Cover Girl, now there's about 7 titles I want from them.

The question is, do I have a spare $214 for them. Should not have to be this way but looks like Sony isnt interested in releasing these themselves.

Never seen Cover Girl but have always meant to--kinda pricey for a blind buy, though. I think I'll probably get Bye Bye Birdie.

How much do you think Criterion would sell it for?

But at least with Criterion titles they are available at many different places, so that increases your chances of finding sales, coupons or other special offers.

Exactly. Does anyone pay SRP for Criterion? Amazon will have them available closer to $20 throughout the year and then there is always the BN sales.

And don't forget with MoC and Criterion, you generally get a host of supplemental features and my favorite, a fairly substantial booklet filled with archival critical essays and/or other insight into the film.

Unless I am missing something, TT has yet to treat the films they release with that level of care or concern.


EDIT: Is there a method to TT's pricing? Some titles are $29.95 versus $34.95, do they all jump to the higher amount after the pre-order period runs or do they fluctuate periodically?

If you had told my little laserdisc-purchasing ass, back in 1988, that in the year 2012, $30 in 2012 money is by far the most I would be paying for a lovely HD transfer of a super-esoteric title, I would've wept tears of joy.

If it gets me something like The Big Heat on Blu-ray, I can't pay Twilight Time fast enough.

I guess it is all about perspective. I am too young for the laserdisc days and this hobby turned into a passion for me a few years into DVD, so I guess I just got spoiled. I did just pre-order The Big Heat though b/c at the end of the days, I am not not going to own one of my favorite films on Blu-ray b/c it is $10 more than I would like to pay. It is just that the TT pricing keeps me away from blind-buying a lot of their stuff and while I enjoy Pal Joey quite a bit, $35 to upgrade my DVD is not worth it (I normally never had to weigh the cost of upgrading, but TT forces my hand).

The Sony titles have all been $34.95 with two exceptions: The Big Heat and Fright Night. The Fox titles have all been $29.95 except for The Egyptian. Not sure why those titles got different pricing, but to my knowledge no title's price has changed over time. The price for each has been the same since they went up for pre-order.

It would be nice if The Big Heat suggested lower pricing for future Sony titles, but I'm not betting on it.

Part of me agrees with you. While I never did laser disc, I remember how obscene the prices for VHS tapes, especially during the rental window, could be. But the other part of me, the one that doesn't have the money to fork down on these titles, is making a lot more noise.

I concur. I know we all get caught up in saving money but for a premium title, I don't mind paying a premium.

I thought the more expensive titles were dual layer and the cheaper ones single layer.

Exactly. These titles are a bargain compared to LDs!

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, excellent!

The LD would have not come without the extras, like AGAIG will be barebones.

Back then, "extras" was a trailer and, if you were lucky, a commentary track.

I hear you there.... if I was big on extras, I might find these titles lacking compared to other BDs. I'm just interested in the film.

Exactly. Typical SRP for a movie-only Laserdisc was $39.99. If you were lucky, you got a trailer, but even that was relatively rare. Add a featurette or two, and the SRP jumped to $59.99. Go for a full-blown Criterion special edition and we're talking $99.99 to $129.99.

The Star Wars "faces" discs were $59.99 each and had bupkis for extras.

Yeah, but it was bitchin' Star Wars bupkis!

I'm not big on extras either, but I just think it stinks when they have them and just choose to not use them.

I wasn't "around" for the LD days, but I'm assuming if you didn't get any, there really wasn't anything created for the release.

The commentary for AGAIG already exists and is on the Sony dvd. Why give TT the rights to the film, but not the commentary?

I don't like the idea of limiting the sales, but I can live with higher prices on certain titles. Just don't get why people are just happy to get whatever they can get, when just adding the existing extras shouldn't hurt whatever business model TT has.

It's a cost issue for the studios and any potential licensees. The way some of the studios drew up their contracts for extra features, putting them on a different format than the original one the extra was produced for, would entail extra royalties. It's why some extras mysteriously disappear from future editions with little rhyme or reason.

Blu-ray.com review of Journey

I totally agree. Collecting movies was more fun back then too. I also watched everything I bought as soon as it arrived in the mail. But, yeah, $40 was a typical price. Then came those bargain cut outs for $20. I'm more than willing to pay $30 for a limited bluray than a MOD.

DVD Beaver on The Big Heat

I just got my signed copy of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH in the mail. It was signed on the case cover instead of the insert or booklet.

That's not the worst that could happen. At least it isn't on the shrink wrap.

Man, how fucking lazy is that?