Home Media Magazine - October 28-November 3, 2007 - (Page 10)

NEWS www.homemediamagazine.com ‘ Tr a n s f o r m e r s ’ Sets DVD Sales Mark By Thomas K. Arnold he home entertainment industry got a much-needed shot in the arm recently when Paramount Home Entertainment’s and DreamWorks’ Transformers set a first-week DVD sales record for the year: 8.3 million units sold in the first six days since the summer theatrical blockbuster’s Oct. 16 release. The film also set a 2007 record for firstday sales, with consumers buying more than 4.5 million units on the AAMCO MARKETS ‘DIE HARD’ DISC By Chris Tribbey M A R K E T I N G AAMCO Transmission and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment are teaming up on a $2.5 million marketing campaign for the Nov. 20 release of Live Free or Die Hard. From now through Dec. 1, the promotion will hit TV, radio, AAMCO stores and U.S. mail. It will include a sweepstakes for a free trip to Los Angeles to spend a day with the film’s stunt coordinator, Brad Martin. “He was good enough to say we could bring the person in and he’d spend the day with them,” said Joe Ames, executive director of global marketing partnerships for Fox. He said the winner’s agenda with Martin may include explosions. “If that’s the case, I’m winning it,” Ames joked. “Live Free or Die Hard was the top action movie of the year, and we feel AAMCO’s customers are the right [demographic] for the DVD.” The Nov. 20 release includes a DVD, a Bluray Disc and a “Die Hard Trilogy” Blu-ray offering. The Live Free or Die Hard discs will include a making-of documentary, actor and director commentaries, the multilevel strategy game “Black Hat Intercept,” deleted scenes, featurettes, a visual-effects breakdown, alternate endings, side-by-side comparisons and a “Die Hard” music video by Guyz Nite. A digital download option also will be included on the disc. T DVD’s street date. Transformers also sold more than 100,000 HD DVDs that day and 190,000 HD DVDs its first week, setting two more sales records. “The performance of the Transformers DVD and HD DVD has demonstrated the phenomenal success of this global franchise,” said Kelley Avery, president of worldwide home entertainment for Paramount Pictures. “We’re happy to be kicking off the fourth quarter with a title that clearly shows home entertainment releases are still an event that drives consumers into stores, which is a win for both content providers and retailers.” Transformers earned $316.5 million in U.S. theaters and more than $700 million globally. September Game Sales Blessed by ‘Halo 3’ By John Gaudiosi G A M E S Halo 3 made for a heavenly month for Microsoft and assisted in a 74% jump in sales for the industry in September. Video game, hardware and accessory sales for the month topped $1.36 billion, according to The NPD Group. Console sales rose 188% to $418,600 in September. Year-to-date console sales are up 118% over last year. Microsoft sold 3.3 million units of Halo 3 and 527,800 Xbox 360 con- soles. Anita Frazier, video game analyst for The NPD Group, said the impact Halo 3 has had on Xbox 360 sales should carry over throughout the holiday. She added that gamers will buy hardware when there’s a game they want to play on that system, and many gamers were waiting for Halo 3 to be released before upgrading to the Xbox 360. Nintendo continued to show strength with sales of its Wii (501,000 units) and Nintendo DS hardware (495,800 units). Still, monthly sales of the Xbox 360 beat Wii sales for the first time. Sony sold just 119,400 PlayStation 3s, although it enjoyed an increase of PlayStation Portable sales (284,500 units), thanks to the introduction of the $200 Daxter/Family Guy bundle. “Demand for the PS3 year-to-date is still tracking below our expectations, but we expect sales to pick up with the recent reduction of the PS3 80GB model to $500 and the upcoming Nov. 2 release of the $400 PS3 40GB version,” said Michael Pachter, video game analyst at Wedbush Morgan Se- $18 billion by Jan. 1, 2008. That total curities. “PS3 sales were somewhat would be up 45% from 2006’s total disappointing, declining by 11,000 sales. from last month.” Top 10 Sellers for September Rounding out hardware sales, Sony (ranked by units): sold 215,000 PlayStation 2s, and Nintendo sold 75,000 Game Boy Ad1 Halo 3 (all three SKUs) (Xbox 360) Microsoft vances. 2 Wii Play (w/remote) (Wii) Nintendo Game software sales did well in Sep3 Legend of Zelda: Phantom …(DS) Nintendo tember, particularly Nintendo games. 4 Madden NFL 08 (PS2)EA (See chart at right.) 5 Skate (Xbox 360) EA Year-to-date sales through Septem6 Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) EA ber for game hardware, software and 7 Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) Nintendo accessories have topped $9.37 billion, 8 BioShock (Xbox 360) Take-Two and with the busy months of October, 9 Brain Age 2 … (DS) Nintendo November and December upon us, 10 Heavenly Sword (PS3) Sony Source: The NPD Group Frazier expects total U.S. sales to top MERCHANDISING The Further Trials of HD Best Buy Meet the Robinsons Disney SRP $29.99, $34.99 BD Target $16.99 $29.99 Blu-ray Wal-Mart $14.87 $25.87 Blu-ray Circuit City $14.99 $34 Blu-ray Amazon.com $16.99 $23.95 Blu-ray $14.99 $22.49 Blu-ray Mr. Brooks Fox SRP $29.98, $39.98 BD $17.99 2 for $30 w/Home of the Brave; $29.99 Blu-ray $16.99 $29.99 Blu-ray $19.96 w/No Way Out $31.88 Blu-ray $17.99 w/$5 off Home of the Brave; $39.98 Blu-ray $19.99 $27.95 Blu-ray Hostel Part II $16.99 Lionsgate 2 for $25 w/Hostel DirectSRP $28.95, $38.96 BD or’s Cut; $29.99 Blu-ray $19.99 $29.99 Blu-ray $17.87 $19.96 w/Anatomy $28.98 Blu-ray $16.99 w/postcards $38.96 Blu-ray $16.99 $26.95 Blu-ray Young Indiana Jones Vol. 1 Paramount; SRP $129.99 $69.99 $79.99 $79.98 $69.99 $69.99 By John Latchem f even the retailers can’t keep track of the format war, what hope is there for the rest of us? The Wal-Mart in Santa Ana, Calif., had plenty of copies of the HD DVD for The Sopranos: Season 6 Part 2 on shelves, but marked with the standard-DVD price (the packages are nearly identical save for some red HD trim). When informed of the gaffe, the clerk didn’t seem to realize the difference. In the vacuum following the mega-hyped release of the Transformers home video, the final episodes of “The Sopranos” on disc also inspired a number of Oct. 23 exclusives. Circuit City had the boxed set at $52.99 with a free cleaver hat, while the purchase of a set at Best Buy for $54.99 brought a packed-in “Sopranos” book. Best Buy also gave away Spider-Man 3 trickor-treat bags with any DVD, CD or video game purchase, and had an “Ultimate Fan Edition” of the new WWE Rey Mysterio DVD, which included collectible packaging, a shirt, sweatbands and a pendant. Target had a bonus disc with Mind of Mencia: Season 3. I 10 BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN Home Media Magazine October 28–November 3, 2007 hom102807_010.pgs 10.24.2007 21:49 ccoffey http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://Amazon.com

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Home Media Magazine - October 28, 2007 Contents News TV DVD Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - October 28-November 3, 2007

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