÷ - Ed Sheeran Now That's What I Call Music! 95 - Various Artists Everything This Way - Walking On Cars Trolls - Various ArtistsAmazon makes a mess with Lego What madness is this? The "Everything Store" is blocking pre-orders of "The Lego Movie" Warner, Technology News, Business News What is Jeff Bezos thinking? At the New York Times, David Streitfeld reports that since mid-May Amazon has been blocking pre-orders for Warner DVDs — including “The Lego Movie.” At issue is the same underlying dynamic at work in Amazon’s fight with the Hachette publishing conglomerate: Amazon is meeting unprecedented resistance as it pressures its suppliers to lower their prices.The confrontations indicate that Amazon’s long-stated desire to sell everything to everybody might be taking a back seat. The biggest book release in the middle of June is the new J. K. Rowling novel from Hachette; the biggest movie is “Lego.” Amazon is basically telling its customers to go elsewhere for them, which is a very un-Amazon thing to do.
The Hachette showdown showered the normally publicity-conscious Amazon with a hailstorm of bad press, but Streitfeld writes that “Amazon’s tactics with Warner Home Video are unlikely to provoke as much of an uproar, since DVDs do not carry the cultural weight of books.” I’m not so sure about that. Lego is a brand name with serious weight in key demographic circles — namely, parents of Lego-obsessed kids. “Amazon blocks Lego” is a sound bite with brand-name punch. How long can Bezos bear seeing articles that include sentences like “First they came for Harry Potter’s author, and now they have come for your Lego”?The really interesting question, however, is whether the decision makers at Hachette and Warner Home Video have sensed some kind of cultural turning of the tide in which they believe it is now acceptable to stand up against Amazon. Are hoary old media dinosaurs capitalizing on a growing sense of public unease at the power of the new tech economy titans? Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon.
WATCH: President Trump's worst nightmare? Oprah plots 2020 presidential run The NRA's new gun-sales pitch: America is a war zone and the "violent left" is coming for you White House: Don't blame Trump for Kansas man who shot at Indian immigrantsJoin Emmet as he goes from everyday LEGO citizen to the man charged with saving the world from an evil tyrant.Smash up more bricks than you know what to do with thanks to the fascinating environment made up of LEGO bricks.There's a whole host of delightful and surprising characters to meet along the way, from Gandalf to Superman.Harness the power of the Master Builders and virtually build impressive LEGO creations.Your journey will take you to a range of fantastical worlds, such as Flatbush Gulch and Cloud Cuckoo Land. Transform the ordinary into the extraordinary and experience the ultimate LEGO building experience in the all new The LEGO Movie Videogame. Step into the world of Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average citizen who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world.
Players guide him as he is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared.Enjoy a delightful and surprising mix of over 90 characters as seen from the film including Batman, Superman, the Green Ninja, Gandalf and more in 15 exciting levels.Smash more bricks in a fascinating environment made of LEGO bricks.Collect and use LEGO instruction pages to build in a new way. Journey through fantastical worlds like Flatbush Gulch, Cloud Cuckoo Land and more!Harness the awesome power of the Master Builders to virtually build extraordinary LEGO creations.Enjoy a brand new animation style as seen in the film that simulates the movement of actual LEGO toy sets.Play with friends and family using easy drop-in/drop-out co-op play that features dynamic split screen. More buying choices fromAmazon has restricted preorders of some movies from Disney in an apparent contract dispute with another media giant.
Preorder options are currently unavailable at the Internet retailer for physical copies of "Muppets Most Wanted," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Million Dollar Arm," and "Maleficent." However, preorders of digital versions on Amazon Instant Video are still available.The situation is reminiscent of an apparent dispute between Amazon and Warner Home Video in which preorders of discs for "The Lego Movie," "Transcendence," and "300: Rise of an Empire" vanished from the site earlier this summer. Amazon hasn't publicly commented on that situation, but it's thought that the move is intended to apply pressure on Warner to gain greater margin on each sale. Amazon has admitted to employing a similar strategy in a contract negotiations standoff with book publisher Hachette. Amazon said in May it was restricting sales of titles from the publisher after the two were unable to agree on mutually acceptable contract terms. Amazon did not elaborate on the terms proposed but defended the move as a legitimate negotiating tactic aimed at getting more value for consumers.