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Christmas Discounts Galore

Shoppers looking for DVDs and Blu-rays as late Christmas gift ideas were given plenty of discount options at the major retailers.

At Best Buy shoppers could get a $10 discount with the purchase of the new Futurama Vol. 6 (DVD $19.99, BD $27.99) with any previous “Futurama” volume. Best Buy also offered a $10 movie coupon for Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol with Blu-ray copies of the earlier movies, $9.99 each or $19.99 for a trilogy pack. TV DVD buyers could get 50% off any HBO series or miniseries and a $10 gift card with the purchase of three or more, as well as 10% to 50% off movie and TV gift sets. Best Buy offered free shipping on everything at its BestBuy.com online store.

Target offered a $5 savings when new releases Colombiana and Straw Dogs, both from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, were purchased together ($14.99 DVD, $19.99 BD each).

In addition, Target had DVD and Blu-ray singles for as low as $4.75 each, a selection of holiday DVDs (Shrek the Halls, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, etc.) for $7.99 each, and movie DVD four-packs for $8.99 each.

Pumping Up the 'Panda'

As is typical for a new animated family film, Kung Fu Panda 2 received the bulk of the retail-exclusive tie-ins.

Best Buy offered free Po panda plush dolls with the purchase of the Kung Fu Panda 2 double-DVD pack, Blu-ray or 3D Blu-ray. The 3D version is exclusive to Best Buy, which offers a $5 coupon for it at www.BestBuy.com/KungFuPanda2.

Walmart has an exclusive single-disc Blu-ray edition of Kung Fu Panda 2, which it was selling for $19.96.

Another curiosity popped up in Target’s weekly ad circular, which didn’t bother to list the DVD-only price for Fright Night, focusing instead on the Blu-ray and 3D combo pack versions.

Best Buy also has a variety of holiday shopping specials related to disc, such two Blu-ray combo packs of select recently released films for $40; “Blu-ray on a Budget” catalog titles at $7.99 each; and $10 in movie cash to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked included in $14.99 copies of earlier “Chipmunks” Blu-rays or Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Smurfing With Benefits

Target's Smurfette packaging

Target used its weekly ad circular to tout the Friday, Dec. 2, arrivals of The Smurfs and Friends With Benefits, and even has the Smurfs Blu-ray/DVD combo in exclusive Smurfette packaging at $19.99. The DVD is offered at $16.99, and the 3D version is $24.99. Friends With Benefits is offered at $16.99 on DVD, $19.99 on Blu-ray and $24.99 for a Blu-ray/DVD combo with an exclusive bonus disc.

Best Buy didn’t advertise any exclusives with the Friday titles, but offered Smurfs at  $16.99 for the DVD, $22.99 for the combo pack and $27.99 for the 3D version, and had Friends With Benefits at $17.99 on DVD and $24.99 on Blu-ray.

The big promotion at Best Buy centered on the finale of “Smallville,” with a Daily Planet T-shirt offered with copies of the season 10 DVD and Blu-ray sets, and a Clark Kent action figure with the complete-series DVD boxed set.

Best Buy also offers a $10 gift card with $50 in Blu-ray purchases or a $20 gift card with $100 in Blu-ray purchases, $12 movie cash for the new The Muppets movie with select Muppet-brand DVDs, as well as 20% to 50% off select TV DVD complete-series sets.

‘Potter,’ ‘Twilight’ Enchant Retailers

Walmart’s “Potter” exclusive involved $13 Blu-ray two-packs of the earlier films.

Target offered DVD deals in $5 and $13 categories, select Blu-rays with $10 gift cards, and a “Twilight” endcap centered on an $11.99 “Vampire’s Fiancée” T-shirt.

Also new this week are the DVD-only versions of The Lion King: Diamond Edition and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, offered at $16.99 each at Best Buy, $14.96 each at Walmart and $17.99 each at Target.

Vivendi Celebrates Laurel & Hardy

Vivendi Entertainment and RHI Entertainment have released Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection, a 10-DVD set of 58 of the comedy duo’s talking shorts and feature films produced under movie mogul Hal Roach from 1929 through 1940.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy first appeared together in 1921, but did not form their legendary partnership until joining the Roach studio in 1926. They would perform together until 1955.

The $99.98 set includes such favorites as Helpmates, Hog Wild, Another Fine Mess, Sons of the Desert, Way Out West and Academy Award winner The Music Box. Though presented on DVD, the films have been remastered in high-definition. This is the first time many of these films have been collected into a single set.

The discs come in book-style packaging with a detailed film guide and more than two hours of extras, including never-before-seen interviews with comedy legends Dick Van Dyke, Jerry Lewis, Tim Conway and more, who discuss the impact and influence of Laurel & Hardy. Additional extras include commentaries by Laurel & Hardy aficionados and a map of Los Angeles locations where the duo filmed their movies.

“Boasting a staggering amount of films and over two hours of bonus features, Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection is not only a must-have for classic film aficionados, but also enables the duo’s comedic legacy to be shared with a whole new generation of fans,” said Mitch Budin, EVP and GM of Vivendi Entertainment. “We are thrilled to be the distributor of these films, and offer the best viewing experience available to date on DVD and digital, debuting a set that brings these amazing films together for the first time in the U.S. in one magnificent collection.”

Retailers Ready for ‘Potter’ Finale

With the highly anticipated Friday, Nov. 11, release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, the finale of the hugely successful franchise, studios kept other major new releases during the week to a minimum. 

Best Buy devoted a page and a half of its weekly ad circular to the franchise, offering exclusive 3D Blu-ray versions of both “Deathly Hallows” movies at $22.99 each.

Target offers a deluxe version of Deathly Hallows — Part 2 Blu-ray combo pack with an exclusive 44-minute bonus documentary When Harry Leaves Hogwarts, at $5 more  ($27.99) than the regular Blu-ray combo pack ($22.99).

Retailers Revved Up for ‘Cars’

The latest hit film from Pixar and Disney, Cars 2, has attracted a lot of attention from retailers, with most of the major chains offering exclusives tied to the Nov. 1 release.

Best Buy devoted the most space to the title in its weekly ad circular, with more than half a page listing “Cars” tie-ins. The major exclusive at Best Buy is a $16.99 blue Lightning McQueen remote control car. Fans could save $7 with the purchase of the Cars 2 Blu-ray in conjunction with the car, the Cars 2 video game ($39.99) or one of the new “Toy Story” 3D combo packs ($29.99 each).

Target offered the Cars 2 3D combo pack in an exclusive light-up case.

Target and Best Buy both touted a $5 Disney coupon at their websites that could be used on the Cars 2 3D combo pack or the three-movie collection.

Walmart offered copies of the Cars 2 Blu-ray/DVD combo pack with a pack-in die-cast Finn McMissile car toy.

Also, Best Buy is touting exclusive 3D editions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 and Part 2, due Nov. 11.

Cats and Robots of the 1980s

As the "Transformers" movies have demonstrated, cartoons from the 1980s have made quite an impression on the 2000s.

Classic Media has been re-releasing the 1980s animated series “Voltron” on DVD, beginning a few months ago with Voltron: The Legend Begins, collecting the first seven episodes, and continuing Nov. 1 with Voltron: The Final Battle, collecting the final few episodes ($12.99 each DVD). The show tells of five robot lions that combine to form a mighty warror named Voltron to battle evil across the galaxy. Legend Begins includes a guide to the show’s characters and concepts, while Final Battle includes previews of the new “Voltron Force” TV show and the new video game and toy line.

“Voltron” is just the latest 1980s toon getting spruced up for DVD. A&E Home Entertainment has released Robotech: The Complete Series ($99.95), a new 17-disc collection of the 1985 series. The saga dealt with the survivors of a future Earth after an alien war, and still holds up quite well. While the series has been released on DVD several times before, this collection includes several new retrospectives, alternate versions of episodes and deleted scenes, among hours of additional extras.

And Warner Home Video recently released its first DVD of the Cartoon Network remake of another 1980s cartoon, with Thundercats: Season 1 Book 1 ($19.97). This new version is faithful to the spirit of the original with a fresh animation style and more of a serialized storyline.

Of course, you probably can't go wrong with the most enduring of all franchise, "Star Wars," and the third-season DVD and Blu-ray of "The Clone Wars." The episodes are somewhat inconsistent, and the storytelling is heavily geared toward prequels and sequels of earlier episodes. But there are some memorable moments that tie into the movies, including a cameo by Chewbacca and a nod to the 1980s animated series "Droids."

Finally, Dec. 6 sees Shout! Factory release Transformers Prime: Darkness Rising, a DVD of the miniseries that kicked off the new CGI "Transformers" series now playing on The Hub. The $14.97 DVD edits the five episodes into a single movie, with extras including animatics and concept designs.
 

Deals Made in ‘America’

Best Buy's 'Captain America' Blu-ray Slipcover (front and back)

Following a week in which it seemed every new release had an exclusive goodie attached to it by the big retailers, the Oct. 25 new releases were mostly left to stand on their own.

Among the major new releases, the only real exclusive was found at Best Buy, which offered the Captain America: The First Avenger Blu-ray with a slipcover adorned with a replica of an early “Captain America” comic book cover.

Best Buy also offered the Thor Blu-ray combo pack at $19.99 (regularly $29.99) with the purchase of any version of Captain America.

More superhero savings could be had at Best Buy, which offered $6 in savings with the purchase of any two “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” DVDs from Disney. Vol. 3 and Vol. 4 were released Oct. 25. The sets are priced at $12.99 each.

Also at Best Buy, fans of Jurassic Park could get a copy of the new trilogy Blu-ray with exclusive steelbook case packaging for $59.99, $10 more than the regular Blu-ray.

Ahoy! Thar Be ‘Pirates’ Here

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides debuted to great fanfare Oct. 18, with Blu-ray/DVD combo packs dominating new-release aisles to the point where hardly any space was left for other newcomers such as Green Lantern, which was either sold out or unstocked at some Targets.

Target’s exclusive for the five-disc Stranger Tides 3D combo pack included a pack-on Lego version of the Black Pearl ship, tying into a series of Lego shorts on the disc.

Best Buy offered a bonus disc with copies of the 3D combo, as well as $5 off previous “Pirates” Blu-rays with purchase of the new movie or the Stranger Tides video game.

Walmart offered a tin treasure chest bank with copies of the two-disc Stranger Tides combo pack. Other pack-on goodies at Walmart this week included a power ring with the Green Lantern DVD and a copy of the F in Exams humor book with the Bad Teacher DVD.

The only other notable exclusive was a Catwoman figurine with the Blu-ray combo pack of the DC Universe movie Batman: Year One.

Consumers could get a $5 coupon off the purchase of select Stranger Tides Blu-ray sets by going to Pirates4Coupon.com/BestBuy or Target.com/DisneyCoupon.