Last Updated on May 29, 2022
In a store where everything is the same tiny price — $1.25 as of now — there are certain things you figure probably won’t make the cut. You’re not going to see an expensive appliance at Dollar Tree, or furniture, or a television.
But what about, say movies? Sure, a dollar and some change is an awfully cheap price for film, but it’s certainly possible, right?
It’s not just possible. It exists.
At the time of this post, Dollar Tree sells movies. And they’re the same price as everything else in the store.
A movie endcap at a Dollar Tree store.
Here’s what’s kind of impressive: as best as I can tell, these are all new movies. Not used movies, like I’ve seen at my local grocery store, but actual unused still-in-the-shrink-wrap movies. Even more interesting: some of them aren’t just DVDs, but Blu-rays. That’s right — Dollar Tree sells a few films in 1080p. (No 3D or 4K, but what did you expect?)
At the time I was there, all the films I saw were distributed by MGM Studios, so I can only assume MGM was trying to offload some stock that nobody was buying.
There has to be a catch, right? These movies have to be terrible. Well, some of them are. There were a few I’d never heard of before and / or movies of dubious origins.
But not all. To my surprise, a number of the movies were at least average. I spotted Hart’s War, a 2002 film starring Bruce Willis and Collin Farrell, that currently boasts a not-the-worst-ever 59% reviewer score on Rotten Tomatoes. I also spotted another 2002 flick, Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, that carries a 53% on RT.
And some were better than that. In a genuine surprise, I saw Rescue Dawn, a 2006 movie with Christian Bale that has a 90% rating.
Most of them, though, are either in the middle category — 50s and 60s on Rotten Tomatoes — or are somewhere down toward the bottom. All things considered, that’s not the worst situation given the price point.
I have no idea how long this arrangement will last. For now, though, if you need an MGM film that no one really cares about anymore, you might find it at your local Dollar Tree.
