Weekly Roundup 7/16 (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

[rant]Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn![/rant]
[c] [/c]
Standard disclaimer: All prices are taken from the websites of each chain, the week of the release (so as to catch any week-of-release sale prices). All prices are subject to change by each chain. Prices and inventory in-store may or may not match the website price. If a price is marked "$_N/A_" in the grid, it means that this title is not shown as available on that chain's website...but it COULD still be in-stores!
I only include the titles I feel like including. In fact, the titles are pretty much the ones I'm personally interested in, or members of my family, with few exceptions. I don't get paid for this, and I don't have time to devote to doing every DVD. I have a lovely wife and a four-year-old son I'd rather spend time with. Please don't complain. If there is a title not included in the Roundup that you want to see, just look it up yourself, and be nice enough to post and share the results with everyone...like I do!
Note that Circuit City does not guarantee their sale prices in Hawaii.
[c]
__________TITLE___________Amazon_BestBuy_CrcCity_CostCo_SamsClub_Borders
Amelie___________________$19.99__$19.99__$19.99__$17.79__$_N/A___$22.09
Arthur's Scary Stories___$ 9.74__$ 9.99__$ 9.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$ 8.49
Better Off Dead__________$18.74__$17.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$16.99
Black Sheep______________$18.74__$17.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$16.99
Fathom___________________$11.24__$14.99__$12.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$11.04
Gung Ho__________________$18.74__$17.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$16.99
In Like Flint____________$11.24__$14.99__$12.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$11.04
JRR Tolkein-Master/Rings_$14.99__$14.99__$15.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$14.44
John Q - SE______________$20.24__$14.99__$15.99__$17.99__$17.48__$16.99
Kids IT Hall-Brain Candy_$18.74__$17.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$16.99
The Mean Machine_________$22.49__$22.99__$24.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$22.09
Modesty Blaise___________$11.24__$14.99__$12.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$11.04
Our Man Flint____________$11.24__$14.99__$12.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$11.04
Robin and Marion_________$18.71__$19.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$20.39
Top Secret!______________$18.74__$17.99__$19.99__$_N/A___$_N/A___$16.99
[/c]
* For those of you unaware of it, per Paramount V.P. Martin Blythe himself, the title It Came From Hollywood (which had been due this week) was cancelled because they could not clear all licenses needed for the release. There is no E.T.A. on a release. Forget about it for now; sorry.
* [rant]The prices at Borders listed above are showing the regular price minus 15% off. If you are reading this, and you want to purchase something at Borders, then there is no excuse to not do this: click Link Removed and use the bottom coupon that is displayed (the top one expires on Monday). Print it, present it at Borders ("I got it from you by e-mail"), and claim 15% off all regular prices of DVDs. Everything else will be 20% off. The discounts are processed in the register system automatically, so there's no chance of getting a wrong discount. So in the Roundup above you see Better Off Dead at $16.99; the pricetag will be marked at $19.99 in the stores.[/rant]
* There are multiple reports that Best Buy is planning to stock low quantities of the catalog titles due out this week, especially the Paramount ones (Top Secret!, Better Off Dead, Gung Ho, etc.). 1-3 copies each. Get 'em quick or don't get 'em at all. This looks like a similar situation to The Great Race, 1776, My Favorite Year, etc.). Perhaps Borders is a better choice this week anyway due to the coupon price, as well as the lower "visibility" of DVDs there amongst the general public.
* On the other hand, according to their national ad circular, those three Paramount titles (Top Secret!, Better Off Dead, Gung Ho) will be just $14.99 at CompUSA this week! Hey, due to that ad, they may stock up better than the usual BB/CC-type places. Even if it's the same 10 copies that Harry Potter got, that quantity will beat the 1-3 copies of each that the other chains seem to be getting!
* Those $5.99 "Special Buy" titles at Best Buy? The one's I listed in this post? Buy any three of them and pay only $15.00.
* Denzel Washington fans should definately visit Best Buy for sale prices on most of his films on DVD this week.
* K-Mart has John Q for $19.95
* Target has an error when I try to see their on-line ad circular, so I can't report what's going on with them right now. I'll about to head out for most of the morning, so I'll check back this afternoon, unless someone beats me to it.
The latest markdowns according to VideoTropics web site (DVD Title/Old SRP/New SRP):
-------------------------
• Battlefield Earth $19.98 $14.98
• Cell, The $24.98 $19.98
• Exorcist, The: The Version You've Never Seen $24.98 $19.98
• Human Face, The $34.98 $29.98
• Murder at 1600 $19.98 $14.98
• Proof of Life $24.98 $19.98
• Romeo Must Die $24.98 $19.98
• Sphere $19.98 $14.98
• Superman, The Movie (Special Edition) $24.98 $19.98
I recommend that anyone interested pick up the last item there. The inheritors of the Salkind estate are suing WB over some of the extra content on the DVD for Superman: The Movie, saying it was unauthorized...and it sounds like they *might* have a good case. Get this DVD while you can, or else pay eBay prices later.

 

[JohnS]

Big Bus is also $17.99 at BB
Run Lola Run is on sale for $11.99 at Best Buy

 

[Joe Fisher]

$14.99 for John-Q at Best Buy!!. Isn't this an Infinfilm title also. If it is, it looks like a buyer to me.

* There are multiple reports that Best Buy is planning to stock low quantities of the catalog titles due out this week, especially the Paramount ones (Top Secret!, Better Off Dead, Gung Ho, etc.). 1-3 copies each. Get 'em quick or don't get 'em at all.

Thats the reason now I will order catalog titles(Better Off Dead & Black Sheep) either through Deep Discount DVD or DVD Planet, and get the bigger new releases in store. I just got tired of running all around NYC & Westchester Co. stores looking for catalog releases. Took me 4 days to find 20 Million Miles To Earth when it came out.

Joe

 

[Matt Birchall]

There are multiple reports that Best Buy is planning to stock low quantities of the catalog titles due out this week, especially the Paramount ones (Top Secret!, Better Off Dead, Gung Ho, etc.). 1-3 copies each. Get 'em quick or don't get 'em at all.

My store received between six to twelve copies of all of the Paramount comedies for Tuesday, except (get this) Better Off Dead, of which we received two. Totally stupid--I consider BOD to be probably the biggest title out of all of 'em. I would say it probably has the biggest cult following, anyway.
And with each store getting such a limited quantity of BOH, be aware that employees might be getting grabbing "all" the copies for themselves, leaving nothing for anybody else (not me--I might pick this up later, but am holding off for now).
(Oh, and one copy each of both the Flint movies, too. . .) :frowning:
Thanks again, David!
-mwb-

 

[george kaplan]

Their circular was missing from my morning paper. Maybe it's a bigger snafu.

 

[Stephen Fagan]

I got Target's circular in my news paper, but there are no DVDs advertised in it.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Well, it looks like a lunch visit to CompUSA on Tuesday for BOD and Top Secret!, and then to Costco for Amelie.

 

[Matt Birchall]

John Q's in there, on the last page (not the back) for $15.99, I believe. But that's the only DVD.

-mwb-

 

[RobertCharlotte]

Nothing on tap for me this week. Good news for my August piggy bank!

 

[David Lawson]

In addition to the $14.99 deals listed above, CompUSA is also offering The Royal Tennenbaums for $16.99 this week, in case anyone missed the sale prices on it last week at the other B&M's.

 

[TonyD]

target had the flint movies for $9.44 when i got them.

 

[Chuck Esola]

Best Buy is selling Modesty Blaise and the two Flint films for full MSRP? What's up with that? I hope it's not a trend.

 

[David Lambert]

Chuck, it's not the first time BB sold something for SRP! In fact, I've seen them sell stuff for OVER SRP before! Circuity City is more apt to do it, but its not unknown at BB.
TonyD, thanks for the Target info. I'll check there first for those titles. CompUSA, then Target, then Borders, then Best Buy for a mop-up. Sounds like a plan.
Target's on-line circular is still not there, by-the-way.
Matt, thanks for the info about stocking levels. I agree that BoD is the big one this week for most people. Myself, it's Gung Ho. I *adore* that flick!
But BoD and TS! are mine as well. Plus the four Fox spy comedies, Arthur for my son, Tolkien for the missus, and maybe Robin & Marion and John Q as well.
The other titles I included in the Roundup for you guys. We have no interest in them ourselves. In fact, we have 400+ unwatched DVDs, from a library of 1353 total, so we don't NEED to be convinced to buy any more titles!

 

[GlennH]

I'll check there first for those titles. CompUSA, then Target, then Borders, then Best Buy for a mop-up. Sounds like a plan.

Dave, that sounds like a lot of driving around to squeeze every last dime of savings out. I'm all about getting the best deal on DVDs, but don't you think sometimes it would be better to just search for the best online deals on certain titles?

Lately I've been preordering stuff at Amazon.com again, usually combining two or three items to get over their minimum $49 free shipping requirement, using a $5 off $35 coupon and a "Share the Love" 10% discount when I can. All that, combined with no sales tax, and I'm consistently beating most of the B&M deals in your roundup each week, without ever getting in the car and fighting the crowds.

There are exceptions -- certain "big" titles with good first-week discounts I'll still pick up at BestBuy or wherever on my lunch hour. I still get out there enough to pique my browsing curiosity. Certain other items I'll order from DeepDiscountDVD.com or wherever I can find a good discount or special coupon.

I realize that many folks like the "instant gratification" of picking the item up and going home with it. But it seems with a lot of catalog titles it's been more like instant disappointment when the stores don't stock them or only get 1 or 2 copies. That's never a problem ordering online. And frankly, I rarely get to watch something new within the first few days of release anyway. So even if I don't get it by street date it's no big deal to me.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to rain on anybody's parade, just expressing some thoughts and wondering how others view it. I think your Weekly Roundup is an interesting, valuable, and informative resource that I check out each week. But for me personally, I just can't get into the "grand tour" of every B&M store out there each week.

 

[Christian Behrens]

David:

The other titles I included in the Roundup are for you guys.

Please please PLEASE check out "Amelie" as well, if you haven't seen it in theatres!!! Don't deny yourself this magnificent film!
-Christian
PS: And thanks for all the hard work again.

 

[Neil White]

Glenn, I do pretty much what you do. I have such a backlog of unwatched DVD's that not getting something bang on release date is simply a non-issue. I do, however, watch out for those new, big titles in the B&M's and I am grateful to David for saving me research time.

I use DDD a lot as well as some of the new Canadian outfits (although their practice of billing at time of order instead of shipping bothers me). buy.com and DVD Empire are always good places to go as well. And it's interesting that more and more places are offering free shipping - makes the deal that much sweeter.

N

 

[David Lambert]

I have such a backlog of unwatched DVD's that not getting something bang on release date is simply a non-issue.

The stuff I rush to get on street date are the items that I *KNOW* I'll watch sooner than the time it takes for the title to get marked down to budget-level, and so want to get that first-week deal on. My backlog consists mainly of stuff I've bought after it's gotten marked down, bought on clearance racks, or gotten as gifts. Gung Ho, Top Secret, & Better Off Dead will all be viewed in time - perhaps multiple times (a reason why the backlog never goes down!) - to get my money's worth before markdowns could possibly take place.
On the other hand, Robin and Marion stands an excellent chance of not getting bought by us until a year or more later...however long it takes to get to the $15-ish range. I don't consider this a $20 purchase. But my wife may overrule me.
Let's get off of discussing our individual buying habits. I don't have to justify them to anyone, and neither should you. We're all different, eh? I like library-building, just like I've done with books and CD's. I plan to own these so I can enjoy them for the rest of my life. Everyone's different in their motivations.

 

[John Berggren]

I'd hit CompUSA during lunch on Tuesday, but have yet to find an in stock advertised DVD there.

 

[Neil White]

David, I'm not trying to belittle the value of your thread. I already said I am thankful for the effort you go to. Nor am I justifying my buying habits - just discussing approachs with fellow HTFers
FWIW, CompUSA, Circuit City, Best Buy, Target, Walmart are all within 2 miles of my house too - I wish they weren't
N

 

[Derek Miner]

I had no idea Brain Candy was due out this week. Guess I should pick that one up at Borders.