Weekly RoundUp 11-29-2016

Mike Frezon · Nov 24, 2016

Hey RoundUppers!

Hope you are all exercising safe shopping on this Black Friday!

I'm posting this RoundUp a bit early as I have had some family business come up which needs taking care of. I am not 100% on the Best Buy info. It's probably near-complete...but I doubt I will be available...or near a place at which I can secure a Best Buy ad in a weekend newspaper. So, if anyone wants to add anything I might have missed as I scoured other on-line sources, it would be appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jake Lipson · Nov 24, 2016

Thanks, Mike, for the early RoundUp...and I hope you are having a great holiday.

I want BFG and Pete's Dragon this week, but those prices are ridiculous. $19.99 each would be more fair, but I guess this is what happens when they underperform at the box office and Disney needs to make money back.

I wonder, if I were to price match Best Buy's $22.99 each at Target, if they would still then knock off $5 for combined purchase, or if price matching it would void that offer. Anyone with any past experiences doing something like this?

B-ROLL · Nov 25, 2016

Jake Lipson said:
Thanks, Mike, for the early RoundUp...and I hope you are having a great holiday.

I want BFG and Pete's Dragon this week, but those prices are ridiculous. $19.99 each would be more fair, but I guess this is what happens when they underperform at the box office and Disney needs to make money back.

I wonder, if I were to price match Best Buy's $22.99 each at Target, if they would still then knock off $5 for combined purchase, or if price matching it would void that offer. Anyone with any past experiences doing something like this?

Thanks for the Round-Up

You MAY be able, but Target requires you to go to Customer Service to price match. I would ask them politely to give you the adjustment for each one. I would keep the Target ad handy as well but the package discount should come up either after the second disc is input or after they hit the total button or whatever. I wouldn't bring up the bundle discount unless it comes out.

You might be able to do a price-match at Wal*Mart as well but sometimes they won't honor the bundle discounts...

Matt Hough · Nov 25, 2016

Thanks for the early RoundUp, Mike!

I'm supposed to be getting The BFG and AbFab to review. The former may arrive today. The latter, not until next week, I feel sure. Still waiting on this month's Twilight Time releases and already have three titles unreviewed yet for the first week in December, so if nothing for next week comes in today, I'll tackle one of those.

TravisR · Nov 25, 2016

I'll be picking up The BFG this week and maybe Don't Breath.

Pete's Dragon was a wonderful little movie but I'll probably wait until it's on sale.

Thanks for the prices, Mike!

Rodney · Nov 25, 2016

Add me to the long list of grateful ones on this site for Mike's RoundUp work!

Nothing this week for me, though I would like to see a review of the Film Detective's restored Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. I am curious on exactly what they mean when they say restored and remastered from original 35MM vault materials.

DavidJ · Nov 25, 2016

Thanks as always, Mike! Hope you've had a good Thanksgiving and time with family. Probably nothing for me this week. May rent The BFG.

Jake Lipson · Nov 28, 2016

Amazon has kindly dropped both The BFG and Pete's Dragon ever so slightly. BFG is currently $19.54 and Pete's Dragon is $21.24. Therefore, I decided to accept those prices rather than attempt to get Target to price match Best Buy and still offer their $5 off deal, which seemed like a long shot at best. So I ordered them and they'll arrive Thursday, as it is too close to the release date to qualify for release date delivery, but I can wait 2 days.

Edit: Amazon has increased Pete's Dragon back to $22.99, but it was $21.24 about an hour ago when I ordered it. BFG is still holding at $19.54 which is by far the cheapest price around for it.

Jake Lipson · Nov 28, 2016

TravisR said:
Pete's Dragon was a wonderful little movie but I'll probably wait until it's on sale.

I am certainly not trying to convince you to do anything you don't want to do, but do you actually expect it to go on sale in the near future? My experience is that big Disney titles get price drops less frequently, and usually much later after their initial release, than discs from almost all other studios. (I've been waiting for the new Beauty and the Beast to go down for a few months now and it hasn't, except for a $10 Black Friday Walmart sale which was useless here as 2 separate stores either didn't have it or sold out.) Since my desire to get Beauty and the Beast is purely an extras-motivated double dip, I can tolerate a long wait and maybe not getting it for that since the Diamond Edition is still terrific, but with something like Pete, which is a new movie I don't yet own and doesn't seem that likely to me to go on sale soon or get a new edition, t don't see the point in waiting several months and denying myself a movie I really want just to maybe or maybe not save a few bucks.

This experience waiting around for Beauty and the Beast with no luck is what made me decide to just pull the trigger and get Pete's Dragon now even though the price is higher thanI would normally like it to be.

I really do think that the prices for both Pete and BFG reflect that they did not perform as well as Disney hoped, and they're being priced higher either to compensate, or because the stores do not expect them to sell as many cope as a Finding Dory or Civil War, so we're shouldering extra cost to make up for the additional units they don't think they'll move.

Malcolm R · Nov 28, 2016

The Jungle Book remake was widely available recently for $10 or less. It may be BF next year, but I think PD could be in the same range eventually.

But if it's something you really want to see, go for it. That's only the price of two movie tix. I bought a few titles on release day this past year. Most of them were half price or less over BF. But I don't get to the theater as much as I used to, and really wanted to see them.
:popcorn:

Mike Frezon · Nov 29, 2016

Forgot to highlight this in the RoundUp...

...but I'm very happy to see Warner's re-think their DVD-only release of Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors TV movie. Released only on DVD back in May, the Warner's Archive is releasing it on Blu this week (I pre-ordered a copy). The newest installment in the Parton childhood specials (a Christmas-themed story receiving mixed reviews) will also see a release on both DVD and Blu-ray on December 20th.

The young girl who plays Parton in these programs (Alyvia Alyn Lind) is rally something special.

TravisR · Nov 29, 2016

Jake Lipson said:
I am certainly not trying to convince you to do anything you don't want to do, but do you actually expect it to go on sale in the near future?

It'll take months but like Malcolm said, it'll eventually drop. Plus, waiting allows me to see if a 3-D release materializes in the next few months. If there is a 3-D disc, I won't 'have' to rebuy the movie and if there isn't, I can grab the 2-D disc when it goes on sale.

Not like they're concerned with my $23 but this should be a lesson to Disney because if they weren't playing games with their 3-D releases, I'd be a lot more inclined to just buy this disc (or a 3-D one) at its current price.

Jake Lipson · Nov 29, 2016

Mike Frezon said:
...but I'm very happy to see Warner's re-think their DVD-only release of Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors TV movie. Released only on DVD back in May, the Warner's Archive is releasing it on Blu this week

I'm not a Dolly Parton fan so this doesn't really interest me, but I'm happy to see a Blu-ray of this too, and wish Universal would do the same with the NBC live musicals. The last three have been hit-or-miss, but I'm really looking forward to Hairspray next week, as I love that show, and would almost certainly buy a disc of it...if a Blu-ray were being offered, which, per usual, does not seem to be the case this year. Hopefully if the Parton ones (which also originate on NBC) sell properly, they might take notice of the fact that there is a market for this kind of event programming in HD. Since it is filmed and broadcast in HD, I don't understand why they don't think people would buy a Blu-ray, especially since the studios are pushing Blu-ray so much at the expense of DVD on other (admittedly theatrical) titles.

TravisR said:
Not like they're concerned with my $23 but this should be a lesson to Disney because if they weren't playing games with their 3-D releases, I'd be a lot more inclined to just buy this disc (or a 3-D one) at its current price.

I get that, but to me personally, I don't see the value in depriving myself of the movie for a whole year just to get $12 off next Thanksgiving or whatever it ends up being. Then again, 3D does not matter to me, so I'm good with the contents of the current edition. Waiting for 3D is perfectly reasonable and I might do so too if 3D was a factor for me. I can't see 3D anyway, it just gives me a headache, so I don't do it in theaters and of course it's not something I pay extra for in home either when all I would use is the 2D version.

It's worth noting, too, that Amazon has raised their price on The BFG to match Best Buy's $22.99, which i the lowest it can be found for in ads. So much for actually leading the way in giving customers a good price. Anyway, I'm glad I got it for $19.54 last night.

Jake Lipson · Dec 1, 2016

I assume that the vast majority, if not all, who come to this forum would prefer owning discs to merely having a digital stream. However, I noticed tonight that Vudu is having a Disney sale this week including both Pete's Dragon and The BFG for $14.99 in HDX, which is way cheaper than the discs are, so anybody interested in buying digitally might consider that. I would still prefer the discs myself, but thought I'd pass it along.

DavidJ · Dec 1, 2016

Hmmm...I strongly prefer discs, but those prices are tempting. Thanks for sharing, Jake.

Jake Lipson · Dec 1, 2016

I will redeem digital copies included with discs, but have almost never bought a digital copy directly online without having a disc tied to it. Interestingly, besides the new one, the Vudu sale also includes the original Pete's Dragon from 1977 (separately from the new one but available at the same price), which does not have digital included with its disc.

Jeff Cooper · Dec 1, 2016

Heh, I always redeem the digital copies of every disc I buy since they started ultraviolet all those years ago, and iTunes before that. I currently have 139 titles in my flixster collection.

To date, I have watched exactly zero of them. :lol:

Jason_V · Dec 2, 2016

Totally random and YMMV....walked into the mall last night and our local FYE is going out of business. Most things are at 30% off now, including new and used movies.

I didn't pick anything up, but I'm planning on going back Monday after payday. There was a good selection of stuff in the store. I'm angling for some HBO BD sets (one True Blood season was at $19.99 with the 30% off on top of that).

Mike Frezon · Dec 2, 2016

Jason_V said:
Totally random and YMMV....walked into the mall last night and our local FYE is going out of business. Most things are at 30% off now, including new and used movies.

Wow. Hope that's not chain-wide.

But, OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised. They only seem to care about selling kitschy-type stuff any more.

Blu-ray	Amazon	BestBuy	Target
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (Fox)	$22.99		$19.99
The BFG (Disney)	$22.99	$22.99	$24.99
Back to the Future (The Complete Adventures) (Universal)	$59.96
Baked in Brooklyn (Well Go USA)	$29.98
Biggles: Adventures in Time (Kino)	$19.99
Coat of Many Colors	$17.99
Don’t Breathe	$19.96	$19.99	$19.99
Finders Keepers (1984) (Kino)	$19.99
Heart: Live – Royal Albert Hall w/ Royal Phil. Orch. (Eagle Rock) (Avail. Dec. 2)	$21.98
Pete’s Dragon (2016) (Walt Disney)	$22.96	$22.99	$24.99
Sacrifice! (RaroVideo)	$17.99
Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music (Acorn Media)	$31.96
T.A.M.I. Show, The / The Big T.N.T. Show (CE) (Shout! Factory) (Avail. Dec. 2)	$29.98
Wild Life, The (Lions Gate)	$17.96

DVD	Amazon	BestBuy	Target
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (Fox)	$19.99		$14.99
The BFG (Disney)			$19.99
Babes in Kongland (Bayview Entertainment)	$14.99
Back to the Future (Complete Adventures)	$35.49
Baked in Brooklyn (Well Go USA)	$14.99
Biggles: Adventures in Time (Kino)	$13.99
Desert Migration (Passion River)	$17.99
Doctor Who Villians Giftset	$24.98
Don’t Breathe	$17.96		$17.99
Esteros (Breaking Glass Pictures)	$14.99
Finders Keepers (1984) (Kino)	$13.99
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940 Serial)	$14.99
House of Lies: The Final Season (Paramount)	$28.89
Intervention, The (Paramount)	$22.99
MurderDrome: Roller Derby Dames (Bayview Entertainment)	$14.99
Pete’s Dragon (2016) (Walt Disney)			$19.99
Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music (Acorn Media)	$34.99
Tomorrow We Disappear (Kino)	$19.99
Wild Life, The (Lions Gate)	$15.96

Weekly RoundUp 11-29-2016

Post Disclaimer

More options

Mike Frezon

Jake Lipson

B-ROLL

Matt Hough

TravisR

Rodney

DavidJ

Jake Lipson

Jake Lipson

Malcolm R

Mike Frezon

TravisR

Jake Lipson

Jake Lipson

DavidJ

Jake Lipson

Jeff Cooper

Jason_V

Mike Frezon

Similar threads

Weekly RoundUp 4-23-2024

Weekly RoundUp 4-30-2024

I Am Cuba – Criterion UHD Blu-ray Review

Mean Girls (2024) UHD Review

Movies

Hardware

About HTF