The Whine Factor?
While I was out getting lunch fixings for the work week (waste of money; I'm probably going to be out sick at least one day, maybe two) I decided to stop by the DVDs that were on sale. After settling on Donnie Darko, I started wondering: look at all these animated movies like The Incredibles. Some of them have been out for what, nearly ten years? Why the hell are they still twenty bucks or more? Disney's notorious for this; all their animated movies never go for less than twenty dollars no matter how old they are, and every so often they drag something "out of the vault" for another money harvest in the theater and then the stores. I personally can remember Cinderella being released no fewer than three times over the last 25 years.
I decided the reason for this was The Whine Factor. Once the kiddies see this advertised on the TV or get a look at the brightly colored cover it's "I WANNIT!!!" time. Same thing for the all the cereal that occupies the Twilight Zone between cereal and candy. Or just plain straightforward candy. Ever notice they're at the perfect eye level for little kids to see them (or grab them if they're sitting in the cart)? I firmly believe parents end up buying this stuff at inflated prices just to shut the brats up. Why lower the price when people are buying it as it is?
About the only exception to this rule with animated movies was The Iron Giant. Got a brand-spanking new copy for ten bucks. Probably because it either wasn't produced by a Disney affiliate or it didn't appeal to the standard "family" demographic.