M+E Daily

By Paul Sweeting

Movies, video games and consumer electronics will be featured heavily in Black Friday sales this year. If there is a Black Friday this year, that is.

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, released its Black Friday ad on Monday, which includes the Dark Knight Trilogy boxed set for $29.96 (Blu-ray), and the individual DVD and Blu-ray titles Brave, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Hunger Games, among many others, priced from $1.96 to $9.96 each. It also features an Xbox 360 4GB + SkyLanders Bundle for $149, a Nintendo 3D Starter Bundle for $194, a Wii Console for $89 and a long list of games for all three console platforms priced from $10 to $30 each. Walmart is also offering a online-only pre-Black Friday event all week.

Walmart is also facing the possibility of a significant disruption to its Black Friday plans, however, as Walmart employees around the country are threatening to strike over the Thanksgiving weekend over pay, benefits and what the employees claim are unfair working conditions. Workers and labor activists are vowing to picket in front of 1,000 Walmart stores nationwide, including on Black Friday.

Walmart has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the United Food and Commercial Workers union, one of the groups seeking to organize Walmart employees, asking the agency to bar what the retailer claims would “unlawful disruptions to its business.”

Trouble for Walmart could be a boon for other retailers, however, many of which are also heavily featuring movies, games and CE in their Black Friday promotions.

Best Buy will offer a Toshiba Wi-Fi Blu-ray Disc player for $39.99 that includes Netflix, Pandora and Hulu Plus. It is also offering a group of 50 Blu-ray titles including Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Wrath of the Titans for $3.99 each and another 110 more-recent Blu-ray releases for $7.99 each.  A collection of 50 DVD titles, including Batman Begins and The Social Network, are on sale for $1.99 each, and another 140 titles for $3.99 each.

Target is also offering deeply discounted Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, including sinclude Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Lucky One, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on DVD and Blu-ray for $4 each. Project X is selling for $6 on DVD. More recent titles such as  The Vow, The Pirates! Band of Misfits and Prometheus, are available on Blu-ray and DVD from $10 each.

Amazon.com is also offering a wide selection of Blu-ray and DVD releases on Black Friday starting at $1.99. The online megastore also promises a number of “lightning sales” in popular categories, , on Cyber Monday.

Retailers have even more than usual riding on Black Friday sales this year. With consumer and media attention focused on the elections, as well as Hurricane Sandy, many toy and game makers delayed or postponed major releases for fear of being overshadowed. As a result, the holiday shopping rush is being compressed into fewer days this year, making the stakes on Black Friday higher than normal.

Many retailers, including Walmart, are planning to open early on Thanksgiving evening instead of waiting until early Friday morning to try to get a jump on the all-important holiday weekend. That’s bred resentment on the part of many retail workers, however, who could be forced to give up their regular Thanksgiving plans in order to report of work. The issue is among the bill of particulars raised by Walmart workers in their dispute with the retail chain, in fact.

Walmart and Target plans to open their doors at 9:00pm Thanksgiving night. Best Buy will open at midnight.