“A friend of mine works in Golden Discs in Dublin. On Thursday the manager came running in in a panic and said that Tescos had started selling Lord of the Rings and that they were losing the march on the “biggest DVD release of all time”. So within ten minutes, Golden Discs were shoving all of their LOTR stock onto the shelves for all they were worth.

“Within half an hour the manager of the local HMV was in and apparently came close to fisticuffs when his demands for the DVDs to be removed off the shelves weren’t met! Having lost the argument he ran back to his store and got his cronies to stock up the shelves instead! So in effect most Irish stores have been stocking the film since about four days before the release

“Tescos Ireland are selling the box set for •40, HMV for about •30. But I’d still buy the DVD from Play.com (free postage) because at £16.99 (about •26) it’s still the cheapest price I’ve seen east of the atlantic, which of course I tried to tell you guys ages ago. But I’m laughing because I’ve had the DVD since last Monday… muahahaha.”

Thanks to Jon for that.