Ron Catapano of Ron's Comic World in Mount Holly, New Jersey comments on Man of Steel movie tickets being sold early at Walmart (see "Walmart Sells Early 'Man of Steel' Tix").

Since Warner Bros. took a more active control of DC they seem to be going out of their way to destroy any good will or respect that DC has built up over the years.  Here's their latest effort.  Warner Bros. is going to team with Walmart to sell advance tickets (beginning in May) to a special screening of the new Superman movie in July.  The tickets also include a code to pre-order the DVD before the movie even comes out.  If you know me, you know I'm not exactly a fan of Walmart.  While intellectually, I understand the theory behind this idea, I personally think it stinks like a ton of manure.

The idea is to pre-sell a lot of tickets for a special early showing.  By doing it through a high traffic retailer like Walmart, Warner Bros. will almost surely sell out most of the early shows which will add to Supermans weekend gross.  Warner Bros. can't lose with this because with the extra shows Superman is pretty much guaranteed to beat the hell out of Iron Man 3's opening weekend, giving bragging rights to Warners.  Warners is likely getting a better chunk of the ticket price than they do from sales by the theaters (screw the local theaters); any unused or lost tickets are pure profit for WB (screw the fans); and they get to pre-sell a ton of DVDs (screw every retailer but Walmart).  A win/win for WB and Walmart.

I'm a huge Superman fan and I have great hopes that this will be the Superman movie I've been waiting 30 years for, BUT, if I have to buy a ticket at Walmart--I won't be going to see it at the early show (screw Walmart) and I may just wait until after the opening weekend to see it just to wag the finger at WB (It's the principle of it).  I doubt Walmart is crying because I refuse to give a penny to a business I believe is willing to screw pretty much everyone they come in contact with but karma's a bitch.  Hey Walmart, uh oh, here comes AMAZON (I don't hold Amazon much higher, but enemy of my enemy and all).

I also doubt WB will really care if I show up on opening weekend because with the number of theaters they have running extra shows, even WB couldn't lose this one.  It's a shame that it looks like they finally got an actual "Superman" movie but then had to use Lex Luthor tactics to ensure a win.

Damn shame!

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