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Anyone else upset about 2-disc DVD prices rising?

post #1 of 25
4/8/06 at 3:37am
Thread Starter 
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm really getting sick of studios raising the prices on 2-disc sets. I don't know which title it started with, but now studios are offering separate single disc and two disc editions with more features. The thing is, the 2-disc one seems to be more than double than the single disc.

Sometimes you can find a good deal. I got King Kong 2 disc for 17, only 2 bucks more than the single disc. But The Chronicles of Narnia single disc is $13 at WalMart this week and the single disc, in most areas, is $28, more than double. Is an extra disc and better packaging worth $15 more dollars?
On top of that, there's also rumors that by the end of the year an extended edition will also be released.

I hope people don't just pay the extra dough, otherwise studios will continue to take advantage of us. I won't be buying the 2 disc of Narnia, same with Walk the Line, unless they get much cheaper.

Here's a short list of titles that have done this.

Constantine
Batman Begins
War of the Worlds
Cinderella Man
Walk the Line
King Kong (2005)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe


Anyone remember the time when 2-disc editions would be around $15 first week?

Those were the times.
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post #2 of 25
4/8/06 at 4:10am
This is the mass merchants' fault, not the studios. Before as you said the studios were often just putting out a single 2-disc edition, and the mass merchants were selling them for crazy prices like $15 the first week. No doubt the studios got sick of watching their product devalued in this manner. So, the double release strategy. This way the mass merchants can value price the 1 disc version to hype in their ads, and maintain a premium price on the 2 disc versions. Casual viewers will go for the cheap 1-disc version, and less price sensitive serious fans will pony up for the extra features on the 2-disc. Everybody's happy, no?
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post #3 of 25
4/8/06 at 4:16am
It is what it is. Even at $22, these two-disc sets are very affordable and the choice is good for everyone. As long as it's in widescreen, I'm happy.

I'm more upset with Universal for releasing bogus special editions and Fox for their constant double dips. Right now, the studio producing the best DVDs is Warner Bros. (Criterion trumps all but they're not a movie studio).
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post #4 of 25
4/8/06 at 4:43am
I'm pissed off with it. My new years resolution this year was to cut way down on movie buying given how much I spent last year. (WAY too much for my budget.)

It seems most studios actually put out 3 versions of movies. You get the regular widescreen 1 disk, then the pan'n'suck for the morons, then the 2 disk special edition. It was a case of a regular release being two disks, and now they're in "let's gouge the fans" mode.

Has a 2 disker of a new release been released in the last 6 months without a 2 disker? Pretty sad when we can wax nostalgic about the good old days of no dual releases. (Fight Club etc...)
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post #5 of 25
4/8/06 at 5:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Goldberg
It is what it is. Even at $22, these two-disc sets are very affordable and the choice is good for everyone. As long as it's in widescreen, I'm happy.

I'm more upset with Universal for releasing bogus special editions and Fox for their constant double dips. Right now, the studio producing the best DVDs is Warner Bros. (Criterion trumps all but they're not a movie studio).
Universal is definetly the worst offender of this charging $40 for fuckin' Cinderella Man and Jarhead collecter's editions (I already think that they have stopped selling the 2-disc set of Jarhead come to think of it). To their credit though, the 2-disc set of Kong was pretty cheap all things considered (although I'm sure the extended edition will be Criterion priced as well.)
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post #6 of 25
4/8/06 at 1:01pm
Here in Canada, DVD prices are often ridiculous and arbitrary. I noticed at HMV the other day that the bare-bones Sin City goes for a dollar more than the extended edition.

The bare bones was $39-fucking-99.
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post #7 of 25
4/8/06 at 5:20pm
That's what you get for living in Canada. You may have free health care, but I get my DVDs on the cheap!
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post #8 of 25
4/8/06 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Goldberg
That's what you get for living in Canada. You may have free health care, but I get my DVDs on the cheap!
God bless America!
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post #9 of 25
4/8/06 at 9:23pm
As someone who spent years collecting laserdiscs, $22 still feels like chicken feed for a packed multi-disc edition of a movie. You kids today don't know what it's like to plunk down $70 for Jurassic Park with no extras whatsoever simply because it's CAV and THX enhanced. Oh, you want the extras? Shell out $250 for the Ultimate Star Wars Trilogy box set. $22? Not getting pissed over that.

Get off my lawn.
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post #10 of 25
4/8/06 at 9:32pm
If you ever bought Laserdiscs, you are old school in a big way. Like a foot in diameter big.
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post #11 of 25
4/8/06 at 9:39pm
I remember my grandpa telling stories about laserdiscs. I figured it was just part of his crazy ramblings brought on by dementia. Now I feel bad for recommending him for euthanasia.
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post #12 of 25
4/9/06 at 12:34am
In Canada, the Batman Begins and Constantine 2-disc SE's were on sale for $19.99 the first day of their release; however, lately WB and other studios have been jacking up the price on the 2-discers.

Harry Potter GOF set me back $29.99 on opening day. Jarhead 2-disc was $41.99, which I didn't buy due to the steep price. Also, Walk The Line 2-disc was $32.99 release day which I didn't want to blind buy. I bought Narnia 2-disc the other day for $32.99, but only because it's one of those movies I've waited most of my life to be realized properly on screen (luckily I wasn't dissappointed).

Regardless, this 2-disc price increase is getting out of control. I'd hate for a lack of sales, due to the high price, eventually eliminate future 2-disc SE releases due to a lack of perceived demand at a sufficiently high price
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post #13 of 25
4/9/06 at 12:52am
Unless you have to have it right when it comes out, why not just wait for it to drop in price? I usually wait a couple of months, and prices seem to drop like crazy. Even better, sometimes I completely forget about a movie I want to buy, then notice it's on sale later on and pick it up cheap.

Two weeks ago, I picked up the 2 disc edition of Collateral for $11. I'm pretty sure when it came out it was around $25 - $28....
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post #14 of 25
4/9/06 at 12:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nigel St. Buggering
As someone who spent years collecting laserdiscs, $22 still feels like chicken feed for a packed multi-disc edition of a movie. You kids today don't know what it's like to plunk down $70 for Jurassic Park with no extras whatsoever simply because it's CAV and THX enhanced. Oh, you want the extras? Shell out $250 for the Ultimate Star Wars Trilogy box set. $22? Not getting pissed over that.

Get off my lawn.
Bullseye. Strangely, back then, I didn't mind paying triple-digits for special edition LDs. It was like buying a work of art. Yet now, I feel uneasy paying a fraction of that for a SE DVD, simply because the medium has been cheapened by ridiculous overmarketing.

I think part of it is that we're spoiled now. But the other part of it is, super-elaborate special editions just don't seem that special anymore. The joy of opening up and diving into a LORD OF THE RINGS or an ALIEN QUADRILOGY is an increasingly rare thing for me these days.
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post #15 of 25
4/9/06 at 12:55am
Don't buy them!
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post #16 of 25
4/9/06 at 2:04am
With video games going for $50 or $60 I don't see why people are complaining about $30 for a DVD. Just wait until the HD discs hit the market.
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post #17 of 25
4/9/06 at 11:32pm
I find 200+ hours hard to believe. You'd have to be a serious hardcore obsessive to put that much time into one game.
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post #18 of 25
4/9/06 at 11:51pm
And have no social life, significant other, friends, etc.

Not that any stereotype fits into that, of course.
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post #19 of 25
4/10/06 at 1:41am

2 disk price hike

It's a horrible trend and it needs to end now!
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post #20 of 25
4/10/06 at 2:11am
Well, considering the dubious quality of the "extras", although it took some getting used to I now don't often mind going for the single-disc releases.

Compared to these "good old days" referenced when bringing up the first Fight Club release, we are getting some bland, cookie-cutter extras (and this is coming from someone who watches/listens to EVERY extra save music videos and remote control games). There are some exceptions, of course, but it's certainly hard to justify it. Yeah, it's still an affordable source of entertainment, but the consumer was spoiled and shouldn't all of a sudden have to be force-fed the crap we're getting.

Devin's advice is quite true, but I'm a sucker for DVD extras and it's been a rough adjustment period (listen to me taking this shit seriously, as if I were losing sleep over it): the stuff on the second Jarhead disc seemed like it wasn't worth my time, and the single-disc version was pretty rounded out, but damn if I wasn't kicking myself when I went with the single-disc edition of Kinsey (one of the first examples of this new trend).
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post #21 of 25
4/10/06 at 2:22am
What I hate most about the trend is that increasingly only the barebones single disc versions are available for rent.
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post #22 of 25
4/10/06 at 3:07pm
I've been complaining about this very thing (newer pricier 2 discs) lately. I blame WalMart & Blockbuster. They want the cheeper, easier option to give to the public. It sucks when I can only afford the used copy and i MUST have the 2-discer. But you're right... i don't need to buy. It's a compulsion. Quality over quantity is the answer i guess... i love my extras... even if i don't have time to watch them...
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post #23 of 25
4/11/06 at 12:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HotGarbage
....Two weeks ago, I picked up the 2 disc edition of Collateral for $11. I'm pretty sure when it came out it was around $25 - $28....
Well, I myself am pretty sure that I paid the ~$15 sale price on the first week of release. Plus, unless they pushed all the extras to the first disc and dropped the second (because it looks untouched from the version I own), it's now $10 retail (less online, I'm sure). You got hosed out of a dollar.
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post #24 of 25
4/11/06 at 2:51pm
Around Christmas time, I made the decision to pretty much cut out two-disc sets unless they either (a) were from a movie that I absolutely love, or (b) contained an extended cut that wasn't available on the single disc. I just got tired of paying an extra 10 or 15 bucks for extra features that I never actually get around to checking out. I might be more willing to pay the extra cash if I actually had the time to check ou the special features, however... also, as someone above mentioned, if 98% if all special features didn't suck.
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post #25 of 25
4/11/06 at 6:18pm
This may be a bit off topic, but does anyone remember what the price of the Fight Club 2-disc edition was when it was first released?
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