Home Media Magazine - November 18-24, 2007 - (Page 26) NEWS Black Friday May Get a Jumpstart This Year Continued from page 1 www.homemediamagazine.com $349.99; a free $199.99 wireless controller with $399.99 40GB PS3; a free controller with a $129.99 PS2; a selection of games for $4.99 to $9.99; and a selection of games that come with a free $10 gift card. The TV selection includes thousands of dollars off LCD HDTVs, including a Sharp Aquos 1080p 52inch for $2199.99. Circuit City offers $200 savings on Firedog installations and up to 50% off TV mounts. I F.Y.E. will have hundreds of recent hits on DVD ranging from $4.99 to $9.99, plus select premium titles and TV DVD boxed sets from $12.99 to $16.99. The chain also has a selection of $3.49 DVDs with a buy three, get one free deal, and a buy one, get one deal on select TV DVD titles, including the exclusive Hogan Knows Best: Seasons 1-3 boxed set. I Sears and Kmart have a $9.99 Codby DVD player (after rebate). Sears has a DVD selection from $3.99 to $9.99, plus 20% off select video games; and a Toshiba HD DVD Player for $169.99 from 5 a.m. to noon Friday (after noon, the price reverts to $299.99). Kmart offers a five-hour sale from 6 to 11 a.m. Friday. I Costco has such coupons as a Philips 47-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,499.99 and $500 off a Panasonic 58-inch 720p plasma HDTV. I Amazon will have a special Black Friday page starting Nov. 23. by most retailers, many of the chains hope to get a jump on Black Friday with sales throughout November. “Retailers are concerned about how consumers will react to the economy,” de Grandpre said. “Consumers are worried about the value of their homes. It creates a lack of sales of non-essential goods. That’s why we’re seeing Black Friday-quality deals much earlier.” Wal-Mart offered a secret sale Nov. 2, with goodies such as Toshiba’s HD-A2 HD DVD player for $98.87 (down from $229.28) and a Sanyo 50inch plasma HDTV for $998 (from $1,294). The result? Long lines and both items selling out in minutes. Best Buy also offered the HD-A2 for $99 and the HD-A3 for $199. Customers with backorder notices for the HD-A2 were upgraded to the HD-A3 ($299) — a $200 savings. The pricing competition has led many retailers to the Web. In addition to pre-Thanksgiving deals, many chains offer online-only bargains on Thanksgiving Day, for those who can’t wait until Cyber Monday. “Last year, people bought so much stuff online that a lot of stores ran out of them before Black Friday,” de Grandpre said. When inventory is available, many retailers offer the same Black Friday discounts online as in stores. “Consumers should check online first,” de Grandpre said. Wal-Mart looks to be focusing more on HDTV discounts on Black Friday, de Grandpre said, but details of the retail behemoth’s upcoming deals have been sketchy at best. WalMart threatened legal action against any Web site that posted the chain’s Black Friday ads prior to Nov. 19. In taking steps to protect what it considers its “commercially valuable intellectual property,” Wal-Mart became the first major retailer to move against the longstanding practice of specialty Web sites such as blackfday. com posting scans of leaked Black Friday circular ads, sometimes weeks in advance of the sale. The site blackfriday.gottadeal.com simply posted a countdown clock to when the information would become available. Rumors of Wal-Mart bargains still managed to find their way online. CNNMoney.com reported such deals as DVDs for $2.96 each and HD DVDs for $14.96 each; special 5-11 a.m. doorbuster deals include a Philips 50-inch plasma HDTV for $1397. The financial site also indicated WalMart would offer a slew of secret in-store specials Thanksgiving Day. Other rumors on the Web included more HDTV deals, a DVD recorder for $145, recent DVD releases at $6 free shipping during the holidays. and new releases at $10 apiece. Some catalog DVDs will be priced at $2.99; recent hits for $8.99; and others Other offers: from $3.99 to $5.99 each, with a limit I Target stores will open at 6 a.m. of three per person. TV DVD boxed sets Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, closing will range from $12.99 to $18.99, and at 11 p.m. both days. the “James Bond Ultimate Collection” Deals include catalog DVDs from five-movie sets will be $18.99. Play$3.98 to $5.98 each; recent hits for ers include a Philips DVD player for $9.98 each; new releases for $15 each; $29.99; a Toshiba 1080p HD upconand TV DVDs for $14.98 each. vert DVD recorder for $99.99 ($55 off); Target also will have a 10-inch a Samsung Blu-ray Player for $377.99 portable DVD player for $84 and a ($122 off); and a Sony Blu-ray player for 12-inch kitchen LCD HDTV with $399.99 ($100 off). a DVD player for $199, both from For gamers: a free wireless conAudiovox; a compact Philips DVD troller and two free games with the player for $25; a PlayStation Portable purchase of an Xbox 360 Pro for core system with five UMD movies for $169.99; and a $60 target gift A Weekly Product Update* card with purchase of both a Halo 3 Xbox 360 console for $399.99 and the Halo 3 game for $59.99. I Best Buy opens at 5 a.m. Friday. Stores will distribute tickets for doorbuster items at 3 a.m. Best Buy also is pointing consumers to its Web site, BestBuy.com, to check out Friday-only specials and research all doorbuster deals. Doorbuster deals include DVDs for No Reservations Good Luck Chuck Gone Baby Gone $2.49 or $6.99 (with a limit of three per customer); and a Best Buy excluSTREET BOX OFFICE sive two-disc Justin Timberlake DVD TITLE DATE PREBOOK (MILLIONS) GENRE PRICE for $16.99. No Reservations 2/12/08 1/8/08 $43.1 Comedy DVD $28.98, BD & HD DVD $35.99 Best Buy also will have a selection of TV DVD seasons for $14.99 each Warner. 2007. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin. A work-obsessed chef struggles to adjust to her changing life when the death (with a limit of eight). of her sister leaves her with a little girl to raise alone. Includes the Food Network’s “Unwrapped” episode about the making of the film. Other deals include 50% off all HBO Good Luck Chuck 1/15/08 12/19 $35 Comedy DVD $29.95, BD $39.99 seasons; a selection of 50 DVD titles at $4.99 each; a Samsung 1080p Lionsgate. 2007. Dane Cook, Jessica Alba. A dentist is cursed as a good luck charm for all the women he meets — they fall in love with the upconvert player for $74.99; and disnext man they date after him. Includes gag reels, commentary, featurettes and deleted scenes. counts on portable DVD players. Gone Baby Gone 2/12/08 1/1/08 $17.4 Drama DVD $29.99, BD $34.99 Among HDTV deals are a Samsung 50-inch plasma 720p HDTV Disney/Miramax. 2007. Morgan Freeman, Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan. Based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, two Boswith Geek Squad home theater inton detectives race against time to find a missing 4-year-old girl. Includes deleted scenes, commentary and a behind-the-scenes featurette. stallation for $1399.99; a WestingThe Invasion 1/8/08 12/4 $15.1 Sci-fi DVD $28.98, BD & HD DVD $35.99 house 1080p LCD TV for $1299.99; and 20% off Sanus TV mounts. Warner. 2007. Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond. A Washington, D.C., psychiatrist discovers that aliens are the Best Buy also offers deals on pursource of a strange epidemic that is altering human behavior. Includes three featurettes. chases of HDTVs $999 and up: Save Daddy Day Camp 1/29/08 12/27 $13.2 Comedy DVD $28.95, BD $38.96, UMD $24.94 $100 with purchase of any Blu-ray or HD DVD player; save $100 with Sony Pictures. 2007. Cuba Gooding Jr., Paul Rae. In this sequel to Daddy Day Care, Charlie Hinton opens a summer camp and gets the junior Geek Squad installation; save $100 campers ready for the inter-camp Olympiad. Includes a behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the film. with a sound system of $499 or Americanizing Shelley 2/5/08 1/1/08 $0.13 Comedy DVD $24.98 more; and save $300 with addition of DirectTV HD. Warner. 2007. Namrata Singh Gujral, Beau Bridges, Wil Wheaton. In this modern-day Pygmalion, a wannabe Hollywood player is dared to Gamers can pick from select Xbox Americanize an Indian girl straight from the Himalayas. 360 games for $19.99 each; and a Blind Dating 2/5/08 1/9/08 $0.09 Romance DVD $27.98 40GB PlayStation 3 with Blu-ray Discs of Spider-Man 3 and Open Season and Fox. 2007. Chris Pine, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jane Seymour. A young blind man falls in love with an Indian woman and when their cultures clash, the NBA ’08 game for $399.99. she reveals she is already promised to another man. Includes deleted scenes, bloopers, cast interviews and a behind-the-scenes featurette. Also available is a Toshiba Intel CenShiloh Falls 1/8/08 12/4 DTV Western DVD $24.99 trino laptop with HD DVD player for $799.99, or as part of a bundle with Vivendi Visual/New Light. 2007. Art Lafleur, Steve Bannos, Esteban Powell. A gritty lawman tracks a band of outlaws to Shiloh Falls, but the antivirus protection, headphones and men on both sides of the law must band together to fight a powerful stranger who comes to town. four HD DVD movies for $899.99. The Aristocats: Special Edition 2/5/08 12/18 Re-release Animated DVD $29.99 I Circuit City opens at 5 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, closing at 10 p.m. Disney. 1970. This special edition of the animated musical classic about a Parisian house cat and an alley cat who team up to foil a pet-napping both days. The electronics chain also plot has been digitally enhanced and has new bonus features. offers six-hour specials and Web-only * In order of box office, then prebook date promotions at CircuitCity.com, with JUST ANNOUNCED Home Media Magazine November 18–24, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com http://CNNMoney.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.