comment #1

Don Murphy says ...

Sorry Jeff you are wrong or mis-remembering. There never was such a respectful hiatus. All of Sharon Tate's films were re-released into cinemas within a few days of her murder.

comment #2

lazespud says ...

Sort of like a prominent internet pundit immediately upon hearing about Ledger's death, posting speculation about the effect of his death on the box office of the next Batman film (oh wait, it was actually speculation about possible speculation... therefore it wasn't in poor taste.)

Also using that same column to provide heavy emphasis on the supposed suicide, well in advance of any autopsy; also real classy.

comment #3

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

Wait, there's an "unrated" version of Lords of Dogtown? WTF? full-frontal skateboarding?

comment #4

rocco says ...

Jeff will see a marginal blip in traffic, if anything at all...I somewhat see your point, lazespud, it's somewhere in the same vague spectrum of profiteering, but while judgments of suicide are premature and, yes, there is a small amount of profit to be made here, this is a blog where such discussions are completely relevant and kosher, and it's nowhere near as flagrant as a front-and-center retail display.

comment #5

christian says ...

You shoulda seen the record stores the week Lennon did. Youda thunk the Beatles had released a bunch of new albums.

comment #6

christian says ...

the week Lennon died, I mean.

comment #7

p.Vice says ...

From a marketing standpoint, this is a boon. How else can you entice someone to buy Lords of Dogtown?

comment #8

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

They're just reacting to demand. I remember Nirvana's CDs sold out everywhere right after Kurt died.

This seller has just made it easier for people to know where all the Ledger movies are by putting them in one section. If he or she didn't, chances are customers would all ask to be guided to those movies anyway.

comment #9

Josh Massey says ...

Check out Amazon's "movers and shakers," basically what DVDs are experiencing the big sales jumps right now.

comment #10

Dirty Harry says ...

I was at a hotel the day Sinatra died. Heard it on the news, went to a mall for a camera battery a few hours later, and there were already standups in the record stores: "Sinatra 1915 - 1998." They had to have been sitting in storage rooms ... waiting.

Exploit/Tribute/Report -- Tomato/Tomatow.

People go to Best Buy and find Ledger's films conveniently placed where they can find them. People want to buy them. And there they are. Sales are up.

People come to this site for news and find two posts already up about Ledger conveniently placed where they can find them. Hits are up. Advertising revenue is up.

Best Buy Store Manager/Jeff Wells/CNN/Drudge -- Potato/Potatow

The only distinction can be found in the hypocrisy.

comment #11

Dan Revill says ...

"You stay classy San Diego."

comment #12

Lee says ...

The Brad Renfro display had just come down!

Seriously, I don't remember anything like this when River Phoenix died -- probably the most recent celebrity death with the most parallels (Ledger, while he made an impression, hardly ranks with Sinatra, Lennon or Presley). Of course, there wasn't as much Phoenix consumer merchandise available to hawk.

comment #13

corey3rd says ...

when Elvis dies, RCA's record plants went into overdrive cranking out all his titles. In fact they didn't even take time to get RIAA certified numbers so there was no extra gold and plat records for the records and 8-Tracks shipped to the stores for months after his death.

comment #14

Meegosh says ...

When I first heard he had died I went straight to this site to see what Jeff had to say about it. What kind of shitty internet movie blogger would not post about the death of a prominent actor? He had to or he would lose respect with me and many others i'm sure. He is in the news now, people want to hear about him and as they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity, so since he is in the headlines everywhere, people will be buying more of his movies. Its not Best Buys fault. Maybe they don't want to have to point 8 million people in the direction of his movies. this makes it easier for everyone.

comment #15

christian says ...

I have a confession.

I've never seen Heath Ledger in a film.

Still haven't seen BROKEBACK, DOG TOWN, THE PATRIOT, etc. I know, I know. I just had to say that. I'll be on max rental mode the next few days.

comment #16

Josh Massey says ...

Seriously, Christian? I know we have our disagreements, but I've always respected you as a thorough cinemaphile (if that's a word). I mean, I still do, but no Monster's Ball at least? For all the crap that movie gets, it still wrecks me.

Skip The Patriot, by the way. Utter shit. Start with Brokeback, of course, but don't skip 10 Things I Hate About You. It's better than you think.

comment #17

christian says ...

Head bows in cinemaphile shame. I avoided MONSTER'S BALL because I heard too much about it before and after. As fer THE PATRIOT... that title alone scared me off. DOGTOWN I avoided because of the documentary. And no excuse for not seeing BROKEBACK. I was actually excited about seeing Heath for the first time as The Joker. Sigh.

comment #18

rocco says ...

Whhhaaat? christian, that's very surprising...all of the obscure films you can rattle off without effort, and you've never seen worthy films like Monster's Ball or Brokeback?

(btw, no big announcement, but this is delbomber...my wife convinced me to retire the screenname, inspired by the great 70's flick 'The Wanderers,' i've been using for 10 years...she's right when she says I'm probably on two dozen government watch lists already and it's time to give it up...)

comment #19

jeffmcm says ...

Yeah, The Patriot is bad, although there's about a solid half-hour in it that's actually pretty good. Not involving Heath Ledger, though.

So off the terrorist lists and onto the organized crime lists?

comment #20

rocco says ...

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster...

comment #21

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

Olbermann named that San Diego Best Buy store as a runner-up in tonite's "Worst Persons" list.

comment #22

lipranzer says ...

Whatever you think of that seller, I rate him much higher than these assholes.

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/19627377.html?page=1&style=mine&view=2307418481

comment #23

MPNeeb says ...

Actually, if the speculation about Heath playing the Joker in Batman is correct (that it was a truly disturbing role), I'm curious to see if there is any movement on the part of the studio or the creative staff to tone it down a bit.
Just a thought, of course.

comment #24

Terry McCarty says ...

Re Keith Olbermann:
He's just trying too hard to please his corporate masters at MSNBC.

Moving on to a more obscure Heath Ledger film: Anyone seen the Ledger version of NED KELLY? Worth renting or watching on cable?

comment #25

jeffmcm says ...

Nice sarcasm there re: Olbermann.

comment #26

DarthCorleone says ...

It just occurred to me that this display was probably how some people found out about Heath Ledger's death. That'd be weird to be browsing at the Best Buy and see this.

comment #27

Dan Revill says ...

Good point DarthCorleone.

I went by my local Best Buy last night, and they didn't have any "in memoriam" set up. Then again, maybe us Canadians have a little more tact. ;-)

Bought Brokeback Mountain though. Oddly enough I passed over it during after Christmas sales cos it was full screen. Got the 2-disc edition...probably watch it either tonight after work or tomorrow sometime. Haven't seen it for a couple years - obviously some of it's going to be even heavier than before. :(