Home Media Magazine - August 19-25, 2007 - (Page 10)

NEWS www.homemediamagazine.com Lionsgate CEO: Viewers Want to Watch On-Demand By Erik Gruenwedel S T U D I O Lionsgate is expanding its digital delivery options and cable video-on-demand (VOD) presence in an attempt to maximize revenue across multiple platforms, executives said. During an Aug. 10 analyst call, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based mini-major said it had sold nearly 2 million downloads of movie and television product since the studio started offering online content in 2006. Lionsgate president Steve Beeks said the studio realized about $13 million in cable VOD revenue for the first quarter — the biggest quarterly amount and three times the VOD revenue from a year ago. Horror-themed VOD cable unit FearNet generated 7 million VOD views in July despite losing $800,000 in the quarter. Lionsgate ranked eighth in VOD service for cable operator Comcast Communications and first in horror, according to Lionsgate. Beeks said ongoing same-day DVD, VOD release tests in Denver and Pittsburgh with Comcast and Time Warner Cable will expand to Atlanta, which he said is the largest home entertainment market in the test. “We are not seeing any degradation in the packaged-media business,” Beeks said. “We are very positive it does actually increase the size of the home entertainment pie.” Year-to-date, Lionsgate’s market share in home BRIEFS I POLAR FROG JOINS DEG Polar Frog Digital has joined DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. The content management and distribution company joined the home entertainment promotional group to gain access to new trends and technology to enhance its position in the entertainment industry, according to company CEO Todd Rosenbaum. By the end of the year, Polar Frog expects to roll out 100 burn-on-demand kiosks in airports, travel centers and retail markets. – John Latchem Pride performed better on DVD than in theaters, boosting Lionsgate’s Q1. entertainment for the calendar year is 6%, up from 5.2% from last year. An ardent supporter of Blu-ray Disc, Lionsgate has 26 Blu-ray titles in release. “That doesn’t include the growth in Blu-ray we expect to see in the second half the year, especially with cheaper hardware being announced and Target exclusively offering Blu-ray players and Blockbuster renting only Blu-ray titles,” Beeks said. He said the home entertainment division performed well for the quarter on a number of underperforming theatrical titles, including Pride, which generated $7 million at the box office and has sold about $13 million in DVD sales. “This is a good time for the packaged-media business,” Beeks said. Lionsgate also is using its investment in Break.com and FearNet to cross-promote titles, including Columbia Pictures’ 30 Days of Night, to “accumulate eyeballs in non-traditional ways and then monetize them,” said CEO Jon Feltheimer. “We basically are trying to create a situation where our product is distributed in all kinds of formats by all kinds of sites by all kinds of distributors,” Feltheimer said. “We’re still disappointed by the performance of our first six films in the fiscal-2008 slate,” he said, adding that the slate resulted in a $22 million loss. Company executives said the next five releases through the summer will represent the core of Lionsgate’s 2007 theatrical slate and are projected to generate $400 million in domestic box office. Titles include War, 3:10 To Yuma, Good Luck Chuck, Saw 4 and Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? Increased marketing costs associated with Lionsgate’s expanded theatrical release slate resulted in the studio posting a first-quarter (ended June 30) loss of $53.1 million, compared to a loss of $3.6 million during the same period last year. Without the $47 million increased marketing cost, the net loss would have been $6.1 million. Home video revenue dipped 10% to $103.8 million, compared to $114.8 million last year. Primary DVD drivers in the quarter included Pride, Daddy’s Little Girls, Happily N’Ever After and ongoing sales of Saw 3 and Employee of the Month. Overall revenue increased 15% to $198.7 million, compared to $172.4 million last year. I CES NAMES NEW PRESIDENT Creative Entertainment Services Inc. (CES) hired Kathryn Findling as the Burbank, Calif.-based entertainment market agency’s president. Findling has more than 23 years of experience in product placement and promotion marketing, and has served as SVP, production resources, at MGM/United Artists, as well as director of production resources and production, Paramount Pictures. She has worked on more than 120 feature films. The latest were Marvel Studios’ The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Findling will replace Richard Storrs, who will move to CEO. – Billy Gil VI D E O R E LEAS E S BY BOX O F F I C E September 2007 is lagging behind last year’s September theatrical titles. Despite not having one film break the $100-million mark, September 2006 pushed about $50 million past this year’s comparable slate. This year’s Knocked Up made up more than half of the month’s box office total. DEG: CONSUMERS PREFER DVD AND TV By Erik Gruenwedel espite the success of movie and TV episode downloads on Apple’s iTunes and other electronic sellthrough sites, a new study from The Digital Entertainment Group says consumers still prefer to watch DVDs and live TV. The online survey of 1,035 broadband users in the United States between ages 18 and 49 found that 41% prefer watching a DVD, followed by 32% who watch prefer TV. Just 10% of respondents, who watch at least three hours of online video a week, said they prefer watching a movie via online streaming or download. “The DEG study is a good representation of how and where consumers are identifying and using content online,” said Matt Lasorsa, co-chair of the DEG content committee and EVP of marketing for New Line Home Entertainment. “It was interesting to learn that while consumers are embracing digital entertainment, DVD remains the most popular means for viewing video content in the home.” The poll, conducted in May by research firm SmithGeiger, claims to represent 60% of surveyed Web users who watch video online. I SEPTEMBER 2007 (AS OF 8/12/07) TITLE NIELSEN THEATRICALEDI B.O. STREET TO-VIDEO GROSS * DATE WINDOW ** VIDEO LABEL I SEPTEMBER 2006 TITLE NIELSEN THEATRICALEDI B.O. STREET TO-VIDEO GROSS * DATE WINDOW ** VIDEO LABEL Knocked Up We Are Marshall Georgia Rule Next Delta Farce The Condemned Bug Lucky You Away From Her Black Book Gracie The Valet The Wind That Shakes the … $146.84 9/25/07 $43.53 $18.88 $17.99 $8.07 $7.33 $7.01 $5.76 $4.55 $4.4 $2.96 $2.27 $1.83 9/18/07 9/4/07 9/25/07 9/4/07 9/18/07 9/25/07 9/18/07 9/11/07 9/25/07 9/18/07 9/18/07 9/4/07 116 270 116 151 116 144 123 137 130 174 109 151 172 Universal Warner Universal Paramount Lionsgate Lionsgate Lionsgate Warner Lionsgate Sony Pictures New Line Sony Pictures Genius/Weinstein The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo … $62.49 Curious George The Lake House The Wild United 93 Stick It Stay Alive Lucky Number Slevin Goal! — The Dream Begins The Proposition Kinky Boots The Notorious Bettie Page District B13 Hard Candy $58.34 $52.32 $37.37 $31.48 $26.87 $23.05 $22.49 $4.28 $1.9 $1.82 $1.4 $1.2 $1.01 9/26/06 9/26/06 9/26/06 9/12/06 9/5/06 9/19/06 9/19/06 9/12/06 9/12/06 9/19/06 9/5/06 9/26/06 9/5/06 9/19/06 102 228 102 151 130 144 179 158 123 137 144 165 95 158 Universal Universal Warner Disney Universal Disney/Touchstone Disney/Hollywood Genius/Weinstein Disney First Look Disney/Miramax HBO Magnolia Lionsgate September 2007 Box Office Total: September 2007 Title Count: $271.41 13 September 2006 Box Office Total: September 2006 Title Count: $326.03 14 Box office receipts of projected September 2007 releases are $271.41 million, down 16.8% from previous year Source: Home Media Research * In millions ** Days Home Media Magazine August 19–25, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://Break.com

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Contents News News/Box Office News TV DVD Q4 Preview Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - August 19-25, 2007

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