Home Media Magazine - November 4-10, 2007 - (Page 8)

NEWS BRIEFS I BEST BUY LAUNCHES VIDEO SHARING Best Buy Co. Inc., in partnership with Mydeo, Oct. 30 launched Best Buy Video Sharing, a subscription-based service for customers to safely store and share personal videos via the Internet. Plans start at $6.97 for 100 minutes of video hosting, with video lengths of up to 30 minutes each. Users can choose premium plans with extended video lengths, increased video storage and other sharing features. – Kyra Kudick www.homemediamagazine.com Wal-Mart, Safeway Seek Halt to Gallery Lease Sales The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Virginia Oct. 17 land, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. The plaintiffs argued they should be indemnified joined a growing list of landlords who are object- duct closure sales that circumvented mall guide- to the extent of any damages caused by Gallery ing to a bankruptcy court’s decision allowing Movie lines and procedures regarding hours of operation, and/or hired liquidators during the sales. Gallery to conduct store closure sales at more than signage, banners, security and length of sale, A group of landlords representing 35 Gallery mall 500 locations. among other issues. Landlords were given 10 days locations recently filed a motion in bankruptcy Dothan, Ala.-based Gallery, which operates 4,200 to file motions in opposition. court seeking to halt the No. 2 video rental chain stores, Oct. 16 filed Chapter 11 citing debts of more Wal-Mart and Safeway are lessors to Gallery mall from liquidating select locations. than $1.4 billion and assets of $890 million. locations in California, Florida, Kentucky, MaryA hearing on the closures is set for Nov. 6. By Erik Gruenwedel R E TA I L Wal-Mart Stores and Safeway Inc. have granted a first-day motion allowing Gallery to con- I DE PALMA FILM PREMIERES ON ULTRA VOD Redacted, the new film from director Brian De Palma, will be the first offering on the HDNet Ultra Video On Demand platform — before its theatrical premiere. No date has been announced yet. The service will let consumers access certain theatrical releases from their cable or satellite provider’s selection of ondemand movies as early as three weeks prior to their theatrical release. The service also will be available in some hotels. HDNet Ultra VOD also will offer free sneak previews of select films two days prior to their theatrical premieres. – Billy Gil MGM Titles Celebrate 90 Years of United Artists By Thomas K. Arnold MGM family to look at the breadth of 2007 DVD launch of more than 50 clude anniversary editions of In the P R O D U C T MGM Home Entertain- films and the tremendous legacy of UA films previously honored by the Heat of the Night (40th), Last Tango in ment will celebrate the 90th anniver- the studio. Our home entertainment group in its “AFI’s 100 Years 100 Paris (35th), Rain Man (20th), La Cage sary of the United Artists studio with group at 20th Century Fox saw this as Movies” series, branded accordingly. aux Folles (30th), Invasion of the Body an 18-month worldwide catalog pro- an opportunity to bring back to the Upcoming UA 90th anniversary Snatchers (30th), War Games (25th) motion that kicks off next month. consumer consciousness the impact DVD titles to be released in 2008 in- and The Thomas Crown Affair (40th). MGM will release at least two collec- that this library has had on pop cultor’s or special-editure, entertainment tion DVDs each and the artistry of quarter, with anfilmmaking.” niversary-branded MGM is spending By Erik Gruenwedel Separately, citing a national survey, K I O S K Redbox, the DVD rental kiosk Redbox said nearly 78% of respondents gift sets in com$20 million in marmemorative packagketing, promotions, service majority owned by McDonald’s, incorporate a movie into their Halloween ing through March publicity and adverhas extended by two hours the nightly celebrations. 2009. Each quarter tising to fuel what it deadline for consumers reAmong Halloween events, will focus on a parPrestige Collection Gift Set is calling the largest turning movies. 25% watch a scary movie — ticular aspect of catalog event in The Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.more than go trick-or-treating UA’s filmmaking history to honor the home entertainment history. Highbased service with 4,400 (24%) or frequent a haunted films, directors, actors and music that lights include partnerships with Panakiosks extended the deadline house (14%). represent the studio’s heritage. sonic Consumer Electronics and the from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. before Among favorite fright films, MGM launches the promotion Dec. American Film Institute. consumers are charged an adrespondents cited the 1978 11 with United Artists 90th Anniversary Panasonic will cross-promote the ditional $1 nightly rental fee classic Halloween as the scariPrestige Collection Gift Set, consisting UA anniversary with its own in a yearto their credit card. est, followed by Saw, Saw II, The Shining, of 90 classic UA films, including eight long partnership that includes a naDVD rentals are capped at 25 nights, at Halloween II and Scream II. that won best picture Oscars: Marty, tional sweepstakes and joint retail and which time Redbox deems the transaction About 23% admitted to being too The Apartment, In the Heat of the Night, marketing efforts focused on Panaa purchase and the consumer is allowed scared to watch a horror movie, including Annie Hall, Rocky, Rain Man, West sonic Blu-ray products. to keep the disc. 31% of women and 10% of men. Side Story and Midnight Cowboy. The AFI promotion includes the Q4 Also out Dec. 11 is a three-title Essential Collection gift set. The fourth quarter also will see the FITNESS DVD RELEASE TRENDS release of Rocky: The Complete Saga, 10-MONTH COMPARISONS: 2004-2007 with all six films in the franchise; the 340 21-title James Bond Ultimate Collector’s The overall new-to-DVD release count for 318 320 Set, and a 30th anniversary edition of 2007 has been trending down all year, and 300 New York, New York. the catch-all special interest category is way 272 MGM also has released a three-vol- off of last year’s pace. But there are some re280 262 ume Best of United Artists collection, ally bright spots in the packaged-media mar260 with each volume containing four ketplace if you poke around a bit. 240 219 films and two free movie tickets for Fitness DVD is one of these bright spots. At 220 the theatrical release of the new UA’s the 10-month mark, the category is enjoying 200 first film, Lions for Lambs, directed by a record year in terms of new title offerings. 2004 2005 2006 2007 Robert Redford and starring Redford, The first 10 months of this year have seen Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. a jump of 16.9% over the same 10-month pe- I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD “Lions for Lambs is the first in a wide riod in 2006. That’s 318 new fitness DVDs so Titles in Release Through range of films that will revitalize UA far, versus 272 in 2006. The last big bump Week Ended Oct. 26, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and enable the next generation of filmcame in 2005, which saw a 19.6% increase Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or makers to thrive and see their visions from the same period in 2004. — Ralph Tribbey In Release Through March 31, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . realized,” said Paula Wagner, UA’s CEO. I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR HD DVD Rick Sands, COO at MGM, added: As of Week Ended Oct. 26 . . . . . . Released Scheduled As of Week Ended Oct. 26 . . . . . Released Scheduled “The rebirth of UA spurred the greater REDBOX EXTENDS RETURN DEADLINE I RESEARCH: TIVO JUMPSTARTS TV VIEWING Despite increased numbers of consumers time-shifting TV programming via digital video recorders (DVR), a new study found that previews of TV network shows from TiVo actually increased prime-time viewing. The report by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI) found that 42% of TiVo subscribers who opted to watch previews of network fall programming watched the shows during their initial airing. – Erik Gruenwedel I ‘MANHUNT 2’ GAME FINALLY SEES RELEASE Rockstar Games, a publishing arm of Take-Two Interactive Software, announced that Manhunt 2 for the Nintendo Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable is now available at North American retail stores. The game previously received an ‘Adults Only’ rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board and the release was delayed this summer; a rejiggered version now bears a rating of ‘M’ for mature. – Billy Gil 78,280+185 78,973+195 Home Media Magazine November 4–10, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - November 4-10, 2007 Contents News In Focus News News TV DVD Indie Film Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - November 4-10, 2007

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