Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - (Page 8) NEWS BRIEFS I HBO CHANGES ITS NAME HBO Video has changed its name to HBO Home Entertainment. A spokesperson for the company said the change reflects growing emphasis on new media. HBO recently entered a deal with iTunes and also started using a burn-ondemand service for many of its documentary titles. – John Latchem www.homemediamagazine.com Circuit City Loss Bigger Than Expected By Erik Gruenwedel hile Wall Street took its lumps Sept. 29, Circuit City Stores absorbed its own knocks when it reported second-quarter (ended Aug. 31) losses of more than $239 million, compared to losses exceeding $62 million during the prior-year period. The chain’s share prices plummeted more than 25% to $1.02 in midday trading. “The Dow is dropping pretty fast, but Circuit City is dropping faster,” said Edward Woo, analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City cited a 14.4% drop in same-store sales open at least 12 months and a 9.4% decline in net revenue to nearly $2.4 billion from more than $2.6 billion last year. “Clearly, the performance of the company is unacceptable to all of our stakeholders, and it is imperative that we take the right steps to accelerate our turnaround,” James Marcum, vice chairman and acting president and CEO, said in a statement. Marcum last week replaced CEO Philip Schoonover, who resigned. Marcum joined the board last month as one of three new directors in a settlement deal with dissident shareholder Mark Wattles. Marcum said management was taking a comprehensive review of all aspects of the business to determine the best methods of improving financial performance and maximizing shareholder value. Circuit City attempted to soften the bad news by saying PARAMOUNT TO DISTRIBUTE MORE MARVEL FILMS By Chris Tribbey W I DVDPLAY HAS $1 RENTALS DVD rental kiosk operator DVDPlay has moved its DVD rental price down to $1 per day, and for a limited time will offer customers Blu-ray Disc rentals at the same price. DVDPlay, which has more than 1,400 kiosks nationwide, will expand its title selection based on customer preferences. – Chris Tribbey I AMERICAN FILM MARKET ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE The 29th American Film Market (AFM), taking place Nov. 5-12 at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica, Calif., announced its schedule, with 513 films in 35 languages screening. The event will include 102 world premieres and 375 market premieres, including world premiere screenings of The Lonely Maiden (from Yari Film Group), starring Oscar winners Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walken; The Killing Room (from ContentFilm International), starring Timothy Hutton, Chloë Sevigny and Nick Cannon; and Powder Blue (from QED International), starring Jessica Biel and Kris Kristofferson. The screening schedule, a complete list of films available during AFM, and more information is at www.thefilmcatalogue. com/catalog. – Billy Gil losses from continuing operations before taxes ($162.7 million, excluding $73 million of non-cash asset impairment charges) were actually less than the $170 million to $185 million projected. Analyst Stacey Widlitz with Pali Research chided that revelation as “not exactly impressive.” In a research note, she characterized Circuit City’s financials a “mess.” For example, the analyst questioned why the retailer opened 17 stores in the quarter when competitor Best Buy reported a 5% comp-sales increase. “[This] highlights our negative outlook for the business [going] into [the] holidays,” Widlitz said. “We are also concerned free financing promotions that drive TV sales will be harder to come by.” In a call with analysts, Circuit City management cited declining store traffic as a primary driver of its financial woes. Bruce Besanko, EVP and CFO of Circuit City, said traffic was “somewhat worse than what we saw in the first quarter.” He said weakening of the chain’s brand relevance and significant declines in music CD and movie DVD sales also contributed to the poor quarter. He said a pending marketing campaign would attempt to restore relevance to the Circuit City brand. Besanko said the few bright spots included large LCD screens, which he said continued to be a primary sales driver coupled with digital converter boxes and social gaming products. See CIRCUIT CITY, Page 36 ollowing the success of Iron Man, Marvel Studios has reached a deal with Paramount Pictures to distribute five more films, including a previously unannounced third “Iron Man” film. The deal also includes home entertainment distribution for the second “Iron Man” film, as well as Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers. “[For electronic delivery] it’s kind of a split: Marvel retains some distribution rights, and if they didn’t want to pursue that in some areas, we could do it for them,” said Patti Rockenwagner, EVP of corporate communications for Paramount Pictures. Before Iron Man, Marvel’s live-action properties had been floating around at other studios, including Universal (Hulk), 20th Century Fox (X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil), Sony Pictures (Spider-Man, Ghost Rider) and New Line (Blade). Iron Man 2 would be first in line for a theatrical release (May 7, 2010), followed by Thor (July 16, 2010), The First Avenger: Captain America (May 6, 2011) and The Avengers (July 15, 2011). Studios Rebuff Restoring Contract Talks By Erik Gruenwedel he union representing studios and producers has dismissed efforts by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) to restart labor negotiations that stalled in July. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), T I VIZ, HOT TOPIC OFFER MOVIE TIX WITH PURCHASE Viz Pictures has partnered with retailer Hot Topic to promote the liveaction release of Death Note II: The Last Name, a continuation of the Viz Media anime Death Note. Customers who buy a “Death Note” DVD or T-shirt will receive a free ticket to a screening of the film Oct. 15 or Oct. 16 at more than 400 theaters nationwide. – Chris Tribbey in a Sept. 29 letter, said its “final offer” was comparable to similar agreements with the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). It also called on the actors to recognize the “unprecedented” economic difficulties facing the industry and the nation. “We do not believe that it would be productive to resume negotiations at this time given SAG’s continued insistence on terms which the companies have repeatedly rejected,” said J. Nicholas Counter, chief negotiator FOREIGN-LANGUAGE DVDS BY CONTINENTAL ORIGIN* Through Sept. 30, 8,409 foreign-language feature films have been released through domestic sources on DVD. These account for 9% of all DVD releases since 1997. When you look at the language groups (in a very general sense), you find that European languages account for 5,160 titles (61.4%), and the various Asian language groups chip in another 2,996 titles (35.6%). The Africa/Middle East block accounts for most of the rest, with 247 titles (2.9%). Seven strays bringing up the rear (not a lot of Mayan and Inuit language films out there). — Ralph Tribbey 7 Other 247 Africa/Middle East I ARTS+LABS TO OFFER FREE, LEGAL WEB CONTENT In lieu of fighting legal battles over piracy, a new group called Arts+Labs gathers several media technology companies to promote free, legal content on the Web. The group will strive to educate consumers on where to legally get songs, movies and TV shows on the Web. Founding members of the group are AT&T, Viacom, NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and the Songwriters Guild of America. – Billy Gil 5,160 Europe 2,996 Asia * Non-English language feature films released on DVD through Sept. 30, 2008 I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended Sept 26, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through Dec. 31, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,579+282 91,289+247 I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .As of Week Ended Sept. 26 Released 746 Scheduled 173 for AMPTP. The original labor contract between SAG and the AMPTP expired June 30 but is being honored on an interim basis. The actors sent the letter to News Corp. president and COO Peter Chernin, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and Counter, which reiterated displeasure with the producers’ offer and said putting it to a vote of the SAG membership would serve “no productive purpose.” In the offer, which included $250 million in pay hikes and jurisdiction of new media, producers agreed to extend SAG jurisdiction to original new-media production, including low-budget programs that employed a single “covered actor,” as part of the new contract. The offer also included language that would allow actors and producers to revisit new-media contract terms in three years to revaluate market conditions. The offer refused to renegotiate current DVD residuals. “We do not believe that their rejection of our reasonable request is in the best interests of our members or the industry,” SAG national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen. Home Media Magazine October 5–11, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/catalog http://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/catalog
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 Contents News TV DVD Gay/Lesbian Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Contents (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - News (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Gay/Lesbian (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Gay/Lesbian (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Gay/Lesbian (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Gay/Lesbian (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Reviews (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Reviews (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Reviews (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Reviews (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Reviews (Page 28) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Reviews (Page 29) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 30) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 31) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 32) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 33) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 34) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 35) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 36) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 37) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 38) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 39) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 40) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - October 5 - 11, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
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