there's a rather strange and peculiar thing going on with the release of the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, on DVD here. for some reason, and a reason i shall have a bash at speculating on, it seems all and sundry are trying to sell it as cheap as possible.
online, one can find it here on loot, takealot and kalahari for a mere R89 at the time of writing, although if you use kalahari then be prepared to experience their interesting and unusual interpretation of what exactly "next day delivery" means. not what you think, if you are asking. theoretically Musica are selling it for R89 too, but you have to bear in mind the Bowie The Next Day debacle, in which they just had their album in their warehouse / 'distribution hub' for two weeks after the release date instead of letting people buy it.
top marks, though, to Look & Listen, who have gone one or if you will ten better and are selling it for R79 at the moment. guess, then, where i bought it.
yep, that's my copy of the DVD sat on the advert, looking oddly like part of the advert.
for those of you not from these parts, a shiny new DVD usually costs between R99 (if there's a promo) and R159, with the higher number being the norm. within 6 - 12 months the price usually drops anyway, but it's rather strange to see this one start off on a low figure. Skyfall was a much bigger and better celebrated film than the last Bond, Quantum Of Solace, as much as i quite liked that one. why the need to sell so cheap, then? not that i am complaining, mind - although it would have been even nicer if the blu-ray had the same arrangement, alas R199 it was and thus not bought.
it could be as straightforward as a "loss leader", with the stores colluding to a degree to get people in to buy this and then buy other things since this is better priced. i suspect, however, it's more to do with giving the retail side of DVDs a boost. you may recall a post from last year where i noted that The Amazing Spider-Man, a just about average at best film, went to half price very quickly. i note as i go around huge piles of the film for sale, piles that do not seem to get smaller. if it fell to R50 i would consider it purely as Martin Sheen and Denis Leary in it, but that's about it.
between pirate discs, illegal downloads, legal downloads via pretending you are in a different country, the fact that you could have ordered this off amazon and had it delivered a month before the release here (if there was no postal stike) and DSTV's weird "video on demand" rental system, the people making and selling DVDs all of a sudden seem aware that there is a choice in not paying silly money for a film if you want it. a few years late to "fight back", but better late than never.
it's rather strange that they targeted Skyfall as the one to do this kind of thing with. i suspect it would have sold rather well at the usual price anyway, so if this is a huge sales hit because of the lower cost it's somewhat dubious research. still, far be it from me to complain, it meant that we got to watch the film last night.
a review? for what reason would i give one? i suspect all who wish to see it have done so, but for what it's worth yes, very good indeed and well worth the praise heaped on it so far. i look at Ralph Feinnes in it and wonder why on earth couldn't they have given him the proper job of Bond 20 years ago instead of that squeaky voiced chap. if you like Bond films and for some reason you haven't seen this one then go and get it and watch with confidence. roll on the next one.
as for the pricing thing, well, fingers crossed it lasts, really. i much prefer having the proper discs to play rather than resorting to wonky illicit copies, and there's no way i am trusting DSTV with any more money than i have to with their third rate equipment. i quite like a library, so i have no wish to just rent the things anyway.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment