Home Media Magazine - July 29-August 4, 2007 - (Page 3)

www.homemediamagazine.com MENU FROM THE EDITOR BY STEPHANIE PRANGE, EDITOR IN CHIEF www.homemediamagazine.com High-Def Disc Battle in High Gear his fourth quarter will see lots of fireworks on the highThe competitive forces of the home entertainment industry, def front. Studios are drawing the big guns. Walt Disney the gaming industry, the consumer electronics industry and Studios Home Entertainment is adding Pirates of the even the PC industry are focused on the battle between Blu-ray Caribbean: At World’s End and Sony Pictures Home Entertain- and HD DVD. Such company titans as Microsoft, Sony, Toshiment is bringing Steven Spielberg’s classic Close Encounters of ba and many others have skin in the game and are showing no the Third Kind to the Blu-ray Disc lineup. signs of backing down. Meanwhile, Warner Home Video will offer 300 SUCH COMPANY TITANS AS Retailers, too, have entered the fray with on both formats, with a decided extras advan- MICROSOFT, SONY, TOSHIBA Blockbuster Inc. and Target showing support tage on HD DVD. Stalwart HD DVD supportfor Blu-ray while at least one high-end retailAND MANY OTHERS er Universal Studios Home Entertainment HAVE SKIN IN THE GAME AND er I know of is adamantly in the HD DVD seems determined to take HD DVD extras to ARE SHOWING NO SIGNS OF camp. the next level with greater interactivity. On the consumer side, I haven’t seen such BACKING DOWN. Hardware pricing has already begun to emotion since the days of Divx versus DVD. swoon, with the Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3 dropping by It seems every week I get a letter from either an ardent Blu-ray $100 (to $499) for the discontinued 60GB version, and Pana- supporter or an HD DVD aficionado warning me not to show sonic’s $600 Blu-ray player hitting shelves. HD DVD support- favoritism. At the recent Home Media Expo 2007, the studios er Toshiba already has dropped the price on its player to $299 courted Home Theater Forum members with freebies (includ(if you attended the recent Home Media Expo the HD A2 could ing Blu-ray and HD DVD players), parties and presentations. be had for $99 with three movies). More is sure to come, with Yes, the fourth quarter should offer cliffhangers worthy of the the HD DVD group determined to hit mass-market pricing. Ru- most suspenseful Hollywood thriller. mors of low-priced dual-format players also are making the rounds. Stephanie Prange’s e-mail address is sprange@questex.com PUBLISHER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Thomas K. Arnold EDITOR IN CHIEF Stephanie Prange EDITORIAL Senior Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erik Gruenwedel Senior Reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Tribbey Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angelique Flores Assistant Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Latchem Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Billy Gil, Kyra Kudick Contributors . . . . . . . .John Gaudiosi, Anne Sherber, Fred Topel, Ralph Tribbey, Holly J. Wagner T ART Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Melbert Sebayan Graphic Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Park RESEARCH Market Research Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Judith McCourt Market Research Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelly Burner ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Judith McCourt ADVERTISING 800/338-6700, FAX 714/338-6712 Sales Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Judith McCourt 714/338-6741 Director, Business Development . . . . . . . . . . . . Steven J. Apple 818/788-4488 Advertising Sales Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julie Savant 714/368-1020 Advertising Sales Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kurt Wohlman 714/338-6749 Group Administrative Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . Brady Gallardo Business Analyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joni Wu For reprints, call 800-290-5460, ext. 100 or HomeMediaMagazine@reprintbuyer.com For direct-mail lists, call Ilene Schwartz, Kroll Direct, 216/371-1667 FAX 216/371-1669 ilene@krolldirect.com IN THIS ISSUE JULY 29-AUG. 4, 2007 / VOL. 29 / NO. 30 News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 New Line’s Einhorn named DEG president; Movie Gallery hangs on with help of lenders; suit against The Weinstein Co. and Genius Products dismissed. C ALE N DAR I HIGH-DEF 2.0 Last year’s conference dedicated to high-definition product, High Def 101, saw such news as the announcement of the first 50GB Blu-ray Disc with Sony Pictures’ Click. Details on the second annual conference, produced by Home Media Magazine in cooperation with The Hollywood Reporter, DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA), are coming soon. Oct. 4 Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles info: www.homemediaconferences.com MARKETING Marketing Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kristina Kronenberg 714/338-6743 Online Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renee Rosado >> H I G H-D E F PRODUCTION Production Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bonnie Ling Sr. Production Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeannie Hortness 714/338-6732 Assistant Production Manager . . . . . . . . Justin-Nicholas Toyama OFFICES 714/338-6700, 800/371-6897, FAX 714/338-6710 homemediamagazine@questex.com 201 East Sandpointe Ave., Suite 500 Santa Ana, CA 92707-8716 News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 PS3 sales up after price cut; Warner giving away 300style Xbox 360s; Amazon declines discussing Unbox in sales call; National Lampoon starts video division. News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 TiVo has a new HD DVR; Razor Digital jumps on the Blu train; a report says 1080p TVs helped boost HDTV sales in May. Chris Tribbey, Senior Reporter 818-788-8616, FAX 818-530-2486 16130 Ventura Blvd. #570 Encino, CA 91436 CREDIT Credit/Collections Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Barry CIRCULATION For subscriptions, please go online to www.homemediamagazine.com For current single copy, back issues or CD-ROM, call 866/344-1315 or 615/377-3322 for outside the U.S. Audience Development Manager . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Joy Obaña >> E LE C T R O N I C D E LI V E RY 300-style Xbox 360 I TV DVD AWARDS Home Media Magazine presents the fifth annual TV DVD Awards Nov. 12 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, Calif. The best TV DVD releases of the past year will be honored in 15 categories, including best series by decade, best complete series set and best children’s series. For more information, contact marketing director Kristina Kronenberg at kkronenberg@questex.com. Nov. 12 Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles info: www.homemediaconferences.com BUSINESS QUESTEX MEDIA GROUP INC. President & CEO: Kerry C. Gumas; Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer: Tom Caridi; Executive Vice President, Travel & Beauty Group: Robert S. Ingraham; Executive Vice President, Industry Specialty Group: Tony D’Avino; Vice President & General Manager, Entertainment Group: Don Rosenberg; Vice President, Digital Media: Seth Nichols; Vice President, Publishing Operations: Robert Rybak; Vice President, Human Resources: Diane Evans © 2007 Questex Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including by photocopy, recording or information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by Questex Media Group, Inc. for libraries and other users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923 phone: 978-750-8400 fax 978-750-4470; call for copying beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. For those not registered with the CCC, send permission request in writing to questexpermissions@reprintbuyer.com or call 800-494-9051 ext. 100. Commentary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Senior editor Erik Gruenwedel says the EMA show could have used a kick from the adult industry, and that the show’s HD DVD offer appealed to the thrifty. TV DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 PBS Series “Wild America” is coming to DVD in boxed sets from Topics Entertainment. News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Vongo and Trans World give “Hellboy” buyers a coupon; CinemaNow ups music site offerings; MobiTV gets History Channel and A&E. Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Does Wild Hogs live up to its lively title? Will boxed sets of Elvis Presley and Brigitte Bardot films shed new light on their legendary stars? Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Premonition and The Hills Have Eyes 2 dominate the sales and rental charts. I EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Bill Bryant, VP, Sales, Ingram Entertainment; Chuck Gorman, VP, Music and Video/DVD, Barnes & Noble, Inc.; Adrian Hickman, Manager, TLA Video; Bo Loyd, EVP, Product Management, Chief Administration Officer, Movie Gallery; Leigh Ann Moore, Merchandise Manager, Circuit City; Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix. Printed in the U.S.A. Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Top 20 DVD Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner gets a final cut from Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts . . . . . . . . . . 21 Warner; Arts Alliance America looks through the eyes of teachers with Chalk; Allumination Filmworks’ Just Announced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . varied slate includes a Judge Judy release; Anchor Bay Sony Pictures rides Surf’s Up, reunites college chums turns viewers into “yoga booty ballet masters.” in Reign Over Me and thrills with Rise:Blood Hunter http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediaconferences.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediaconferences.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - July 29-August 4, 2007

Contents News News News News Commentary TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - July 29-August 4, 2007

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