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Is this the best example? Blockbuster buys insane quantities of new DVDs so that they guarantee having new films in stock and not turn renters away. When the initial rush is over each store is still going to have 50 copies to get rid of.

Blockbuster has always sold previously viewed DVDs at discount in the store. Sometimes for movies that are a week or two old. Nothing new.

I think a better example is Virgin's $10 sale. Always a good selection.

This is just what came over the e-mail transom today... there are many examples.

And yes, Devin... I know the Blockbuster situation... which floods the market and lowers the price point across the board, because that 50 is more than 10,000 nationwide.

Wow, at $7 a DVD, LexG can empty his bank account, fill up a bathtub with them, and off himself å la Frankie Pentangeli.

I always contain myself and wait for Blockbuster or Hollywood video to sell used DVDs for like, $10.00 rather than buy new.

Plus that AMERICAN GANGSTER DVD isn't even the special edition one that's out there. I'm sure that one is still $20.00 or higher.

Exactly Peta: this is the regular two disc special edition. It's not like Blockbuster is selling that 3-Discs set for 10 bucks. Everyone knows the money is in that extra disc. So please do not take this as a sign. Especially in light of this country needing the GRID to make substantial HD product deliverable.

My problem, in theory, with previously viewed DVDs is, despite what everyone says about DVD 4 EVA and shit, rental discs are usually SCRATCHED TO SHIT. I got nothing against Blockbuster or anyone buying Previously Viewed... hell, I used to buy used VHS *all* the time. And when they hit 7 bucks, why not? Sure, roll the dice.

But at 12 or 14 or 16 bucks, you're basically paying for a scratched, fingerprinted, likely jerked-off-to disc touched by someone's unwashed piss hands, which you could've bought NEW for 14 or 15 bucks at some Fry's or BB the very day of its release.

Who masturbates to American Gangster?

Just the Armand Assante scenes.

(I meant other movies, goofball.)

thanks for that lex....you've just made me reconsider my netflix subscription.....

Fuck that; Does Netflix carry porn? I don't know if it does or not. But any video service or store that carries both legit and porn movies, you can all but GUARANTEE your tapes or disc have *cum* into contact with some other dude's unwashed stroke hand.

Porn has some stigma for some reason. I have no idea why really, but people still look down on it. Shameful. Absolutely shameful. So this means that there's no junk any Netflix disc. Unless you count Poison Ivy... the collection.

IVY 2: MILANO.

YEP YEP.

My local Mom and Pop sells previously viewed copies of big releases for $12.95 two weeks after the release date. 2 weeks after that, it goes down to $9.95 and then 2 weeks later $7.95. They have been doing this for years. I used to go in exactly 2 weeks after a big release date to get those deals. Not anymore...blu-ray baby!!

Blockbuster, like WalMart, will sell popular titles at cost or below to bring in customers. There is no story here.

There is a story here, Montreal... because the studios have lowered the wholesale prices, these kinds of numbers have become the norm, and the retail price can be controlled by studios... and has not been.

My point in posting this is not that it is one of a kind, but as a reminder that we continue to see the devaluation of the medium, which is how this industry keeps killing off its darlings.

The reason there's no story here is that this is the way it's been for years.

Does anyone else feel bad when you see a movie you love dumped in the 2.99 Previously viewed box at Blockbuster? My local Blockbuster has about 20 copies of United 93 in the battered box that also contains such "gems" as Epic Movie and Date Movie...Granted not exactly a movie you want to watch everyday, but I feel that it is one of the best films of the decade.

"Does anyone else feel bad when you see a movie you love dumped in the 2.99 Previously viewed box at Blockbuster?"

Yeah, and then I feel worse about it when I see a mediocre waste of plastic that's six months old and still being foisted off for $12.99.

Blockbuster needs the money for its hostile takeover of Circuit City.

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