Batman is only the latest in a series of major motion pictures that have made their video debuts at what are called "sell-through" prices - video- industry jargon for any cassette under the magic $30 figure that makes customers want to buy rather than rent.
The distributors began releasing their holiday packages in September, with Don Bluth's animated hit, The Land Before Time, coming from MCA at $24.95. Disney followed a few weeks later with another animated favorite, Bambi, which has a suggested price of $26.99. In October, the Disney folks topped themselves with the arrival of Who Framed Roger Rabbit at $22.99. It seemed that Disney and MCA would have a stranglehold on the sell-through market this Christmas - until Warner kicked in the door with you-know-who.
The final sell-through arrival from the 1989 movie season may be a bit late. But if you're a Trekkie and a last-minute shopper, you'll be excited to hear of the scheduled arrival of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier from Paramount on Dec. 20 for $29.95.
In addition to these major releases, literally thousands of previously released videos - including many films that any buff would call classics - have been marked down in time for holiday gift-giving.
For example, of the 25 classic films recently named by the Library of Congress to the National Film Registry under the 1988 National Film Preservation Act, only two are unavailable on video; 21 of the 23 that are available are priced under $30. They are:
