The top news and charts for week ending April 18, 2008.
2008 Q1 about even with last year Fox offers Juno day-and-date on iTunes Wii on top in March console sales Buckley-Bruno heads Variety’s Home Entertainment Group |
Opening the Cellar Door To celebrate the DVD release of Monterey Media’s The Cellar Door, the cast and crew gathered at Rocket Video in Hollywood, Calif., on April 10, followed by a party at the Seven nightclub. At Seven were (from l. to r.) actor James DuMont, producer Hilary Six, director Matt Zettell, actress Michelle Tomlinson, writer Christopher Nelson and Monterey Media’s Tiffany Mastrovito and Chris Mastrovito. Click for more industry event photos. |
"THERE WILL BE BLOOD" leads Top DVD Renters Chart "ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS" leads Top DVD Sellers Chart "I AM LEGEND" leads Top HD DVD Sellers Chart "WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY" leads Top Blu-ray Sellers Chart |
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SWEETING: Devices and desires |
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BETWEEN THE LINES: Which way BD pricing? |
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RED STATE, BLUE STATE: Circuit City makes upconverting sound awesome |
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DISC DISH: The Pope’s mission |
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DVDIALOG: Nicholas D’Agosto takes it inside |
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THE DOWN LOW: Gossip Girl moves off the Web |
Blockbuster denies Facebook promotion violates customer privacy
APRIL 18 | A woman is seeking a class action lawsuit against Blockbuster for invading customer privacy. Cathryn Elaine Harris accuses the chain of wrongfully distributing personal information about her Blockbuster Online DVD transactions for marketing purposes on social network Facebook.
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2008 Q1 about even with last year
APRIL 18 | Consumer spending on home video rentals and purchases in the first quarter was virtually dead even with last year, as growing Blu-ray Disc sales helped offset the effects of the unstable U.S. economy. For the first three months of 2008, however, consumer spending on rentals and purchases of all home entertainment formats slipped just 0.3% to $5.6 billion, as the sell-through business edged up 0.5% to $3.5 billion, while rental fell 1.1% to $2.1 billion.
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Virgin promotion surrounds Los Angeles Brit Week
APRIL 17 | Hoping to boost its lifestyle merchandise in a tough retail climate, Virgin Megastores has signed on as a major sponsor of Los Angeles’ Brit Week 2008. The retailer will be heavily promoting DVDs of films featured in three different screening series that are part of the April 26-May 31 celebration of British culture.
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DVDPlay starts kiosk movie-rental promotion
APRIL 16 | DVDPlay unveiled a program that gives repeat customers of its movie kiosks free film rentals as part of an effort to compete against larger U.S. kiosk operators Redbox and Moviecube.
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March electronics sales drop
APRIL 16 | Sales of electronics and appliances fell 1% from a year earlier, or 0.1% more than total retail sales declined from March 2007, the National Retail Federation said in a report this week.
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Movie Gallery reports profit
APRIL 16 | Movie Gallery reported net income of $5.7 million on revenue of $177.2 million for the month ended March 9. The required filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court could signal the beginning of a turnaround for the company, whose reorganization plan has just been confirmed by the court.
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Starbucks, iTunes offer free song, music video downloads
APRIL 15 | Starbucks and iTunes are launching a new music and video recommendations program that involves giving away free downloads of songs and music videos.
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Fox offers Juno day-and-date on iTunes
APRIL 15 | In a first for the studio, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is offering Juno for sale on Apple iTunes today, the same day as the movie bows on DVD. Juno can be downloaded for $14.99 through the iTunes service. Also, a second Juno soundtrack release, Juno B-Sides Almost Adopted Songs, is now exclusively available for download at iTunes for $9.99. Starting May 14, people will be able to rent Juno on iTunes.
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Netflix hires Sonopress exec to head supply chain development
APRIL 15 | Netflix has hired Anna Lee as head of supply chain development and replication, a newly created post in which she will be a key company liaison with studios and disc manufacturers. Lee joins the retailer from replicator Sonopress, where she was senior VP of global video markets. Lee said she will be looking for best practices among the multiple replicators from which Netflix now receives discs.
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High-def VOD could add $5 billion to home entertainment pie
APRIL 14 | Shutting the window between DVD and video-on-demand and raising the price on high-definition VOD movies could boost consumer home video spending by $5 billion or more annually, according to a new study from international strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
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EMA to honor Happy Days duo at Expo
APRIL 14 | The Entertainment Merchants Assn. will honor Happy Days actors Don Most and Anson Williams with the Legendary Television Duo Award at the Home Entertainment Awards ceremony, which will take place June 24 as part of the Expo.
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Blockbuster bids on Circuit City
APRIL 14 | Blockbuster last week went public with a two-month-old offer to buy Circuit City for at least $6 a share, laying out a vision of an $18 billion retailer of entertainment content and the devices it plays on.
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2008 Q1 about even with last year
APRIL 18 | Consumer spending on home video rentals and purchases in the first quarter was virtually dead even with last year, as growing Blu-ray Disc sales helped offset the effects of the unstable U.S. economy. For the first three months of 2008, however, consumer spending on rentals and purchases of all home entertainment formats slipped just 0.3% to $5.6 billion, as the sell-through business edged up 0.5% to $3.5 billion, while rental fell 1.1% to $2.1 billion.
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Universal goes Blu with Mummy franchise
APRIL 17 | Months after putting its support firmly behind Blu-ray Disc, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced a broad slate of releases to mark its debut on the format, starting with The Mummy franchise this summer. The Mummy (pictured), The Mummy Returns and spin-off The Scorpion King will debut on Blu-ray July 22, weeks before the sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor hits theaters Aug. 1.
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Delanic inks U.K. DVD deal
APRIL 17 | FROM VARIETY: New distrib Delanic Films has struck a three-year deal for Anchor Bay Entertainment U.K. to handle the DVD release of its movies.
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City Lights promotes Generation Apart on YouTube
APRIL 16 | In conjunction with the release of A Generation Apart, a documentary on children of Holocaust survivors, City Lights is inviting Americans to share their family histories on a dedicated YouTube group.
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NFL DVD to include Madden preview
APRIL 16 | Warner Home Video will include a demo of Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 09 on a DVD of National Football League highlights to be released July 22, marking the first time the Time Warner unit will cross-promote a videogame on its DVD.
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Vivendi, Palm fall for New York
APRIL 16 | FROM VAREITY: Vivendi Entertainment and Palm Pictures have secured U.S. rights to New York, I Love You, the ensemble collection of 12 short films currently in production in Manhattan.
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Starbucks, iTunes offer free song, music video downloads
APRIL 15 | Starbucks and iTunes are launching a new music and video recommendations program that involves giving away free downloads of songs and music videos.
Click for Full Story
Fox offers Juno day-and-date on iTunes
APRIL 15 | In a first for the studio, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is offering Juno for sale on Apple iTunes today, the same day as the movie bows on DVD. Juno can be downloaded for $14.99 through the iTunes service. Also, a second Juno soundtrack release, Juno B-Sides Almost Adopted Songs, is now exclusively available for download at iTunes for $9.99. Starting May 14, people will be able to rent Juno on iTunes.
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CinemaNow, Technicolor open download business to all retailers
APRIL 15 | Movie downloader CinemaNow and Technicolor are partnering to provide content and technology solutions to enable other retailers to get into the business of digital delivery.
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Time Warner drops ax on New Line
APRIL 15 | FROM VARIETY: It’s the end of the line for most of New Line, with Time Warner cutting 450 jobs as part of its earlier decision to fold the studio into Warner Bros.
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MPA backs legal download site
APRIL 15 | FROM VARIETY: AUCKLAND—The Motion Picture Assn. is keen to establish a New Zealand movie download Web site, allowing locals to download movies legally and so cut Internet piracy.
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High-def VOD could add $5 billion to home entertainment pie
APRIL 14 | Shutting the window between DVD and video-on-demand and raising the price on high-definition VOD movies could boost consumer home video spending by $5 billion or more annually, according to a new study from international strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
Click for Full Story
Manga to distribute Viz titles in U.K., Ireland
APRIL 14 | Viz Media and Manga Entertainment, a division of Starz Media, have inked an exclusive DVD distribution deal for the U.K. and Ireland.
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Digital cinema dispute in 3D
APRIL 14 | FROM VARIETY: NATO prexy John Fithian warned Sunday that the cinema industry is headed for "a potential train wreck" over 3D if studios and theater owners do not settle their dispute over digital cinema fees in short order.
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2008 Q1 about even with last year
APRIL 18 | Consumer spending on home video rentals and purchases in the first quarter was virtually dead even with last year, as growing Blu-ray Disc sales helped offset the effects of the unstable U.S. economy. For the first three months of 2008, however, consumer spending on rentals and purchases of all home entertainment formats slipped just 0.3% to $5.6 billion, as the sell-through business edged up 0.5% to $3.5 billion, while rental fell 1.1% to $2.1 billion.
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Sonic Solutions builds better BD Live development tools
APRIL 17 | Sonic Solutions has added new BD Live capabilities to its Scenarist Blu-ray authoring platform. The company promises that the Scenarist upgrade will streamline the creation of Web-enabled BD Live features, because developers can more efficiently build interactivity.
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Universal goes Blu with Mummy franchise
APRIL 17 | Months after putting its support firmly behind Blu-ray Disc, Universal Studios Home Entertainment announced a broad slate of releases to mark its debut on the format, starting with The Mummy franchise this summer. The Mummy (pictured), The Mummy Returns and spin-off The Scorpion King will debut on Blu-ray July 22, weeks before the sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor hits theaters Aug. 1.
Click for Full Story
Fox offers Juno day-and-date on iTunes
APRIL 15 | In a first for the studio, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is offering Juno for sale on Apple iTunes today, the same day as the movie bows on DVD. Juno can be downloaded for $14.99 through the iTunes service. Also, a second Juno soundtrack release, Juno B-Sides Almost Adopted Songs, is now exclusively available for download at iTunes for $9.99. Starting May 14, people will be able to rent Juno on iTunes.
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Wii on top in March console sales
APRIL 17 | The Nintendo Wii led the way in ongoing videogame momentum in March, according to the NPD Group. For the month, the Wii sold 721,000 units, easily trouncing next-generation rivals the Xbox 360 at 262,000 units sold and PlayStation 3 at 257,000 units sold.
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GTA IV likely to break games record
APRIL 17 | Grand Theft Auto IV, the action-adventure videogame from Take-Two Interactive Software’s Rockstar Games that takes place in that fictional locale, is expected to set records for both opening week and all-time sales when it’s released to the public April 29.
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Vivendi-Activision deal gets EU nod
APRIL 17 | FROM VARIETY: PARIS—The EU’s regulatory body, the European Commission, gave the go-ahead on Wednesday (April 16) for the merger of Vivendi’s games unit with California-based game developer Activision.
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NFL DVD to include Madden preview
APRIL 16 | Warner Home Video will include a demo of Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 09 on a DVD of National Football League highlights to be released July 22, marking the first time the Time Warner unit will cross-promote a videogame on its DVD.
Click for Full Story
PlayStation Store relaunches with game downloads, Blu-ray trailers
APRIL 15 | Sony Computer Entertainment has relaunched its PlayStation Store, promising quicker access to game downloads and Blu-ray Disc trailers for PS3 users. Currently, 3.6 million people in North America have registered accounts with the PlayStation Store, and 66 million pieces of content have been downloaded to date.
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Hewlett-Packard connects TV to Internet
APRIL 17 | Hewlett-Packard became the latest company to connect the TV to the Internet, announcing today that its MediaSmart TVs now have Microsoft’s Media Center Extender capability to allow consumers to download movies directly to their TV.
Click for Full Story
Starbucks, iTunes offer free song, music video downloads
APRIL 15 | Starbucks and iTunes are launching a new music and video recommendations program that involves giving away free downloads of songs and music videos.
Click for Full Story
Fox offers Juno day-and-date on iTunes
APRIL 15 | In a first for the studio, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is offering Juno for sale on Apple iTunes today, the same day as the movie bows on DVD. Juno can be downloaded for $14.99 through the iTunes service. Also, a second Juno soundtrack release, Juno B-Sides Almost Adopted Songs, is now exclusively available for download at iTunes for $9.99. Starting May 14, people will be able to rent Juno on iTunes.
Click for Full Story
CinemaNow, Technicolor open download business to all retailers
APRIL 15 | Movie downloader CinemaNow and Technicolor are partnering to provide content and technology solutions to enable other retailers to get into the business of digital delivery.
Click for Full Story
MPA backs legal download site
APRIL 15 | FROM VARIETY: AUCKLAND—The Motion Picture Assn. is keen to establish a New Zealand movie download Web site, allowing locals to download movies legally and so cut Internet piracy.
Click for Full Story
High-def VOD could add $5 billion to home entertainment pie
APRIL 14 | Shutting the window between DVD and video-on-demand and raising the price on high-definition VOD movies could boost consumer home video spending by $5 billion or more annually, according to a new study from international strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
Click for Full Story
Hewlett-Packard connects TV to Internet
APRIL 17 | Hewlett-Packard became the latest company to connect the TV to the Internet, announcing today that its MediaSmart TVs now have Microsoft’s Media Center Extender capability to allow consumers to download movies directly to their TV.
Click for Full Story
NAB 2008: Kilar hints at Hulu mobile
APRIL 17 | FROM BROADCASTING & CABLE: LAS VEGAS -- Hulu CEO Jason Kilar hinted that the video site co-founded by NBC Universal and News Corp. could find its way to other platforms, saying that many of them, such as mobile phones, would be "ripe for the Hulu experience."
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Comcast proposes 'P2P Bill of Rights'
APRIL 16 | FROM MULTICHANNEL NEWS: Comcast is looking to further position itself as proactively—and responsibly—addressing the issue of managing peer-to-peer traffic that traverses its network, announcing Tuesday it will lead an industry-wide effort to create a “P2P Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” for users and Internet service providers.
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CinemaNow, Technicolor open download business to all retailers
APRIL 15 | Movie downloader CinemaNow and Technicolor are partnering to provide content and technology solutions to enable other retailers to get into the business of digital delivery.
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NAB focus on 3D
APRIL 15 | FROM VARIETY: The Monday at the NAB Content Theater was devoted to 3D case studies and demonstrations, and technology partners DreamWorks Animation and Hewlett-Packard got into the act in a separate presentation.
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High-def VOD could add $5 billion to home entertainment pie
APRIL 14 | Shutting the window between DVD and video-on-demand and raising the price on high-definition VOD movies could boost consumer home video spending by $5 billion or more annually, according to a new study from international strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
Click for Full Story
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