Wal-Mart again panders to J6P - Silence Of The Lambs (1 Viewer)

[Keith Paynter]

While my intent to purchase this disc was not a high priority, I passed by the software section and saw a huge display box of widescreen Hannibal discs and FULLSCREEN Silence Of The Lambs discs, with big stickers to alert(!) their customers. Thank goodness real stores carried the widescreen version. Sorry, no sale.
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"Fearless Freep?! That's mmma boy!"

 

[Ron Eastman]

I almost made a huge mistake at Best Buy today. I picked up the fullscreen version of SOTL and was carrying it around the store, forgetting that they were putting out both versions.

Luckily I noticed before I made it to the checkout but when I went to put it back on the display I saw that they had they had three rows of fullscreen and two of the widescreen. Funny thing was that the copy in my hand was the only one that had been removed from the fullscreen side and the widescreen rows had about five copies removed. Needless to say, that gave me a warm fuzzy.
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"The last thing I want to remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth." - Del Griffith
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my DVD collection

 

[Joel Mack]

Hey Ron, be glad you weren't at the MegaMart this morning.
You could have seen me hurt the feelings of some poor employee. All they had out were Fullscreen versions of SOTL, and when I asked where the Widescreen ones were, he said "we didn't get any in", to which I replied "then the person in charge of ordering DVDs should be fired". Then he said "Well, I order the DVDs, and I ordered Widescreen, but they didn't send us any". Oops. I tried to apologize... Anyhow, there were several of us there (not with me) that had to trek over to Best Buy and pick it up (they price-matched NFM, too. $14.97)...
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"If we blow up, whatever's left of me is kickin' your butt."

 

[EricCr]

I was very happy to see that Costco had the widescreen version of SOTL and NO Full Frame. Too bad they only have the full frame of Jurassic Park.

 

[MickeS]

Wal-Mart panders to Joe Sixpack?? You gotta be kidding, they would NEVER do that...

It's their daily bread.
I went to Wal-Mart last night, I almost felt like taking a shower afterwards. I hate that place. It's like a charicature of what every non-American thinks America is like. :puke:
/Mike

 

[TSOLfan]

Did my weekly price comparisons at Circuit City, and all they had there were the Widescreen. Though, they didn't even have Goonies listed as being released today, so I had to drive around town to find it.
During the drive, it seems that Target carries both Pan & Scan and Widescreen of Silence of the Lambs, and K-Mart only carries the Pan & Scan.
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Suspicion breeds confidence.
My DVD Collection
[Edited last by Jim Sprigler on August 21, 2001 at 06:39 PM]

 

[Donnie Eldridge]

I noticed when I went to BB that they only had the Fullframe version in their new releases on sale section. The Widescreen version was buried with the regular dvd's.
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My DVD Collection

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Welcome to the mainstream future of your preferred format! I'm sorry to say it gets worse from here!

 

[Rob Tomlin]

What do you expect from Wal-Mart? I bet it is the same at Target and K-Mart as well.

 

[Matt Bloxham]

As much as I hate to admit it here, I work as a Night Recv. Mgr here at one of the Albuquerque Wal*Mart's. As a DVD and Home Theater lover I make sure that all the new DVD releases get out at midnight(we are open 24hrs).
We did get in the SOTL in widescreen (I bought it and Hannibal)it was only on one side of the 1/2 pallet display and the full screen was on the other side.
It was my "duty" to put the widescreen version not only on the front side, but on the top self too

I try and educate as many of "dummies" that we get looking for movies about the advantages of widescreen (As well as the Electronics associates) but there is alot of them, I doing the best that I can

 

[Dick]

Has no one else noticed that Warner Bros. has a near monopoly on Wal Mart floor space? Our Mart is not one of the big 24-hour, supermarket combo affairs, and the DVD section is quite small. Still, they manage to have, not one, but two enormous displays of Warner Bros. DVD's, one for titles retailing at $14.99, the other a brand new one for DVD's retailing for $9.99! If you combined ALL non-Warner titles in that store, you wouldn't even make it to 50% of the Warner inventory, and that is no exaggeration. What about having similar displays for MGM, which is releasing tons of great movies at prices even lower than Warner? I smell a rat. A little payola, or what?

 

[CRyan]

I actually felt sick after I left Walmart today. At 1PM, they had not yet put out The Goonies and the woman behind the counter did not care to find it for me. Had to go to Best Buy. She cared less. Anyway, just watching the people around the DVD cases made me ill. There were several conversations going on around me about DVD. The ignorant teaching the ignorant. There were so many of these conversations going on, I felt completely overwhelmed. UGh, how will we ever win this battle?

C. Ryan

 

[Richard Travale]

I was very happy to see that Costco had the widescreen version of SOTL and NO Full Frame

Lucky you, my Costco only had the full frame version

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Rich
"A) You can never go too far and B) If I'm going to get busted it is NOT going to be by a guy like DAT."
My Website

 

[Patrick Scott]

Well hell, I just have to chime in on this one. I also work at Wal-Mart so I quess that makes me Joe Six Pack. I hate beer, now if you want to call me Joe "Porfidio Anejo" pack, well that would be just fine in my book. I see a lot of folks slammin Wal-Mart (believe me, thats easy to do) does not bother me to much, hell I have been slaming WM for 13 years, as well as some of the dumbasses that shop there. What gets me is some of the absolute fabrication and fantasy that is stated about WM and OAR. Here is some quick non-scientific research conducted by me as well as Mr. Bloxham, who is directly responsible for me being sucked into this money suckin hobby.
First-99.8% of all the titles we carry are WIDESCREEN or a combination of WIDESCREEN and PAN & SCAN. We carry EXACTLY 1 title that is FULLFRAME, that being Jurassic Park, well lets make it two titles, the Jurassic Park box set is also full frame. Now we also carry two titles that have seperate releases for fullframe and widescreen, those being Remember the Titans and 101 Dalmations. We also just added a third title that being SOTL. You guys have any clue which one outsells the other? Of course you dont, so let me fill ya in. It is the WIDESCREEN VERSION. Today when selling the SOTL the WIDESCREEN version outsold the FULLFRAME version by a 5 to 1 margin. Now one thing I would like to point out is the WM that I work in is in a real shithole of a neighbor hood, or you could say I am overrun with J6P, actually in this area it is more like Joe Crack Pack, but that is another story for another board. So in my area at least the widescreen version outsells the fullframe version. If you go look at my shelves where Remember the Titans sit you will see exactly 2 Widescreen versions and 10 to 12 versions of the FULLFRAME, hmmmmmm I see a patern here.
Now lets look at what I consider to be a flight of fancy, or maybe just a fantasy. Someone made the comment above how he hurt the feeling of some poor megamart employee. Good for you. If you are referring to WM let me help ya out. If an employee told you he ordered the widescreen version of SOTL he is either one of two things, on drugs or on a very severe case of stupidity. Wal-Mart empoyees do not order ANY DVD's, that is done by a second company, in my area it is Anderson Merchandise, I believe in other areas it is Handlman Merchandise. Your average run of the mill WM employee has no say so in the ordering of DVD's. I should know, I have tried, I have asked to have both Princess Mononokee as well as the widescreen version of Jurasic Park. Cant be done.
Now here is what is coming up. The Fixture for 14.96 that was mentioned is new to my store, yes it is only one studio, the studio actually pays WM for that floor space, that particular studio also has the most BUDGET priced DVD's, and everyone likes a deal. Now if you walk into the electronics department you will we have a four foot section dedicated to universal studios and that is all at 9.96, in fact I just got a shipment of Stigmata today and it is at 9.96, that is good. Good for me, you as well. We will also be adding a corner fixture to many stores, it will be 9.96 and it has some really kick ass titles, one that comes to mind is Young Guns II. That is also good.
Now here is an idea. If you dont like what WM is doing or you think it is responsible for Willy Wonka stop wasting your time complaining to people who share your feelings, pick up the phone and call WM in Arkansas. I know the Willy Wonka petition has around ten thousand sigs, what kind of impact do you think you would make if 10,000 pissed off consumers called WM or ANY store for that matter.
YOU HAVE POWER I SUGGEST YOU PUT IT TO GOOD USE. Now at the end of the day if you dont want to shop at WM that is fine with me, just know there are some of us out there like Matt and my self that are really trying to open folks minds. Here is a suggestion, why dont you go to widescreen. org print up some of there pages that make a comparison betwenn 2.35 widescreen and Pan and Scan, one I would suggest is the James Bond flick, it really makes a powerfull statement. Take that to WM show the department manager, ask him if you can hang them by the DVD's and see what happens. You guys say you want to educate folks, well here is your chance. Now unfortunately you will be blown off more than a few times, many folks just dont give a shit and that is to bad, however you might just open some eyes out there.
Just some thoughts, oh by the way some of us at WM really do care, and some of us are actually somewhat inteligent. Hell some of us are really talented to, spmstudios.com just could not resist a shameless plug for my average talent.
Well that should do it, I think I will go make my self a nice Don Julio Reposado Margaritta and look at some porn on the net. Good day.
Scott.
PS, I am currently undergoing therapy for my underwhelming grammar skills as well as my spellllling skills to boot.
[Edited last by Patrick Scott on August 21, 2001 at 10:58 PM]
[Edited last by Patrick Scott on August 21, 2001 at 10:59 PM]

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I was at Tower Video and noticed that ALL the Hannibal and Silence of the Lambs DVDs were Widescreen.
I asked my friend Joe (who works there, and you already know this if you've seen my other Tower-related posts ) where the Fullscreen copies were and he said that they didn't order any.
Notch one up for Tower Video...at least my local one, anyway.
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Scott
Check out my Movie Reviews at Epinions. Help support my debilitating DVD addiction!
AOL IM: TheAngryJew29

 

[Jeff]

My local Wallmart had about 100 copies of the "FULLSCREEN" version only. I asked the clerk if they had the WIDESCREEN and she had the classic clued out look on her face. I told her not to worry about it.
Anyway, their stand that the DVD's were on was compeletly full and didn't look like one got sold.
Jeff

 

[David Lambert]

Did my weekly price comparisons at Circuit City, and all they had there were the Widescreen. Though, they didn't even have Goonies listed as being released today, so I had to drive around town to find it.

I stopped at Circuit City to pick up Batman for $12.99; as I grabbed it next to the counter I noticed Hannibal and SoTL discs to its left. The SoTL discs were the Fullscreen version, but the "sale" label underneath it indicated it was the widescreen version. I looked at the Hannibal floor display nearby; it had the two bottom positions filled with SOTL-WS. Their "bestseller" rack had SOTL-WS versions (complete with duplicates of the sale tag on the mislabeled copy elsewhere).
I didn't see Goonies anywhere I looked.
I went to pay for Batman, and the 300-pound lady who rang me up said they were out of Goonies (given the quote above, I wonder if she lied as to whether they ever came in) and I pointed out the mistake with SOTL having the wrong discs for the sale label...she just grunted and kept on ringing me up. No "thank you" or "I'll fix that"...just a grunt.
Now I recall why I hate to shop there for DVD's now...even though I've bought over 150 of them there in the past!
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DAVE/Memphis
My 3-year-old enjoying Superman - The Movie in widescreen:

(Some of my DVD's are to the left side of the picture)

 

[Ron Eastman]

...Someone made the comment above how he hurt the feeling of some poor megamart employee. Good for you. If you are referring to WM let me help ya out...

Actually, Joel is referring to MegaMart (note the caps) which is the name of a store here in Omaha, the electronics and appliance division of Nebraska Furniture Mart.
I don't visit MegaMart for new releases anymore, only titles that have been out for a while. When I went there last year and the clerk argued with me, telling me that Bridge on the River Kwai was not released yet, I'd had enough. I do frequently get Best Buy to price match their ads though.
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"The last thing I want to remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth." - Del Griffith
Link Removed
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[Patrick Scott]

Thanks Ron, I have never heard of MegaMart. I figured that was a blanket comment about sprawl mart, welfare mart and wally world.

 

[Frederick]

I'm sorry to say that it just isn't Walmart, guys. I went to Coconut's in downtown Chicago to pick up SoTL, Hannibal, The Goonies and Batman. I saw Hannibal first, saw that it was widescreen, assumed that SoTL was the same, and picked one of those up as well. On my way to the counter, I noticed that the SoTL that I picked up was full-screen. Ok, no big, I'll just pick up one that's widescreen. I looked at the display and saw that they were ALL fullscreen. I asked one of the employees if they had the widescreen edition, and they did. It was BEHIND THE COUNTER! I was disgusted. You had to ASK for the widescreen edition. He said that they were told to put the fullscreen DVD's out on display. I don't get it. I just don't get it ...
Freddy
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