[Robert Dunnill]

It doesn't make sense to me, the whole concept of limited release windows.

It's an old marketing technique, one that McDonald's uses a lot. I don't know how successful it is with video, though; it might work to pull in customers for special deals on hamburgers, but home video releases? Once the burgers are gone, they're gone, but with video titles, there is always eBay.

RD

 

[Travis Hedger]

Heh, a thread already created on a subject that has been happening to me for the last couple of days.

Anyway, I had delayed for too long and decided to finally pick up E.T.

No where locally had any, Not Circuit City, Not Best Buy, Not Wal-Mart, Not Target!

So, I took it online to DVDPriceSearch.com and found that Best Buy still had some in stock for $20 and free shipping. I ordered and it should be here this weekend.

I hit up Ebay and found that an unopened copy of the P&S was going for $35 already with 13 bids on it.

 

[David Von Pein]

Amazon claims its copies WON'T be pulled. ......
"Universal plans to discontinue this title on December 31, 2002. However, you may still place orders until inventory runs out." -- Amazon.com

 

[BrettB]

It seems unlikely they would pull it off the shelves, however, it does seem to be in short supply, at least in my area. I went to Best Buy on Monday to get a backup and they had zero of the 2-disc & only 1 UGS. I then went to Wal-Mart where they had 4 WS 2-disc and about 30 FF 2-disc. Yesterday the wife & I were at a different Wal-Mart which had no E.T.s at all. Perhaps in the next few days retailers will be getting their final orders.

 

[Francois Caron]

If the studios ask that all copies of a title be pulled from the store shelves, then the studios would have to refund whatever the retailers paid to get the titles on the shelves in the first place. It makes no economic sense.
I saw E.T. when it initially came out in the theaters. Afterwards, I had no interest whatsoever in seeing it again. For me, the movie is nothing less than overly sentimental crap. Only today, it's now overly sentimental crap with walkie-talkies instead of guns!

 

[Ron-P]

I also checked my local 2 Best Buys, all were out, so I ordered it from BB.com. I have no intention of watching it. I'll wait, keep an eye on ebay and sell it.
Peace Out~

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I saw E.T. when it initially came out in the theaters. Afterwards, I had no interest whatsoever in seeing it again. For me, the movie is nothing less than overly sentimental crap. Only today, it's now overly sentimental crap with walkie-talkies instead of guns!

Thanks for the thread crap - this added a lot to the topic.:rolleyes

 

[BrettB]

The unedited 1982 E.T. is there in all it's brilliance for all to enjoy. No one is holding a walkie talkie to anyones head forcing them to watch the reworked 2002 version.
Just had to defend the little squashy guy.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Is there any difference in visual quality at all between the 2-disc set and the box set? I believe the extras were moved to the third disc for the box set, so theoretically it should have a higher bit rate (unless the DTS track evens it all out). But, in my limited understanding of the issue, I believe it's a little more complicated than just disc space. If they use the same compressed data, it would be the same in either case. Something like that.

Bottom line: I've got the 2-disc, and am not too concerned about extras. If there's no noticeable difference, it'd probably be best to just stay where I am. Then again, I could always give the 2-disc to my sister. She just got a DVD player for Christmas and wasn't even aware that E.T. was out, much less limited. Not having a player, she hasn't shopped for DVDs. That's the shame of this limited release plan.

 

[Dave H]

Is there any difference in visual quality at all between the 2-disc set and the box set? I believe the extras were moved to the third disc for the box set, so theoretically it should have a higher bit rate (unless the DTS track evens it all out). But, in my limited understanding of the issue, I believe it's a little more complicated than just disc space. If they use the same compressed data, it would be the same in either case. Something like that.

According to DVDFILE, there is no visual difference between the 1982 versions with the 2 disc and 3 disc sets. I think I read this somewhere else, as well, but I can't remember. The 1982 disc on the 3 disc set contains more foreign tracks actually which probably uses up more space, overall.

 

[Dave Mack]

E.T. is still available in NYC. Manhattan specifically. Snagged mine tonite. $5.00 off if you buy E.T. and BTTF boxset together so I took the plunge. Both on sale too. Anyone need store name, location info. feel free to E-mail me.
D

 

[Greg_S_H]

According to DVDFILE, there is no visual difference between the 1982 versions with the 2 disc and 3 disc sets. I think I read this somewhere else, as well, but I can't remember. The 1982 disc on the 3 disc set contains more foreign tracks actually which probably uses up more space, overall.

Thanks, Dave. Fortunately, the little I've watched of the disc revealed a pretty nice transfer already. I think I'll try to find my sister a 2-disc set rather than "upgrading" my own.

 

[Eugene Esterly]

Actually, my local Best Buy is still selling copies of E.T., in fact, I picked up a copy of the Widescreen 2 disc copy of E.T. on Saturday. My local Best Buy only had several copies of E.T. left, so not all Best Buy stores are pulling copies off the shelves.

 

[Daniel Becker]

My Best Buy (suburbs of Chicago) also had about 20 copies of the 2-Disc ET set the other day. I was suprised to see them but I figured they would probably just sell their remaining stock until it's gone.



Dan.b

 

[Eric_R_C]

Yes, Daniel, that would make sense.

Think of how long Mulan, Tarzan, and Snow White were on the shelves after they were "discontinued". Beauty and the Beast is still out, also.

Disney isn't going to take back this stock and burn it! The whole point of the "discontinuation" strategy is get get people to run out and buy it "before they're all gone!". No other reason...