Target Selling ‘Escape Plan’ DVD Plus Digital UV for $10

2 Feb, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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In a twist, national retailer markets packaged media priced below digital sellthrough

Fans of budding senior-citizen action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger can purchase Escape Plan on DVD (with Digital UltraViolet) at Target on its Feb. 4 street date for $10 — 66% off the $29.95 suggested retail price. Target also has the title available as a Blu-ray Disc combo (with DVD and Digital HD UltraViolet) for $19.99.

Target disclosed the discounted Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment title in its weekly circular. The price point is also 23% and 33% less than Escape Plan’s electronic sellthrough pricing in standard ($12.99) and HD ($14.99), respectively, at Target Ticket — the big-box retailer’s digital entertainment platform, in addition to Amazon Instant Video and Walmart’s Vudu.com. Best Buy’s CinemaNow is selling the title for $16.

With a modest $25 million box office, Escape Plan didn’t woo U.S. moviegoers the way it did internationally. The actioner generated $110 million in foreign ticket sales — 81% of its global theatrical gross.

Separately, Target is selling the Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa Blu-ray combo (with DVD, Digital HD UltraViolet) for $10 — 75% off its $39.99 SRP. The Oscar-nominated (Best Makeup and Hairstyling) adult comedy was released Jan. 28 at retail.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate Feb. 7 is releasing horror-thriller Nurse 3D in select AMC Theaters nationwide simultaneously with video-on-demand access on iTunes. The film stars Paz de la Huerta as a daytime nurse who moonlights killing unfaithful men, among other predilections. 

In an interview last month with CNBC, Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns reiterated the mini-major’s penchant for digital distribution, saying the format is becoming an “impulse item” to consumers.

“I expect all the MSOs, all the cable companies to start selling electronic sellthrough,” Burns said. “Every day it seems you have another player emerging, whether it’s electronic sellthrough, or whether it’s streaming — you’ve got big competition happening. And you’ve only got so many quality content producers providing that content to them. That’s just a new revenue source for us.”

 

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