Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 - (Page 8)

NEWS BRIEFS I CREATESPACE JOINS HBO FOR DOC RELEASES CreateSpace and HBO have teamed to make Cinemax and HBO documentaries available for purchase on HBO.com and Amazon.com. Titles will be offered using CreateSpace’s DVD on Demand service. The DVD on Demand titles will be encrypted with Content Scrambler System (CSS) copy protection. – Lana Chichakly www.homemediamagazine.com Best Buy Profit Drops By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL Despite an 8.2% rise in same-store sales of entertainment software — driven by video games and hardware — Best Buy Co. Inc. reported a drop in first-quarter profit. The consumer electronics chain reported net income of $179 million for the quarter ended May 31, down nearly 7% from $192 million during the same period last year. The entertainment category, which included DVD and music CDs, produced the second strongest same-store sales gain in the quarter after the home office category, and marked a strong turnaround from a 0.8% decline last year. Best Buy is expanding test stores in Canada for the trading, buying and selling of used video games. The No. 1 consumer electronics chain hopes to emulate successful programs established by retailers Gamestop and Gamestore. “It’s a phenomenal way of getting to a younger consumer, 12-to-14 years, who are really the drivers of this,” said Robert Willett, CEO of Best Buy International, in a call with investors. Sales of flat-panel HDTVs, mobile phones and GPS de- Gallery Execs Get Options By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL It’s just emerging from bankruptcy, but that didn’t stop Movie Gallery Inc. from awarding its new board and senior executives millions in stock options. Dothan, Ala.-based Gallery, which last month emerged from bankruptcy protection, issued 1.05 million in options worth $10.5 million ($10 per share) that vest in three annual installments beginning June 11, 2009, according to a regulatory filing. President and CEO Clarence “Gaby” Gabriel, COO and president of retail operations Sherif Mityas, and board chairman Neil Subin each received 233,665 in common stock options. Board members Bob Fiorella, Thomas McGrath, Steven Scheiwe, Richard Shorten and Mark Holliday, as well as co-founder, former president and former CEO Joe Malugen, each received 58,416 in options. Separately, COO Mityas, who joined Gallery June 11, received a signing bonus equal to his $450,000 annual salary. The former aerodynamic engineer is also eligible to receive performance bonuses worth up to 100% of his salary, plus additional stock options. If Mityas is terminated without cause, he is eligible to receive two times his annual salary ($900,000) payable in monthly installments over two years. Gallery, unlike Blockbuster Inc., has not instituted a non-binding provision that allows shareholders to weigh in on executive pay. The chain reported a consolidated net loss of nearly $50 million on revenue of more than $151 million for the period from March 10 to April 6. I MARATHON BLOCKBUSTER STOCK PURCHASE Marathon Asset Management LLC, a global $11.7 billion investment company, has purchased more than 6.3 million shares of Blockbuster Inc. stock, or 5.1% of the Dallas-based DVD rental company’s common A stock. – Erik Gruenwedel vices continued to grow due to availability of new models and pricing incentives. Free-falling sales of projection and tube TVs resulted in the consumer electronics category posting a 0.6% same-store sales decline. Company executives said Best Buy June 30 would close its previously reported $2 billion investment for 50% stake in CarPhone Warehouse, which distributes and sells mobile services in more than 2,400 stores. Best Buy continued its U.S. rollout of a proprietary mobile phone service, which CEO Brian Dunn hailed for its 50% same-store sales increase across an initial product placement in 599 select stores. “The strong double-digit comp at the converted stores was four times that of the unconverted, or as I guess I should call them, the soon-to-be-converted stores,” Dunn said. Same-store sales (open at least 14 months) in the United States increased 3.5% from 1.7% last year, as revenue topped $7.4 billion compared to $6.7 billion last year. When factoring in foreign sales, including Canada, revenue topped $8.9 billion, compared to more than $7.9 billion last year. I IDEA BOARD ELECTS THREE The Independent Dealers of Entertainment Association (iDEA), an autonomous division of the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA), has elected Nolan Anaya (Captain Video, Amherst, Mass.), Alan Goldstein (First Run Video, Brattleboro, Vt.), and Ken McAleer (Video Headquarters, Keene, N.H.) to three-year terms on its board of trustees. They will replace members Christine Johansen, Halsey Blake-Scott and Allan Welch. The new trustees assume ofﬁce at the annual iDEA board meeting June 22 in Las Vegas. – Billy Gil AFI Names Top 10 in 10 Categories By John Latchem PRODUCT The American Film Institute (AFI) June 17 announced its selections for the top 10 films in 10 different categories, in a program aired on CBS. A complete list of selections can be found at AFI’s Web site: www. afi.com/10top10. Most of the titles are available on DVD. The top selections in each category are: Animation: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment; Courtroom Drama: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Universal Studios Home Entertainment; I EMA AWARDS TILTON The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) will name Charlene Tilton, who played bad girl Lucy Ewing in the show “Dallas,” EMA’s Legendary TV Bad Girl at the Home Entertainment Awards ceremony, happening at EMA’s Home Media Expo 2008 in Las Vegas. EMA also will name Jon Chu its Breakout Director of the Year during the ceremony. In celebration of the director’s danceinfused Step Up 2 The Streets, which hits DVD and Blu-ray Disc July 15 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Touchstone, professional dancers will perform a dance from the ﬁlm at the ceremony. – Billy Gil Epic: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; Fantasy: The Wizard of Oz (1939), Warner Home Video; Gangster: The Godfather (1972), Paramount Home Entertainment; Mystery: Vertigo (1958), Universal; Romantic Comedy: City Lights (1931), Warner; Sci-Fi: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Warner; Sports: Raging Bull (1980), MGM Home Entertainment; and Western: The Searchers (1956), Warner. PEOPLE I SONY UPS TAJUDIN TO VP, INTERNATIONAL Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has promoted Norman Z. Tajudin to VP of international. Tajudin will oversee the division’s global markets, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Paciﬁc and Latin America. He also Norman Z. Tajudin will oversee multistudio distribution partnerships and other international strategic initiatives. Tajudin had served as VP of business development and strategic planning, and before that fulﬁlled various executive roles at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Walt Disney Attractions. – Billy Gil TRENDS IN HIT THEATRICAL FILMS ON DVD FIVE-MONTH RELEASE COMPARISONS: 2007 VS. 2008 The release pace for new DVD titles is down close to 20% for the first five months of 2008 (versus the same period last year), but there’s one category where things are solid. For hit theatrical films arriving on DVD — movies with a box office of at least $25 million — the yearover-year comparisons are nearly identical. And 2007 includes Imax: Deep Sea, which took more than a year to bow on DVD after its theatrical debut. So, the numbers were the same. Even the box office totals were about equal at $2.8 billion each. — Ralph Tribbey Year 2007 2008 Films 43 42 Box Office $2,893,894,965 $2,891,311,849 Time to Market (1) 116.7 Days 123.5 Days Ave. SRP $30.36 $30.98 I WRITER/DIRECTOR KASS TO APPEAR AT EMA EXPO Writer-director Sam Henry Kass will appear at Booth 504 from noon to 3 p.m. on the opening day of EMA’s Home Media Expo 2008 in Las Vegas. Kass, a former “Seinfeld” writer and producer, will promote two of his ﬁlms distributed by Drummond & Smith Entertainment Inc.: Naked Movie and The Search for One-Eye Jimmy. – Billy Gil 2007-2008 comparisons for five months ending May 31 (1) Excludes the release of Imax: Deep Sea, which took more than one year to reach DVD after its theatrical debut I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended June 13, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through Dec. 31, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87,042+236 87,606+201 557 Scheduled 80 I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As of Week Ended June 13 Released Home Media Magazine June 22–28, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://HBO.com http://Amazon.com http://www.afi.com/10top10 http://www.afi.com/10top10

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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