^ I missed it too

Four things.

1. Criterion has released cheaper dvds for the broad consumer, such as Chasing Amy, Benjamin Button and several Wes Anderson films. These are available in most every store that carries such titles.
2. A lot of Criterion films are just as expensive as any other new release. However, unlike many films that devalue over the course of a few years, Criterions tend to keep their value due to demand exceeding supply. In other words, there don't tend to be used copies and there is no need to do an end-year dump like with larger manufacturers.
3. The Criterion Company is, by all accounts, a small company. Small companies have to charge more because they tend to sell less copies of individual titles. Instead of looking at them as overpriced you could look at them as under-priced OOPs. Because a lot of films that Criterion releases wouldn't be released any other way.
4. Some of the best movies ever released are only released by Criterion in a way that upholds the quality of the film, up to and including Seven Samurai, Sanjuro, Yojimbo, Thief of Baghdad, My Man Godfrey, Modern Times and more.

I've never paid full price for a Criterion. I've purchased new ones for as cheap as $3 and as much as $20. If you don't get some and claim you're a movie fan, I'm pretty sure you're missing out.

Picked up Broadcast News, Chungking Express and a House shirt for the wife.

You didn't miss much really. If they had 50% off their normal price instead of MSRP and allowed the discount on pre-orders then there would have been some great deals.

They DID! The only question is if they'll let us keep it or if they'll cancel or alter it before it ships. All my blus came out to $15.98. Proof:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/10654297-post85.html

It was fluke and only worked for a few people for a short time so it doesn't count. It will be interesting to see what they do with these orders.

I agree. There was a short window in the middle of the sale where you could pick up $40 MSRP titles for $16. This got shut down around 9:30 PM. I would have bought a few pre-orders at this price, as they'd only be $2.20 more apiece than I net out at B&N during their sales....worth it to me to get them early and save the run-around, but alas, I was too late.

Keep in mind that B & N seems to have replaced the $5 coupon with the $8 off of $40 one, so the days of upper-tier Criterions for $13 plus tax are over, though I'm sure there will be a few 15% off and $5 off of $50 coupons during the sale.

Yep. But the $8 coupon will be useful if you want any Criterion box sets.
I probably would have placed an order last night but the new release titles I wanted-Sweet Smell of Success and Amarcord-went out of stock and they wouldn't allow the discount on out of stock items so I took my business elsewhere. I know these were popular but to sell out in 2-3 hours and then not allow us to order them at a discount was unacceptable.

I ordered 13 preorders and Senso when they were 16 dollars each. They shut it down before I could order 50 dollars worth more and earn my 50 dollar gift certificate. I still spent more than I would want to. but at least its spread over 3 months as the preorders release.

Oh definitely. I'm planning on using those to get the Naruse and Basil Dearden sets in July.

I ordered:

Blus-
Amarcord
Broadcast News
Robinson Crusoe On Mars
Fish Tank
Senso
The Double Life Of Veronique

What is this code that people have used to get discounts on Pre-orders?

Same code, THANKS, but done at a fortuitous time.

Thanks for the good info on Criterions. If I had ever seen any cheap Criterions of movies I want (before I bought the regular studio versions if they existed) in any stores, I would've definitely bought Criterion. Obviously the biggest part of the problem is that they are not mainstream movies, so I probably rarely look for a film that Criterion has released. I think Benjamin Button is the only one I've seen on the short list mentioned. It's weird how I see Anchor Bay DVDs all the time in stores, but not Criterions, so I guess Anchor Bay does more mainstream movies. And I almost never browsed movies at B&N or Borders because their movies are so expensive.

But will they ship AS they release, or do you have to wait 3 months for your entire order to ship?

My big pre-order of April and May titles shows that it will be broken up into 2 shipments. All the April titles will ship when the last one is released, same for May. I really lucked out (except that I forgot to order Diabolique!). Hope the order stands.

The Anchor Bays you're seeing are probably new movies, while Criterion rarely does those (Button being a notable exception). Broadcast News was a mainstream film, but that was over 20 years ago.

They broke my shipments into three dates. I have to wait until April for the first round. The other two are different dates in May.

Anybody who used multiple credit cards may want to check your order. I noticed they changed all my orders to the last credit card I used which doesnt have enough credit. But it did allow me to shift all my orders to another card. Strange how you cant use different cards for each order though.

Well crap. I was going to order a few titles, but the ones I wanted were preorders.. and the blurb said "intstock" titles only. Oh well. I can wait.

I ordered House, The Night of the Hunter, & Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

I've never ordered from Criterion's website, so does my order being listed as "Completed" mean that it has shipped?

I was just emailed from Criterion. "This is to inform you that your backorder/special order has been canceled." Bought 3 movies all of which were in stock at the time. Seven Samurai, Gomorrah, and Seventh Seal. Anyone else getting these?

Just an update here...Just got another email from Criterion saying that i was mistakenly emailed earlier about my order being cancelled. My order has NOT been cancelled and that earlier email was triggered because several titles have gone out of stock during the sale. They say my order will ship as soon as the items are back in stock in their warehouse. Most items should be restocked by next week.

I got a shipment notification for my 4 blu-ray titles today. They shipped them Priority Mail so should be here in a few days. Good stuff.

Whew