Holiday happy meals - 12:08am

It's a rather slow news day with little in the way of big new announcements, so how about some new price reductions and free DVD giveaway promotions?

Just in time for the holidays, on 10/22 Fox will drop the price of over a dozen of their top hits to $19.95: Joy Ride, Shallow Hal, Kung Pow: Enter The Fist, The Beach, Say It Isn't So, Last of the Mohicans, Kiss of the Dragon, Don't Say A Word, Behind Enemy Lines, Black Knight, There's Something About Mary, Sexy Beast, Me, Myself & Irene, and a new single-disc edition of From Hell.

Not to be outdone, Columbia TriStar has announced a new Buy 1, Get 1 Free DVD catalog promotion for the fourth quarter. Pick up any one of Columbia's three big holiday blockbusters - Spider-Man, Men in Black II, or Mr. Deeds - and included in each will be a specially designed insert offering consumers the opportunity to purchase another of 25 selected Columbia catalog titles. Pick one up, and receive another free DVD (plus shipping and handling) from the same list.

Of course, astute readers will realize it's actually "Buy 2, Get 1 Free," as you have to buy one of the three biggies to get the coupon to buy the catalog title, but a free DVD is a free DVD, right? The promotion begins with the 10/22 release of Mr. Deeds, and ends on 1/31/2003.

'Duel' of the fates - 12:08am

Amid high expectations and much anticipation, Steven Spielberg's acclaimed early telefilm Duel was all set to be released on DVD late last May, and then...poof! Off the schedule with nary a peep since. As Spielberg fans are painfully aware, postponements of Spielberg titles are all-too-common on DVD, and it was a case of deja vu all over again. So, what happened?

According to sources at both Universal and Amblin, it seems a last-minute approval from Mr. Spielberg himself was never granted, so the release was pulled from the schedule. However, the title has not be shelved permanently, and is now planned for release sometime in 2003. Features are expected to include all that was previously announced, including the highly-anticipated new Laurent Bouzereau-produced documentary on the making of the film. Stay tuned...