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As summer starts, expectations fall
May 23, 2008

It's the start of summer, even though the Seattle day outside my L.A. window suggests otherwise.
Heading into Memorial Day Weekend, our thoughts can't help but turn to the movies. Iron Man, Speed Racer, Prince Caspian, The New Advenures of  Old Indy... What to take the kids to this weekend?
Whether or not you've yet set foot inside the multiplex for a summer blockbuster, there's no escaping the news about what has hit, and what's missing. And you just know that all over town, those video division number crunchers are making and revising estimates about the DVD and Blu-ray sales of these titles weeks ahead of their official announces.
Iron Man? Well, congrats, Paramount. A hit of that size is a surefire home entertainment hit as well (unless you do something dumb like way overship and get buried in returns...)
Speed Racer? Sorry, Warner. Speed barely got started and will be lucky to cruise past $50 million at the box office. There is hope for this one to outperform its b.o. on DVD, however, if the reaction of my son and his 9 year-old friends is at all typical. They loved it! An apparently merchandise sales are doing better than the film, fueled by parents who won't take their tykes to see the film, but don't mind picking up a Mach 5 toy at Target. This bodes well for the DVD release.
Prince Caspian? Certainly no guarantee it will be a Top 3 DVD seller, as Narnia was in 2006.
Indy? Check back next week, but DVD merchants are already might happy with the performance of the original three films, which are No. 1 on our Top Sellers chart this week.

Posted by Marcy Magiera on May 23, 2008 | Comments (0)