it seems like it's a Best Buy exclusive, at least for now. They're advertised in next week's ad for $19.99 each, but 2 for $25. So they should be available right now at your local store, or at least in a few days. It seems like they've only put out 5 though. Cast Away, The Abyss, Planet of the Apes, Sound of Music, and Independence Day.

They're all re-released in a digi-pack, no longer in the single flipper keep case or the wide holographic Five Star design. It looks as though they've dropped even the design for SoM and ID4. If you ask me the cover art simply looks terrible. Planet of the Apes and Cast Away are the only two that look remotely like their original releases. The Abyss is now on a white background, Independence Day looks really crappy in a dark black and Cast Away has a huge floating head of Tom Hanks (different the the first one, he looks like he's facing the side).

Also to note, it seems as though they're spec for spec the same as the original. So yes, that means the same non-anamorphic transfer for the Abyss. This is very disappointing to me. Also they seem to have the glued on spec sheet on the back of the case, ala Moulin Rouge. So for these, simply think the exact same design as Moulin Rouge in terms of case design and glued on spec sheet. Hope this helps guys.

Thanks for the information. That does help as I was trying to figure this out in the bargain forum.

Doesn't seem like any reasons to be disappointed here.

More info:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=305238

anyone have scans of these?

Here's some ghetto scans.

For the love of Mike!! Fox!!! Will you please just pony up the cash for a 16x9 Abyss!!

I already have POTA and The Abyss is the only one I would be mildly interested in, but only with an anamorphic transfer!

im with you! i want the abyss but i can hold out!

Cast Away looks terrible. Hard to make out Independence Day, but it looks alright.

is it just me.. or do those BB pics really make the dvds look like VHS boxes!? I know that they aren't, but they sure do look like them in the photo.

*sigh*

No love for Big Trouble in Little China.

Damn you Best Buy.

Still - it's good to see there's still interest enough to warrant re-releases of some very excellent DVDs.

Well on the new packaging - I've never been a big fan of the thin cases housing 2 discs. The Cast Away cover isn't great, but the original's cover wasn't either. Just a big Tom Hanks head.

Sound of music looks considerably better, IMO. That's the only one that I don't have.
(playing devil's advocate) What happens when you buy two of these and then return one later? Would you get $12.50 back?

Except for Cast Away, these look pretty cool.

I will try to get Sound of Music, Abyss, and Independence Day sometime in the future. I'm still not sure if Independence Day is good anymore or not.

Yup. It will be listed on the receipt as a package deal and the price will be $12.50 each.

Hopefully Bestbuy.com will let us purchase 1 at $12.50 like many times before.

regarding the now 1-disc edition of the Russell Crowe film "Romper Stomper" someone correct me if I am wrong but the 2-disc edition I own is the NC-17 rated cut of the film - the rating is on the back, yet for the single disc an 'R-rating' now graces the back of the DVD. IMDB lists that both NC-17 and R-rated cuts exist, is the single-DVD a cut version of the film?

Given that the ad says "Regularly Priced $19.99 each," I'm guessing that's what you'll pay if you want just one movie. (At least at my Best Buy, they don't seem very friendly about these things.) But I suppose it's worth paying the extra $5.01 for an extra movie, even if you just give it away to a friend.

I think that died when they launched the new website. At least it wouldn't give me 1 for $10 as part of their 3 for $30 deal.

so are the sets themselves exclusive to BB (for now), or are the redesigned artwork/packages?

Do all you people who never buy non-anamorphic DVDs NOT have the Letterbox-Zoom feature on your TVs?

Not available on bestbuy.com......only in stores.

The thing is there are so damn many DVDs I want, that I have to use any excuse not to buy them. Pan and scan is the first and easiest. Missing features from overseas, a messed up soundtrack are others. And since purchasing a 16x9 tv, non-anamorphic DVDs are right on up there.

Yes, I use the zoom on the DVDs from my 4x3 tv days, but they don't look that good.

I did see BTILC at CostCo, as well as the rest of the titles in their original packaging.

Yeah, I know about that but I'm not a CostCo member and I'm not about to fork over 100 dollars or so to be one.

You do realize that it only costs $45 for a membership to Costco, don't you???

That's bad enough, I realize, but might be worth it to get some of the OOP titles when you take into account how much you will pay for them on Ebay.