Home Media Magazine - April 13-19, 2008 - (Page 5) www.homemediamagazine.com NEWS BRIEFS I JAMIE KENNEDY TO HOST EMA AWARDS SHOW Jamie Kennedy will host this year’s Entertainment Merchants Association’s (EMA) Home Entertainment Awards Show. The actor (Kickin’ It Old Skool), writer, producer and reality show star’s latest project, the comedy documentary Heckler, will be available on DVD July 29 from Echo Bridge Home Entertainment for $19.99. The awards show will be held June 24 as part of EMA’s Home Media Expo 2008 June 24-26 at the Palms Resort Hotel – Billy Gil Casino in Las Vegas. Circuit City Posts Profit By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL Wall Street may be sounding the death knell for Circuit City Stores, but the retailer has earned a slight reprieve. The chain reported a 2008 fiscal-year fourth-quarter (which ended Feb. 29) profit of $4.8 million, compared to a loss of $4.2 million during the same period the year prior. Circuit City, which hasn’t reported a profit since the fiscal2007 Q2, cited $65 million in cost reductions that helped offset an 8% decline in revenue to $3.65 billion, from $3.95 billion the previous year. The company cut sales, general and administrative expenses by more than $150 million for the year. Entertainment revenue in the quarter, which included DVDs, music CDs and video games, fell more than 6% to $467.8 million, compared to $498.1 million in the comparable quarter of the year before. For the fiscal year, entertainment revenue jumped nearly 4% to $1.37 billion from $1.32 billion in the previous year, driven primarily by double-digit sales gains in video game software and related products. In a call with investors, chairman and CEO Philip I ECHO BRIDGE ACQUIRES ALLIANCE ATLANTIS Echo Bridge Entertainment is acquiring Alliance Atlantis International Distribution, giving Echo Bridge distribution rights to more than 7,500 first-run and catalog titles. The move will make Echo Bridge one of the largest independents, with more than 11,000 total titles. Michael Rosenblatt, chairman, president and CEO of Echo Bridge Entertainment, said the acquisition, which is being conducted through a share purchase, is expected to be completed by the end of April. The new titles include “Da Vinci’s Inquest,” “PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal” and “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict.” Movies include Hitler: Rise of Evil, Nuremberg, Haven – Chris Tribbey and more. Schoonover said Circuit City will continue to push entertainment sales online and promote its in-home installation service, Firedog. Web sales and Firedog service revenue in the quarter increased 14% and more than 11%, respectively. Total full-year sales topped $11.7 billion, down 5.5% from more than $12.4 billion in the prior year. Same-store sales (open at least 12 months), however, fell more than 10% in the quarter and 7.7% for the fiscal year. Schoonover reiterated his mantra that Circuit City was on the right track despite contrary reports. He cited third-party research claiming Circuit City achieved a 10% increase in customer service from March 2007 through March 2008, no small matter considering the retailer last year fired more than 3,400 employees, then offered them jobs at lower pay. The CEO refused to comment on criticism from shareholder Mark Wattles, who has proffered a slate of board nominees and called for Schoonover to be fired. Mikael Salovaara, lead director for Circuit City, said the company’s board will meet with Wattles to help promote a “more productive” dialogue between the two parties, according to a regulatory filing. TRANS WORLD FOUNDER EXTENDS BID By Erik Gruenwedel Trans World Entertainment founder, chairman and CEO Robert Higgins has extended to May 31 his attempt to take the retail parent private in a $5 per share cash acquisition offer. Higgins and Riley Investment Management last year submitted a letter of intent to Trans World’s board offering to buy out all outstanding shares of Trans World. That letter expired March 31, and a new letter was submitted April 2, according to regulatory filings. Higgins controls more than 46% of Trans World shares, while Riley owns nearly 11%. The CEO said taking Trans World private would reduce costs and investor demands. RETAIL Image Sues Relativity I MONTEREY MEDIA GETS ‘SENSATION’ Monterey Media has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to The Sensation of Sight. The drama is an Either/Or Films production starring Oscar nominee David Strathairn as a man involved with a tragedy who leaves his family and career behind to sell encyclopedias. The Sensation of Sight is scheduled for a winter – Billy Gil DVD release. I PORCHLIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE ‘64 ZOO LANE’ PorchLight Home Entertainment has nailed down U.S. DVD distribution rights to the U.K. TV program “64 Zoo Lane.” The children’s program airs on Noggin network in the United States and the BBC in the United Kingdom. The DVD will street July 29, with orders due – Chris Tribbey June 25. I KOCH VISION GETS ‘LIFE WITH DEREK’ Koch Vision will distribute Shaftesbury Films’ live-action children’s comedy TV series “Life With Derek” in North America. DVDs of the first three seasons, consisting of 52 half-hour episodes, will hit – Billy Gil in Q4 of 2008. attempt of the distributor. Lionsgate eventually halted its takeover bid when Image shareholders rejected of design, replication, marketing and several the mini-major’s slate of board nomBy Erik Gruenwedel the aforeSUPPLIER Image Entertainment has advertising, sales and distribution. inees. Lionsgate subsequently sold Relativity, headed by Ryan Kavanaugh, mentioned its stake in Image. filed a breach of contract lawsuit The complaint contends that Relativagainst film company Relativity Me- recently financially backed such fare as films. Inity co-founder Lynwood Spinks redia, claiming it has yet to deliver Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky stead, the signed from Image’s board shortly content spelled out in a 2006 distri- Bobby, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo suit alleges Drift, Inside Man, The Bank Job, 3:10 to Relativity after Lionsgate’s failed takeover. bution agreement conjured Lionsgate released 3:10 to Yuma The suit, filed April 7 in Los Angeles Yuma and The Forbidden Kingdom. At the time, Image CEO Martin the deal and The Bank Job theatrically in adSuperior Court, alleges Relativity was dition to releasing Yuma on DVD supposed to deliver more than 20 mov- Greenwald called the deal “the to curry and via electronic sellthrough. ies for release on DVD and electronic single most significant agreement favor with A representative from Relativmedia from 2007 through this year in we’ve signed in the history of Image Lionsgate, then Imity was not available for comment. exchange for 3.4 million shares of Im- Entertainment.” The complaint contends Image age’s second-largMartin Singer, a lawyer who reage stock and other considerations. portedly represents Relativity, told Image would be responsible for all expected to generate millions in est shareholder 3:10 to Yuma The Los Angeles Times the case was post-production matters, including home entertainment revenue from embroiled in a “ridiculous and without merit.” authoring, compression, creative the high-profile movies, including hostile takeover Singer said issues with the distribution deal were resolved in 2007, which Image denies. NEW-TO-DVD RELEASE TRENDS FIRST-QUARTER Image associate general counsel COMPARISONS: 2007 AND 2008 Michael Bayer said he will let the DVD Title Release Category 2007 2008 +/%+/allegations in the complaint “speak The first quarter of 2008 is under our belts, TV Series Programming: Multidisc Sets 111 143 32 28.8% New Theatrical (1997-current) 157 167 10 6.4% for themselves.” He said Image will and the release patterns for new-to-DVD TV Series Programming (single disc) 43 45 2 4.7% seek unspecified damages for lost product offerings are all over the board. Direct-to-Video Feature Films 269 273 4 1.5% revenue and profits under the deal. Overall the pace is off 15.6% (2,760 this All Other Categories 252 249 (3) -1.2% Theatrical Catalog (pre-1997) 248 228 (20) -8.1% In a presentation outlining the year versus 3,270 for 2007), but the studios Children’s Programming, Non-Feature 150 135 (15) -10.0% company’s future, Image CFO Jeffrey are actually up by 2.1% (398 compared to Anime 120 102 (18) -15.0% Framer said the distributor will post 390). Special Interest 1,105 902 (203) -18.4% Music: Opera and Stage Performances 57 44 (13) -22.8% a loss for fiscal 2008 (which ended Music, special interest and foreign-language Music 360 247 (113) -31.4% March 31) on revenue from $95 million releases are all down sharply, accounting for Foreign-Language Feature Films 398 225 (173) -43.5% to $97 million. virtually all of the year-over-year decline. First-Quarter Release Comparisons 3,270 2,760 (510) -15.6% Studios 390 398 8 2.1% He said Image expects to generate The bread-and-butter category for the All Others 2,880 2,362 (518) -18.0% from $115 million to $125 million in studios, theatrical catalog, has plummeted * Yearly comparisons through March 31, revised April 9, 2008 overall revenue in fiscal 2009 based 44% (51 versus 91) in the first stanza of in large part on the distributor’s 2008, when compared to same three-month I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD improved slate of feature films, TV period in 2007. Titles in Release Through rights and digital initiatives. So which way is the wind blowing? It’s Week Ended April 4, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specifically, Image projects $4 milanyone’s guess. Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or lion in revenue from its digital disIn Release Through Sept. 30, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . — Ralph Tribbey tribution subsidiary, Egami Media, including $1.8 million from video I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR HD DVD downloads, up from $989,000 in As of Week Ended April 4 . . . . . .Released 470 Scheduled 70 As of Week Ended April 4 . . . . . .Released 418 Scheduled 18 fiscal 2008. http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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