So, I’m leafing through the ad sections in last weekend’s paper, and I notice that they have a Riddick Trilogy DVD at Circuit City for a mere thirteen bucks. I already own Pitch Black, which is easily the greatest thing Vin Diesel’s done after The Iron Giant, but I have a soft spot for The Chronicles Of Riddick as well. Sure, it’s not a great movie, but as far as King Conan in Space goes, it’s an enjoyable enough way to pass an hour or two. Plus, for thirteen bucks, and an extra half hour animated feature, how can I go wrong?

So I grab the thing while I’m out picking up The Corpse Bride for the wife. I get it home and notice that not only is the packaging just freaking badass, both Chronicles and Pitch Black are unrated director’s cuts to boot. Sweet! I haven’t had a chance to actually watch anything on the discs yet, but I did pop them into the player and take a quick look, and they both seem to be pretty nice. I’m looking forward to a lazy Sunday when I can veg out and spend 5 hours or so with the sci-fi violence and mayhem.

The main thing I’m wondering about this, though, is how it’s possible for the studio to release such a killer package for such a low price. The MSRP is only $14.99 in the first place, and it’s not exactly a bare bones collection. There’s commentary tracks and other extras for each movie, the packaging, as I mentioned before, is incredibly nice - nicer than a lot of box sets being released nowadays - and most basically, it’s a two-disc, three feature release for under fifteen dollars. Is this a test run to see if there’s a market for this sort of collection, or did they do some sort of market research and find that Vin Diesel fans are more likely to buy such a set than, say, fans of Bruce Willis? Either way, it’s something I’d love to see become a trend. You just know that America’s jonesing for a similar “Ernest Goes To…” collection.

Spread the word!