Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008 - (Page 4)

NEWS www.homemediamagazine.com Daily New EVP at Fox By Thomas K. Arnold PEOPLE Industry veteran Mary Daily has been named EVP of marketing, North America, for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Daily fills the slot vacated last year by Peter Staddon, who left Fox to pursue other opportunities. She reports to Simon Swart, the Fox Home Entertainment unit’s GM of North America. Daily is charged with driving all marketing and product Daily development efforts for Fox DVD releases. She also will play a pivotal role in key Fox business initiatives, including transitioning consumers to Blu-ray Disc and providing digital copies of films on DVD and Blu-ray Disc for use on laptops and other portable devices. Specific areas of responsibility include brand marketing, creative development, public relations and event marketing, online marketing, promotions and retail marketing for all products distributed by the division. It’s Daily’s second tour of duty at Fox. In the 1990s she worked for nine years in Fox’s London office, much of it alongside current 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment worldwide president Mike Dunn. She pioneered the concept of selling TV programming on video, which led to the industry’s first release of a complete season of a TV series on DVD (The X-Files: Season One). Daily spent the last three years heading New Programme Enterprises at MTV Networks International. Movie Gallery Posts Profit By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL It might be baby steps, but bankrupt Movie Gallery Inc. reported consolidated net income of $5.7 million on revenue of $177.2 million for the period from Feb. 11 to March 9, according to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing. The results represented the first time Dothan, Ala.-based Gallery and subsidiary Hollywood Video posted separate monthly profits since the No. 2 DVD rental chain filed for bankruptcy protection last October. Hollywood Video generated more than $116.9 million in revenue, including $77.8 million in rental and $39.1 million in product sales. Gallery stores reported $60.2 million in revenue, including $54.8 million in rental and $5.4 million in sales. The two units previously traded Disc Enthusiast Web Sites Snapped Up By Chris Tribbey ne company now owns three hot spots for fan discussions and reviews during the format war. El Segundo, Calif.’s Internet Brands has added HighDefForum. com and HighDefDigest.com to its family of roughly 60 Web sites. Internet Brands bought DVDTalk.com in October, and as with that site, is promising few changes. “We’re committed to keeping High-Def Digest the same great site it’s always been while leveraging some of our strengths – new servers and broad experience in site administration – to keep it growing,” Justine Cogan, community manager for Internet Brands, wrote to readers. “For the most part, High-Def Digest will remain unchanged. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” site publisher Jed Rosenzweig wrote to site members when the acquisition was announced April 8. “The main change in the coming weeks will be that Internet Brands will be migrating the site to morepowerful computers. Beyond that, Internet Brands plans to brainstorm with the staff, forum moderators and this community about improvements that would make the site even better. “The plan is to maintain High-Def Digest as a standalone site, while leveraging Internet Brands’ resources where they can enhance the site.” The two new Web sites under Internet Brands, which first went public in mid-November, were among five the company announced it had acquired this month. The others are FitDay. com, VetInfo.com and AVRev.com. See INTERNET BRANDS, Page 26 NETFLIX NAMES ANNA LEE HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN By Thomas K. Arnold Home entertainment industry veteran Anna Lee has joined Netflix as head of supply chain development and replication. She will report to Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos. Lee comes to Netflix from Sonopress, the Lee world’s No. 2 replicator of optical discs and a division of global media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. She will be responsible for managing the integration of Netflix’s key content supplier relationships and for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s supply chain. She also will support the implementation of Netflix’s Blu-ray Disc program. PEOPLE profit-and-loss statements. Hollywood Video posted a profit of $4.1 million on revenue of $131.2 million for the period from Jan. 7 to Feb. 10, and a net loss of $36.2 million on revenue of $182 million in the period from Dec. 3, 2007, to Jan. 6, 2008. Gallery stores reported a net loss of $4.5 million on revenue of $68.6 million from Jan. 7 to Feb. 10, versus profit of $48.9 million and revenue of $71.5 million during the previous period. Since filing for bankruptcy, Gallery has generated a consolidated net loss of $85.3 million on revenue approaching $926 million. In that same time period, Gallery stores reported income of $8.1 million on revenue of $288.1 million, while Hollywood Video stores reported a net loss of $93.5 million on revenue approaching $638 million. O Entertainment Leaders Bow New Web Studio By Kyra Kudick pril 21 marks the launch of Filmaka (www.filmaka. com), a global digital entertainment studio and online community for aspiring filmmakers. Founded by independent film producer Deepak Nayar (Bend It Like Beckham) and led by former Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman Sandy Grushow, who was responsible for such shows as “The Simpsons” and “The X-Files,” Fil- BRIEFS I EMA EXPO HONORS TV DUO The Entertainment Merchants Association’s (EMA) Home Media Expo 2008 has announced it will honor Don Most and Anson Williams, who played Ralph Malph and Potsie on “Happy Days,” respectively, at the show. The pair will receive EMA’s Legendary Television Duo Award during the Home Entertainment Awards ceremony June 24. The Expo takes place June 24-26 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. – Billy Gil tertainment to distribute Viz DVDs in the United Kingdom and Ireland starting this month. Under the agreement, Manga will begin distributing Viz titles April 28, starting with the ﬁrst volume of the series “Death – Chris Tribbey Note.” I CITY LIGHTS DOC TO BE PROMOTED ON YOUTUBE City Lights Home Entertainment is using YouTube to help promote the April 29 DVD release of the documentary A Generation Apart. While the movie is about the children of Holocaust survivors, the promotion asks people interested to detail, on video, their family’s history in America, and post it to the YouTube group “A Generation Apart: Personal Stories That Keep Family History Alive.” A select few videos will be reviewed by City Lights, and posted on www.AGenre– Chris Tribbey rationApart.com. maka provides professional opportunities to new filmmakers through a variety of online film competitions. The competitions are open to any member of the online Filmaka community, and anyone can join the community for free. However, each film competition has strict guidelines for content and submission, essentially asking the filmmakers to create content on spec. “Unlike all the user-generated See WEB STUDIO, Page 26 I DVDPLAY OFFERS FREE RENTAL PROMOTION DVD rental kiosk operator DVDPlay is rewarding its frequent customers with a rent-10-get-one-free promotion. After renting 10 DVDs, customers who enter their e-mail address into the kiosks will receive a promotional code for a free rental. DVDPlay now has more than 1,400 kiosks nationwide, and expects to place 1,800 more in grocery stores, ofﬁce complexes and bookstores by the end of the year. – Chris Tribbey NEW THEATRICAL OPENINGS FIRST-QUARTER COMPARISONS: 2005 - 2008 The first quarter of 2008 was the strongest for new theatrical openings in the last four years. The number of theatrical releases during the first quarter came to 142 — up from last year’s 127 and 133 in 2006. The number of hit films, those grossing at least $25 million at the box office, was also up nicely at 25 from 22 last year and 23 in 2006. The number for this year may even reach 27 as a couple of late March debuts are still generating ticket sales. More theatrical films, and box office hits, yields more foot traffic at retail, fewer holes in the release schedule, and a healthy video — Ralph Tribbey market. I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY As of Week Ended April 11 . . . . .Released 160 120 80 40 18 0 2005 23 2006 I Under $25 Million 110 85 22 2007 I Over $25 Million 25 2008 I HIT INKS WITH SMARTOONZ HIT Entertainment has acquired the rights to one new children’s show and will coproduce two others, thanks to a new agreement with animation company Smartoonz. HIT picked up distribution rights to “Little Fables,” and will co-produce with Smartoonz “Clay Play” and “Monkey See, Mon– Chris Tribbey key Do.” I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended April 11, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through Sept. 30, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR HD DVD I MANGA TO DISTRIBUTE VIZ IN THE U.K. Viz Media has inked a distribution deal with fellow anime company Manga En- 85,349+235 85,982+261 Scheduled As of Week Ended April 11 . . . . .Released 421 Scheduled 12 Home Media Magazine April 20–26, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://HighDefDigest.com http://DVDTalk.com http://VetInfo.com http://AVRev.com http://www.AGenerationApart.com http://www.AGenerationApart.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008

Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008 Contents News Commentary TV DVD Horror Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - April 20-26, 2008

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