Behind the numbers
October 22, 2007

There is always more complexity and nuance to industry market data than we have the time or space to get into in our quarterly reports . The top line is that year-to-date, the industry is still down from last year, but rental and sales have narrowed the gap since earlier in the year. That’s a story the studios are anxious to get out, along with their optimism that all the box-office hits due in the fourth quarter will be enough to pull 2007 even with, or ahead of 2006.

There was a fair amount made earlier this year of the fall-off in new releases, and while the theatrical new release business is weaker than last year, it is probably only by about 3%, so actually performing better than the business as a whole, according to some studio estimates. TV new releases overall, however, may be down more than 10%, despite hits such as Heroes, and new direct-to-video titles have fallen off a cliff, despite the strength of Cinderella III, released early in the year.

On the catalog side, TV and direct-to-video sales look to be relatively flat, while theatrical may be down 5% or more, according to studio estimates.

VHS, meanwhile, has dwindled to the point it has ceased being a topic of conversation, representing less than $20 million in sales, or about 15% of what the fledgling high-def disc market is capturing.

Posted by Marcy Magiera on October 22, 2007 | Comments (0)