Awesome, thanks. I'll go for it and see what happens. I've never redeemed one of those before.

Given I wasn't able to do any kind of gift card pre-order deal at Target for this one, a $5 coupon will take some of the sting out of buying their exclusive.

Well somebody at CAG just posted the 4/3-4/9 Best Buy ad and sure enough, the regular version is $19.99 but the Steelbook is $27.99. Charging an extra $8 for an exclusive Steelbook and nothing else is super-disappointing trend. They are quite clearly looking to gouge Steelbook collectors.

I'm no fan of Best Buy, but I don't see much of a problem here. The whole point of a collectible is to be able to charge a premium and get a higher margin on a limited run.

Are they going to charge $30 since it is a small store?

Well, the Steelbooks used to be store exclusives, designed to get people into that specific store. But if they're going to charge extra for it (and not for one second would I believe that a steelbook adds $8 to the cost of a blu), they may as well call it a special edition or something, and actually make it a value added item. So fucking greedy.

Exactly. They also were charging a premium on the Game of Thrones exclusive slipcovers (which clearly don't cost any more than the regular slipcovers) - resulting in a glut of exclusive slipcovers in every Best Buy I've visited lately. It's supposed to be a bonus for buying a Blu at a certain store at launch, not paying a premium for it like on eBay. At least Target isn't charging a premium for exclusive packaging yet. Their TFA exclusive package will end up being $8 or $13 cheaper than Best Buy's.

Not sure that's true. It may not be every time, but I'm pretty sure there have been releases where their packaging only exclusives were more than the regular version. I think even some of the first DC animated steelbooks (back when they were listed separately on their site) were more expensive than the regular version.

And certainly their other exclusives (bonus discs/bonus content) are priced higher.

It would be awesome if all retailers (Wal-Mart included) went back to the exclusives being the same price as a reason to come into the store for other things.

GOTG at WM exclusives of just the slip covers, were 5-8 bucks more than the regular. I like covers but no way paying that much more. I like the Bb8 slip but I know they will do the same and charge more.

Just speculating here, but I suspect the exclusive packaging as a "get you in the store" strategy is no longer viable with the significant decline of physical media. So it has been replaced by an exclusive packaging as "higher margin on lower sales" strategy.

Also, some exclusive packaging at Target has certainly carried a premium. I definitely remember paying more for The Dark Knight cowl packaging on release day at Target:

I bought a copy of that months later after release for like 10 bucks. So, yeah, if you want certain packaging on release day then you might have to pay a premium. However, if you are patient enough then you can sometimes score a set for rock bottom prices. Now, for these limited releases along with these ebay whoreders, you are pretty much stuck getting it within the first few hours if you really want it or they will suck the life out of you later. I remember the Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy steelbooks being sold on the internet for double plus on release day after the stores were swarmed and wiped out by these butthole surfers.

Is Best Buy the only one carrying the steelbook?

In the United States, it's a Best Buy exclusive, yes.

I had $20 in Amazon credit so I only have to pay for shipping. I opted for 2-day and it stated I should get it on release day. We'll see when I do get it.

I pre-ordered 3 new releases from Amazon that came out on March 15. I think they arrived on March 19. Granted, that was using regular shipping.

I always wonder how many unopened blu-rays get removed from their exclusive slipcover and returned as new. Always shocks me when those special covers are not shrink wrapped around the rest.

That's not too bad. I won't be upset if I get it the day after.

I was thinking about using Xbox credits to get the early digital release, then realized that was absurd because the BD + Disney Movies Anywhere should get me the digital version on all platforms anyway. I'd be using my credits for like four days of watching.

It's a really stupid move to release the digital only a few days early. That's what led me to buy a few movies on digital, they came out 2 weeks before the blu. But I guess once the digital is released, the torrent floodgates open, which is probably why this window is so small for this one.

I would buy the early streaming version, but I have no clue how to get it to stream from my laptop to my TV.

Still very tempted, though.

I have a friend on FB who bought the VUDU edition tonight and he went right to the featurettes. There's 10 of them but I could not get a confirmation if that was all of the featurettes that will be spread across all of the editions being released. He did confirm the first featurette was a 60 minute documentary, though.

I have a $60 GC from Best Buy that I got from trading an old device.

Will drop by there on Tuesday and pick this up along with Banshee season 3 (which I hope they'll have)

Star Wars The Force Awakens was released at midnight 4/1 on iTunes. I preordered the movie. iTunes stated it had a tentative release date of April 1st. I actually was surprised iTunes actually did release the movie exactly on April 1st. I'm watching the film right now at 1am April 1st.

I am planning on heading to WalMart on Tuesday because I like the BB8 cover. I will not be happy if they charge a premium over the regular edition and will just end up with that instead if that is their plan.

Why surprised? They announced it a few weeks ago the digital would come out April 1st.

Yup! Though not as large as the difference here for Best Buy's Steelbook for this film, Target has charged a few dollars more for Exclusives compared to regular editions.

I found a link that had release day prices for Chappie. Target had the regular edition at $16.99 and Steelbook at $19.99.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/age...etailers-happy

Same pricing happened recently for Straight Outta Compton, Terminator: Genysis, Mockingjay Pt. 2, etc.