I just might be petty enough to buy the 2-disc just because Zelwigger isn't on the cover...

Single Disc for me hardly ever watch extras anymore since 99% of them are all the same. Seen one making of and you have pretty much seen them all. Then they have the other fluff pieces of the director kissinig the actors ass and vise versa.

I still can't get over people moaning about paying $30 for a deluxe edition of movie. It's a good thing you weren't buying in the LaserDisc days as the standard edition of the movie only would run $40, a set with the basic bonus material would have run $70 to $100, and the set with another full disc of extras, probably a $150 gift set. Believe me, we all have it good these days even at $32. While comparatively, the price tag of the 2 disc is a little high compared to the 1 disc, it's still not a bad price point in the grand scheme of things.

The reason people are moaning about paying $30 for a deluxe edition is because they used to be able to pay $15 for them. Numerous 2-disc sets used to be $15 on release week, but that's not the case anymore because of what else...studio greed.

Well guess what, this ain't LD. If I'm gonna pay $30+ for a movie, it better either be a) a bonafide CLASSIC (Kong, wizard of oz) or b) come in some snazzy cool, book-of-the-dead, cigar-box, leather-covered packaging. This release is neither. Neither was Master & Commander, which had an identical release style (cheap movie-only, overpriced "collectors edition" both on same day).

That's not entirely true. The regular version of "Cinderella Man" is a double-sided disc with (supposedly) a nice assortment of extras, and I'd hardly say that the Deluxe packaging for "Master & Commander" was your standard issue variety: it looked really sharp and was one of the better packaging jobs of the year, IMO.

Wow. $35 for a two discer is a bit steep for me. I've not seen the movie but am going to blind buy it so, I'll just sick with the single disc edition. It seems to have more than enough extras to make me happy.

EASILY Best Picture 2005 thus far. 2-disc for me, all the way.

I'll see what the extras are...and I base a lot of my purchasing power on dvd talk reviews!

I wasn't buying in the LaserDisc days because the prices were too high. One reason it didn't get past niche market status is because I wasn't the only one who felt that way. It seemed like an elite item in it's time and was priced as such. The LaserDisc phase of the market (if used properly by the studios) was and will be a good learning curve for what to do and not to do in order to sell a product. Pricing your product higher than what the masses will pay is a good way of killing it altogether.

I agree completely. If dvds were as expensive as laserdiscs I never would have started collecting them.

Me neither. I also don't get the complaints about the flipper discs.

I guess I'm old school.

Back then A/V, as HT was known, was an elite market... It just recently that DVD and big screens are "common".

This applies to the US only. The asian market was huge.

Such nostalgia days

I have the regular version in hand. It is indeed a double-sided disc. I just watched the film and will watch the extras tomorrow (Sunday). Here's the breakdown:

Side 'A'
-------
. Film
. Commentary with Director Ron Howard
. Commentary with Writer Akiva Goldsman
. Commentary with Writer Cliff Hollingsworth

Side 'B'
-------
. Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Ron Howard
. The Fight Card: Casting Cinderella Man
. The Man, The Movie, The Legend: A Filmmaking Journey
. For the Record: A History in Boxing
. Ringside Seats
. Jim Braddock: The Friends & Family Behind the Legend
. Kodak Cinderella Man Gallery
. DVD-ROM

Some might find the "flipper" aspect annoying but that release is loaded. What I'd like to know is what's on the two disc release that's not on this one. Is there extra content or is it just the same stuff spread over 2 discs with fancy packaging?

Here you go:
DVDTown review of "Cinderella Man" 2-disc Collector's Edition

Actually, it was the production costs that drove the prices on LDs moreso than the "elite" factor. Between QC issues (that some companies chose to ignore, f**in' Columbia TriStar scum) driven by the labor intensive process (the discs were actually 2 halves glued together), and the size and bulk, etc. it was just an expensive product. I can assure you, there were many of us out there who were far from elite. We simply wanted to see films in their original aspect ratios and loved the wonderful bonus features, not to mention the crisp clean pic and sound; that is what led us to LD.

But again, to those thinking like Shagman, think in terms of the bigger picture with buying the best possible format of films generally available in the mass market over time. Compare that to other formats: price of video games, always increasing; price of music, increasing (despite the lower production costs); movies on the other hand, decreasing since LD. We got it alright compared to the good old days IMO (as do the studios and their profit margins).

Sure, the added value of the 2 disc Cinderella Man relative to cost is questionable. But it's a fine looking package and has some nice additional features - I'm interested in seeing the original fight footage. You can probably get the bonus disc from netflix. At least the studio gave us a pretty well packed 1 disc at the standard price. Again, in the LD days, the movie would come out bare bones for $40 ($32 street) and then get a deluxe release by the studio, or if we're lucky, Criterion a year or two later for $100 or $125 ($80/$100 street). Here a deluxe edition is $30 ($16 street) and a premium edition is $45 ($32 street). For fans of the film, it's not a bad deal in my books. What really pisses me off is the crap studios pull in putting out the movie edition asap, while at the same time secretly developing a deluxe edition for release a few months later. I like the opportunity, as here, to have a choice on street date.

how come this dvd is OOP? I am checking it everyday at amazon.com, but it is unavailable. wasn't this DVD supposed to be released on the 6th of December?

Another way to look at the pricing is that, as far as content, it's really like 2-disc and 3-disc editions, since one disc is a flipper in both instances. Your usual 1-disc set has one DVD9, right? Might make the price tags a little more palatable.

Of course, if you hate flippers, it's pretty moot.

Has anyone been able to find the CM 2-disc in any stores today?

I've been to a few that should have it, but none of them do - Best Buy even had a sign for it, but no dice.

Since it was taken off of Amazon, it seems like the 2-disc has been discontinued before it was even released.

I saw several of the Deluxe Edition at Best Buy. I got the regular one. You're supposed to get the King Kong sketch book with the purchase. They got in 74 of those, but none of the blue robots could find them.

Picked up my 1-disc version at Best Buy for only $14.99 (a nice surprise because their website had listed $16.99). But like Mr. Cinema, said "blue robots" couldn't locate the sketch book, which is typical of my recent experiences there: no Polar Express lithographs to be had, nor screenplays for War of the Worlds. Nice incentives, eh?

But there were several Delux Edition copies.

I'm hating these 1-disc=cheap price; 2-disc=outlandish price.

Either way, the consumer loses. If we buy the 1-disc because we refuse to pay outlandish prices, then the studios will think DVD buyers don't want special features. On the other hand, if we buy the 2-disc version, then they know they can raise prices if people are willing to pay for extras. To me, it's a lose-lose.

Possibly, the only way around this is to wait for these discs to get the retail markdown.

hmm... DVDPlanet also didn't have the 2-disc, and they usually have EVERYTHING.

I asked about it, and they said something like "our disributor deleted it from our shipment" - whatever the hell that means.

Mybe it's just a West Coast thing....

The Best Buy in south Tulsa, OK had about 25 copies of the 2-disc set (well, now about 24, after I got there ), so it was definitely released *--now whether or not any copies will be able to be found a week from now is a whole different question.

* Best Buy bastards didn't have the King Kong production artwork in so I have to come back tomorrow to get it...

I agree 100%, and I hope I got some of these points across in the review I wrote. It's a really packed release---and yes, it's technically three disc's worth---and I'd imagine that if it was marketed that way, less people would complain about the price. The only other "improvement" I can think of would be to divide the bonus features more evenly: one disc would have all the modern behind-the-scenes stuff, with another devoted entirely to the historical footage (with a few more vintage fights and interviews thrown in to boot). That would've been worthy of a higher rating, but what we got wasn't bad at all for a Universal disc.