In the videogame industry it is relatively common for high profile releases like Halo, Mario, Zelda and countless others to be sold starting at midnight on the day of their release. Gamestop even recently offered an exclusive Golden Hammerburst in-game unlockable gun code at their midnight sales event for Gears of War 2 that has not been made available since.
In home video this practice of Midnight Madness sales occurs once in a blue moon. The only instances I can remember happened with Titanic, Return of the King and the Original Star Wars trilogy DVD box set. I’m sure there were a handful of others but certainly not many.
It takes a really, really “big” release to warrant stores opening at midnight. The Dark Knight (read our Blu-ray review), the second-highest box office grossing film of all time, has fallen into that category. We’ve confirmed participating Best Buy and Blockbuster stores across the nation will open their doors at 12:01 am on December 9 to sell The Dark Knight. Additionally it is speculated some Circuit City and Virgin Megastores will be doing the same (call your local stores to see if they are participating).
Here in Phoenix, Arizona, a Blockbuster store in Tempe is actually holding a Midnight Madness party launch event that begins at 10pm and runs through midnight. Costumed characters will surely be out in force.
Of course, if you don’t want to stand out in the cold and have to keep an eye on the dude next to you in full-on Joker make-up, you can always lock in a copy of The Dark Knight on Blu-ray Disc from Amazon.com (Click here for Blu-ray ordering information).
