Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - (Page Cover1) Ho lly PA CK w DECEMBER 28, 2008–JANUARY 4, 2009 Lionsgate President Beeks Projects Strong Sales in 2009 w w w.HomeMediaMagazine.com By Erik Gruenwedel Approaching the year’s end, home ionsgate, like most studios and media entertainment was poised to generate companies, enters 2009 with $700 million in revenue. Library one eye on the economy and the sales, which included international, other firmly on the bottom line. The home entertainment and TV, was exSanta Monica, Calif.-based mini-major pected approach $300 million. in 2008 grew revenue (up 30%) and The company, which employs about market share significantly (from 5.5% 550, continues to claim the highest to 7.7%), in addition to maintaining box office-to-DVD conversion rate of steady margins. any studio in the industry. It manages Beeks “We now have major-studio-level this through a combination of brand market share,” said Steve Beeks, president management and releasing films in a strategic and co-COO. See LIONSGATE, Page 23 oo AG ED IN SI DE : d Go es Hi gh -D L >> HIGH-DEF CDSA: BD Will Help PackagedMedia Business By Anne Sherber EW YORK — Despite media criticism, reports that Blu-ray Disc is endangered are exaggerated, according to industry experts speaking at the Content Delivery and Storage Association (CDSA) Media Market Intelligence Summit Dec. 16. According to Charles Van Horn, president of the CDSA, bad news on Wall Street can mean good news for home entertainment. “Consumers are not planning to go out as much as they have in the past,” Van Horn said. “They would rather watch a movie at home. But even though there is now a single next-generation disc standard, consumers still need to be convinced to upgrade their home entertainment systems.” And, he noted, there is no denying trends. He cited Atlantic Records’ recent announcement that digital sales accounted for 51% of its revenue. The DVD party is over when the CEO of Netflix announces he expects physical DVD rentals to peak in five years, Van Horn said. Netflix has placed its bets on online streaming, he said, and right now, movie streaming is miniscule compared to other kinds of streamed content. And consumers still enjoy holding a See CDSA, Page 22 Non-Tuesday Street Dates Cause Errors By Chris Tribbey non-traditional street date to close the year is nothing new in home entertainment, but some retailers say this year is especially hectic, with most studios shunning Tuesdays and instead choosing a Friday, Saturday or Sunday release date for some titles. “The studios are trying to increase sales in the fourth quarter, just like the rest of us are, but the drastic street-date changes are a real burden,” said Alan Millican, chairman of the iDEA board of trustees. «THESE “We’re creatures of habit, OCCURRENCES and our staffs have been AREN’T JUST doing things the same way RELATED TO week in and week out for 10 THE CHRIST- years. The changing street MAS SEASON.» dates lead to errors.” MELISSA Whether it was due to erO’BRIEN, ror or not, many indepenWAL-MART dents were at a serious disadvantage last week when Wal-Mart and other big box retailers broke the street date for Anchor Bay Entertainment’s Traitor, offering it Tuesday, Dec. 16 — three days ahead of its scheduled Friday release. Todd Zaganiacz, president of the National Entertainment Buying Group, a coalition of 300 video rentailers, said the DVDs he ordered from Rentrak were still in transit, leaving smaller rental outlets especially high and dry. And he said retailers with discs in hand are bound to break the non-traditional street dates again before the year ends. “These haphazard street dates are a free-forall,” he said. “The studios are solely focused on sellthrough, and they want to get those last See STREET DATES, Page 23 ef N A A Year in Blu Home entertainment stays afloat despite economy INSIDE I 2008 Year In Review For our monthby-month recap of the most notable news throughout 2008, see PAGE 8 By Thomas K. Arnold t’s the economy, stupid. The immortal words of Clinton consultant James Carville became a mantra of sorts for home entertainment in 2008, as industry leaders MARKET found a convenient — and not altoANALYSIS gether inaccurate — scapegoat for the continued downturn in the DVD business and the slower-than-expected takeoff of Blu-ray Disc. The year had gotten off to a rocky start. A bitter format war between two rival high-definition, optical-disc formats, Bluray and HD DVD, was still raging. DVD sales were softening, and analysts were predicting that See 2008, Page 22 I NEWS Roku, maker of Netflix’s digital set-top box, says it can stream high-definition content to the box via a broadband connection. PRODUCT Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” brings his Web hit “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” to DVD via Amazon’s CreateSpace. Page 6 Page 19 http://www.HomeMediaMagazine.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 Contents News Gay & Lesbian Reviews TV DVD Pipeline Just Announced Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Contents (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - News (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Gay & Lesbian (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Gay & Lesbian (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Reviews (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Tab1) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Tab2) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd1) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd2) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd3) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd4) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd5) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd6) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd7) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd8) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd9) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd10) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd11) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd12) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd13) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd14) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd15) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd16) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd17) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd18) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd19) Home Media Magazine - December 28, 2008 - Hollywood Goes High Def Supplement (Page hghd20)
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