Home Video Exclusives

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - American Kaiju Part I


No rest - don't pause from your running or else "Limited Edition Horror" 2017 will catch you in the most terrible of ways with dog-sized lice. This week we are slammed with a verbose three parter and an unknown behemoth in "Cloverfield"...



The motion picture opened on January 18th, 2008. It was made with a budget of $25,000,000 (estimated) and grossed over $80 million during its U.S. theatrical run. You could call that a sleeper hit. But when including foreign receipts, $170.7 million, it's an official hit. The film opened number two at the box office, the following week it dropped to number four.

The feature opened against "The Bucket List", "National Treasure: Book Of Secrets", "I Am Legend" and "Juno".

This release was case only, no slipcover issued, nor insert (booklet/chapter listing/advertisement). But there was a packaging item.

Most people threw it away, part of the plastic wrap, but it's not (well, yes). On the side where the case opens was a brown sticker, a seal. It reads "Project Cloverfield" (in smaller print: "Property of the U.S. Government"). And "New Secrets Revealed". But located on the top in even smaller print was a number sequence, "11112014349". This was part of the viral web campaign. It took you to a secret part of the film's website. As I wrote, most threw that sticker away.

Man, this movie had the best internet promotion. Just impressive, so much work under the scenes - for all for die hard fans. I'll talk about this in Part II.

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There were several exclusives for this movie. Some I bought some and skipped one that now I'm somewhat regretting, somewhat. Lets address this alphabetically...

Best Buy had the most substantial (in my opinion), a bonus disc. But there's a story.



Their two disc set streeted on April 22nd, 2008 for $15.99. The extra DVD came in a blank, white CD envelope. The thing is - that's not what they publish in print and online.

There is no menu screen, so no screen snap, it just plays. A single featurette "T.J. Miller's Video Diary" with a run time of 20:25 minutes.

A minimum of seventy-four copies (with exclusive) at each store. *nods*

As you can see from their weekly ad, something is amiss from the actual release.



Their bonus disc was to have come in a cardboard printed sleeve, shown above.

I've checked; as far as I can tell - NOBODY got that item; at least not in America.

Man, that sleeve picture was so hard to find.

You're welcome!



Above is a snap of their online ad for that week. Yes, I've established - I'm that anal. Things which are different. 1) The DVD set was not $22.99. 2) That cover is not the DVD cover that was sold in the States. 3) The description for the bonus content is wrong. Lots of misinformation.

Was that different cover itself an exclusive, only available online? As far as I can tell, no. So what happened?

This is conjecture...

The Canadian branch of Best Buy, FutureShop (now a dead store) had the same exclusive. It could be that Best Buy ported the images off their sister store. The bonus disc description is wrong, but correct too. It features behind-the-scenes footage and interviews all recorded by T.J. Miller. They got the specifics wrong.

That could very well be the DVD cover for the Canadian edition.

Anyhow, I moved my copy into a two disc case for the obvious reason (plus I have that CD envelope in there too with DVD the stickers inside it) and added a different exclusive on top. I'll explain in a few.

The next two were exclusives I almost didn't get. I got helped from an online friend.



Borders, sold the DVD with a thirty-four page photo booklet, published by Newmarket Publishing.

The booklet was attached to the back and is DVD sized.

This set sold for $28.99 (same street). It's okay, but nothing really great.

What is it? Just stills from the movie with occasional text.



Suncoast/FYE sold the movie in an exclusive steelbook case. This edition sold for $26.99. Why is this more cheaper than the booklet set? Let me rephrase that - why is the booklet set more expensive than a steelbook case?

Let me take a step back.

There were no Boarders nor Suncoast/FYE where I live. I found a like minded pal from another messageboard, who I PayPaled the money (with postage).

He bought both exclusives and mailed them to me.

Thanks dude.

Next up is Sears slash K-Mart; I didn't even bother here. They sold the DVD with a bonus ring tone; probably Clover's roar. Price? I couldn't tell you. Sorry. That was a pretty weak exclusive.



This is my regret. I mean, I would like to own it, but my desire isn't that high. On release day, Target sold a "Cloverfield" gift set; the movie with a bonus CD. It was attached to the back of the case. This sold for $22.99. The sticker on the front reads...

Only At Target. Includes Music CD. "Rob's Goin' To Japan" Party Mix music CD features OK GO, Goldfrapp, Scissors For Lefty and more! Offer valid while supplies last.

TRACKS

1. "Here It goes again" by OK GO
2. "OOH LA LA" by GOLDFRAPP
3. "West Coast" by COCONUT RECORDS
4. "Got Your Moments" by SCISSORS FOR LEFTY
5. "Turning Japanese" by THE VAPORS
6. "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)" by PARLAMENT
7. "Wraith Pinned To The Mist" by OF MONTREAL
8. "Do I Have Your Attention" by THE BLOOD ARM
9. "Four Winds" by BRIGHT EYES

As I understand this set was limited, scarce. And yes, it did come with an exclusive DVD cover. I saw this in store on release day, but I passed. I would like to own it, but I won't pay more than... lets say eight bucks for it (that includes shipping). I suppose, I'll get this eventually, I'm in no hurry.

One more.



This was a post-release bonus. Wal-Mart sold the DVD, a year later (2009) - part of their annual Halloween sale with an exclusive lenticular slipcover for $12.99.

The store has a history of doing that; giving the impression that the title is new when they only slapped a new or never issued slipcover on it. I have this over my regular edition (with bonus disc).

Well - okay. One more. But not a region 1, a R4 release.

The Australian's have their own steelbook case, same as the region 1 case, just minus the text - granted it still read "Cloverfield" on front. I don't know the price nor who sold this. Sorry.

All and all, I bought this DVD three times over. Sold the extra copies on Ebay and took a minor loss. As in the world of collecting. You do, because you love it, not for investing.

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This is cute.

It sold for $19.95 at the time - "Groverfield" tee shirt.

I'm guessing you can still probably find it.

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Tangent.

More sexy Hallween costumes.



Video game character in the flesh - "Slay All Day" is the name, being all naughty is her game. On the right woman, just spectacular. The other was something I initially thought was kinda wrong. But the more I thought about it - that's impressive.

Taking something, nobody would ever think as tantalizing and making it so - sexy Charlie Brown. Bravo my friend, bravo. She needs a plush Snoopy as a purse though.