Home Media Magazine - February 23-March 1, 2009 - (Page 1) FEBRUARY 23–MARCH 1, 2009 Home A R C H Media RESE $600 $500 In Millions TOTAL PACK AG E D -M E DIA SALE S R EVE N U E* $164.13 million Up 1.42% from the same week the previous year. $400 $300 $200 $100 11/30/08 12/7/08 12/14/08 12/21/08 12/28/08 1/4/09 1/11/09 1/18/09 1/25/09 2/1/09 2/8/09 2/15/09 I CURRENT I ONE YEAR AGO *DVD and Blu-ray Disc Source: Home Media Research DVD REVENUE: Week ended 2/15/09: $153.35 million Down 0.25% from the same week last year. BLU-RAY DISC REVENUE: Week ended 2/15/09: $10.78 million Up 33.27% from the same week last year. NEW-RELEASE BOX OFFICE POWER Week ended 2/15/09: $90.74 million. Down 47.72% from the same week last year. 8% 92% w w w.HomeMediaMaga zine.c om THE BIG PICTURE NEW-RELEASE BOX OFFICE POWER Week ending 2/29/09: $23.05 million. Down 83.72% from the same week last year. The rental business is staying strong in today’s challenging economy By Erik Gruenwedel ngoing job losses, failing banks and imploding mortgages have put consumer confidence on life support, but not the public’s desire to be entertained by movies. Theatrical revenue topped $1 billion in January for the first time, and the latest “Friday the 13th” installment starring indestructible fictional mass murderer Jason Voorhees shredded the recent President’s Day weekend box office record. All the while DVD rental has quietly kept pace. Most notably Netflix topped 10 million subscribers, including 600,000 new members since the beginning of the year. Since its launch in 1999, Netflix has posted 30% compound Groove Back annual subscriber growth and remained profitable. “It’s an impressive metric, considering the economic environment,” said Edward Woo, research analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, which How Rental Got Its > > ELECTRONIC DELIVERY O stores, late last year celebrated its 30th anniversary and the burgeoning rental market by giving away more than 1 million free movie rentals. Blockbuster, the venerable rental service often derided by analysts as a 1980s retread, has reported five con«THROUGH THICK AND secutive quarters of same-store sales growth. Even Movie Gallery (together THIN RENTAL IS NOT with subsidiary Hollywood Video) GOING AWAY.» generated more than $1 billion in TODD ZAGANIACZ, revenue after filing for bankruptcy in NATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT Oct. 2007. BUYING GROUP “It is clear that the video rental induscovers Netflix. “I don’t think Netflix will try is a strong beneficiary of the current be slowed in the near term, as they have economic crisis,” said Stacey Widlitz, lots of momentum, economic favorable analyst with Pali Capital. The analyst said that with rental titles products, and first mover/competitive available for $4 ($1 at kiosks), consumadvantage in digital streaming.” Family Video, the Springfield, Ill.- ers in today’s economy are less likely based No. 3 DVD rental service with 575 See RENTAL, Page 26 A Taxing Question Online is the wild, wild west as far as sales taxes By Chris Tribbey hile some physical retailers are reporting massive losses and closing their doors, online retailers are still booming during this recession, at least comparatively. Amazon.com enjoyed a wonderful fourth-quarter 2008, reporting in late January profit of $255 million. Netflix reported profit of more than $22 million during the same period. And eBay reported profit of more than $367 million for the quarter. See ONLINE, Page 28 W INSIDE >> Comcast Subs Down Comcast lost 500k subs in ‘08. >> Sony Phones to Download Sony Ericsson to offer movies. PAGE 9 NETFLIX EYES STREAMING-ONLY OPTION By Chris Tribbey and Erik Gruenwedel >> HIGH-DEF INSIDE Loads of New Discs Due “Star Trek,” Monsters, Inc., A Bug’s Life and Dr. Strangelove hit Blu-ray. LATINO DVD AWARDS SLATED FOR APRIL 28 By Billy Gil ‘Kramer’ Q&A on BD Live Sony Pictures hosts a screening of Kramer vs. Kramer and a Q&A session for the BD Live network. PAGE 8 Home Media Magazine will present the Fifth Annual Latino DVD Awards April 28 at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, Calif. The evening will kick off with a cocktail See LATINO, Page 26 etflix continues to beat the streaming drum, all the while adding 600,000 new DVD and Blu-ray Disc subscribers and surpassing 10 million total members since the start of the year. Reed Hastings, CEO of the Los Gatos, Calif.-based online rental pioneer, Feb. 18 offered further evidence the service might offer a streaming-only option as early as 2010. Reiterating what he outlined in a January financial call, Hastings told Bloomberg News N that the company’s future success depends on streaming. “We’ve got one singular objective, which is, ‘Be successful in streaming,’” Hastings said. Netflix has invested millions in its “Watch Now” value-added feature to existing packaged-media rental plans whereby subscribers have access to about 12,000 titles viewable on a number of third-party set-top boxes, BD players and PCs. Its packaged-media library stocks more than 100,000 DVD and Blu-ray titles. See NETFLIX, Page 26 NEWS Wal-Mart continues to do well despite the economic downturn and says it will pursue more entertainment exclusives. RESEARCH Paramount and DreamWorks’ Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa tops sales again, while Warner’s Nights in Rodanthe is the No. 1 rental. PRODUCT Writer-director John Patrick Shanley discusses Doubt, heading to DVD and Blu-ray Disc from Disney April 7. Page 6 Page 24 Page 27 http://www.HomeMediaMagazine.com http://www.Amazon.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.