Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 - (Page 1)

JUNE 22–28, 2008 The presidents of the major studio home entertainment divisions gathered for an executive session at transFORMATions. (L-R): Sony’s David Bishop, Lionsgate’s Steve Beeks, Universal’s Craig Kornblau, Fox’s Mike Dunn, Warner’s Ron Sanders, Walt Disney’s Bob Chapek and Paramount’s Kelley Avery. Photo by: Heather Kincaid BRINGING DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT TO YOU TALKING Speakers at the annual confab parsed the promise and pitfalls of the format switch By Chris Tribbey ow are bottled water and Starbucks coffee like Blu-ray Disc? They offer convenience and quality in a competitive market, noted Lori MacPherson, North American GM for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, speaking at transFORMATions: The Seventh Annual Home Entertainment Summit, presented by Home Studio Chiefs: Blu-ray To Reach $1B in 2008 By Chris Tribbey ne billion dollars. That’s the magic number for Bluray Disc sales this year, according to a majority of the home entertainment studio presidents at transFORINSIDE MATions: The Seventh I Honoring Annual Home EntertainNew Line ment Summit, held June The studio is 16-17 at the Hyatt Regency recognized for 18 Century Plaza in Los Anyears of service. geles. If they can hit that PAGE 10 number, they’ll start openI At the ing the champagne. And you can make that Summit $2.5 billion by the end of See photos from the event. 2009, they said. Seven home entertain- PAGE 11 ment presidents — from Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner — spoke with a unified voice for the high-definition format on one stage at the TransFORMATion O H Media Magazine at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Macpherson used those examples of high-end competitive products to allay fears that Blu-ray won’t replace DVD or hold off digital downloads. “Transformation has always been critical to the health of our industry,” she said, predicting that as early as 2009, the growth of Blu-ray will See TRANSFORMATION, Page 32 summit, presented by Home Media Magazine. And Blu-ray’s success is around the corner, not years down the line, they said. With American household Blu-ray player penetration forecast at 2.5 million to 3 million by year’s end, the studios don’t believe See PRESIDENTS, Page 10 ‘BLADE RUNNER’ TOP DISC OF ‘07 By John Latchem R >> ELEC TRONIC DELIVERY APPLE TOUTS MOVIE NUMBERS Apple reported iTunes customers are purchasing and renting more than 50,000 movies every day, making it the world’s most popular online movie store. It touted a catalog of more than 2,000 movies, 350 in high-definition. — Stephanie Prange INSIDE: More News, Page 13 HOME MEDIA EXPO IS TURNING BLU By Thomas K. Arnold idley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner was the big winner at the fourth annual DVD Critics Awards, with a Warner Home Video re-release of the film earning honors for best director’s cut and best overall home video of 2007. The DVD Critics Awards dinner was part of the first day of transFORMATions: The Seventh See DVD AWARDS, Page 10 ome Media Expo 2008 is turning Blu, as in Bluray Disc. The home entertainment industry’s annual convention, which returns to its traditional Las Vegas home June 24-26 for its 27th incarnation, will put the spotlight on the nascent high-definition disc, which studios are hoping will reinvigorate packaged media after three years of flat DVD sales. See EMA, Page 30 H >> HIGH-DEF Execs Tout Promise of BD Live By Chris Tribbey lu-ray Disc was a major topic last week during transFORMATions: The Seventh Annual Home Entertainment Summit, presented by Home Media Magazine at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. But it was BD Live, the Internet connectivity component of Blu-ray, that people were talking about the most. “It’s a new relationship you can have with the consumer,” said Rick Marty, VP See BD LIVE, Page 10 B Zane Vella, president, Related Content Database Inc., demonstrates several new BD Live features his company created for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s X-Men: The Last Stand. Photo by: Heather Kincaid Home A R C H Media RESE MAR KET S HAR E 7% as of 6/15/08 I Blu-ray I DVD Consumers spent $160.20 million on DVDs for the week Blu-ray vs. DVD Sales* Consumers spent $12.73 million on Blu-ray Discs for the week Up 29.47% from the previous week. * Top 20 unit volume 93% Up 27.01% from the previous week. Source: Home Media Research INSIDE PAGE 12 >> Bond in Blu Six James Bond films head to Blu-ray. >> BD Unity Industry representatives talk backing the HD format. >> Blu Winter for Warner The studio looks to launch BD Live around the holidays. NEWS Best Buy reports a dip in firstquarter profits, despite higher same-store sales of entertainment software. PRODUCT The incomparable John Waters talks about his Court TV series “‘Til Death Do Us Part,” heading to DVD July 1 from BCI. RESEARCH Warner sold discs by the bucketload this week with The Bucket List, which took the top spots on the DVD sales and rental charts. Page 8 Page 14 Page 28

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008

Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 Contents News In Focus TV DVD Cine Mercado Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008

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