The top news and charts for week ending January 21, 2008.
ITunes adds movie rentals in PPV window Retailers adjust high-def space Videogames lift 43% in 2007 |
Porchlight Playdates At the Golden Globes’ Boom Boom Room at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, Calif., on Jan. 11-12, Carnie Wilson (2nd from l.) enjoyed her gift bag with The Little Playdates Company’s Trent Pettry and JoAnne Pettry (2nd from r.) and National Autism Assn.’s Wendy Fournier. Click for more industry photos. |
"3:10 TO YUMA" leads Top DVD Renters Chart "3:10 TO YUMA" leads Top DVD Sellers Chart "THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" leads Top HD DVD Sellers Chart "3:10 TO YUMA" leads Top Blu-ray Sellers Chart |
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SWEETING: Ripe or rotten? |
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BETWEEN THE LINES: Revenue sharing all over again? |
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RED STATE, BLUE STATE: If you build bonus features, some say they will come |
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DISC DISH: Enchanted DVD, Blu-ray |
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DVDIALOG: Ain’t no Sunshine when she’s gone |
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THE DOWN LOW: Online video rises, Google floats highest |
Retailers adjust high-def space
JAN. 18 | Following Warner Bros. Entertainment’s decision to support Blu-ray Disc exclusively, some key retailers are adjusting how they merchandise high-definition discs.
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Movies Unlimited celebrates 30 years
JAN. 18 | Philadelphia-based Movies Unlimited is marking three decades in business with the publication of its 30th anniversary catalog. The 2008 Movies Unlimited DVD Catalog, an 800-page volume, sells for $9.95 on the retailer’s Web site (www.moviesunlimited.com).
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Trans World closes distribution facility
JAN. 18 | After reporting unexpected 2007 year losses, Trans World Entertainment will shut its North Canton, Ohio, distribution center in order to streamline operations.
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NARM to honor Navarre’s Paulson
JAN. 17 | Eric Paulson, founder and executive chairman of Navarre Corp., will receive the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers’ Presidential Award for Sustained Executive Achievement.
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Yuma sells 3 million on DVD, Blu-ray
JAN. 17 | Outlaw western 3:10 to Yuma sold 3 million copies on DVD and Blu-ray discs in the U.S. and Canada in its first week of release, according to Lionsgate. The studio, which prides itself on its box office-to-DVD conversion rate, said the movie outsold films with two to three times its box office. The sales figure includes units shipped for rental.
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Circuit City names COO, makes other changes
JAN. 17 | FROM TWICE: John T. Harlow has joined Circuit City Stores as its executive VP and chief operating officer.
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Globe winners, nominees promoted despite lack of show
JAN. 16 | The show didn’t go on, but retailers are treating Golden Globe nominees and winners as they normally would, singling them out with signage as they street on DVD.
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Blockbuster stock drops, rebounds on Apple news
JAN. 16 | While the U.S. stock markets experienced a broad sell-off Tuesday, Blockbuster fell particular far, dropping 17%, on news that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had just unveiled a movie rental service on iTunes.
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Italy’s home video market up in 2007
JAN. 16 | FROM VARIETY: ROME— Italy’s 2007 sell-through home video market was worth $600 million, up 2.1% from 2006.
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Borders gets exclusive lease on Life
JAN. 14 | In one of its first DVD ‘gets’, Borders will be exclusively selling the first season of This American Life. For six months, Borders will be the only retailer offering the title, which is priced at $19.99.
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Wal-Mart looking at net video do-over
JAN. 14 | FROM MULTICHANNEL NEWS: Wal-Mart Stores, after shuttering its initial paid video-download service in December after less than a year in business, appears to be actively looking to restart a similar service on its own.
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Netflix reduces Instant Watch restrictions
JAN. 14 | Netflix tried to get a jump on Apple’s expected announcement about rental downloads by lifting time restrictions for its Instant Watching feature, which streams TV and movie content from the Netflix Web site directly onto a Windows-based PC.
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Best Buy posts sluggish December comps
JAN. 14 | FROM TWICE: Best Buy’s same-store sales rose 3% on an adjusted basis company-wide during the critical five-week period ended Jan. 5, and increased a modest 2.1% in its U.S. stores due to comparable-store sales declines from custom install services, extended warranty attachments and sales of MP3 players and projection TVs.
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Consumers download NBC Universal shows at CES
JAN. 18 | Over the course of the Jan. 7-10 CES show, attendees downloaded more than 10,000 NBC Universal programs onto SanDisk flash drives from Mediaport kiosks as part of a partnership.
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Industry reacts to DGA deal
JAN. 18 | FROM VARIETY: A strike-weary industry greeted the tentative agreement between the DGA and AMPTP with a sense of relief, coupled with residual apprehension over whether the gains will be enough to get writers out from under picket signs and back behind keyboards.
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Directors, producers make deal that includes downloads
JAN. 18 | FROM VARIETY: The Directors Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Televisoin Producers signed a deal that gives helmers jurisdiction over all but the most low-end Internet production, a toehold in Internet streaming that could prove lucrative for popular skeins and, most significantly, a residual formula for paid downloads based on distributors' gross, rather than the hated producers' gross formula that has long been applied to home video.
Click for Full Story
Yuma sells 3 million on DVD, Blu-ray
JAN. 17 | Outlaw western 3:10 to Yuma sold 3 million copies on DVD and Blu-ray discs in the U.S. and Canada in its first week of release, according to Lionsgate. The studio, which prides itself on its box office-to-DVD conversion rate, said the movie outsold films with two to three times its box office. The sales figure includes units shipped for rental.
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Koch to handle International Media distribution
JAN. 17 | Koch Entertainment Distribution signed an exclusive deal to distribute DVDs from International Media, a new company formed by former PBS VP of programming Gustavo Sagastume, who serves as International Media’s president and CEO.
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Sundance offers contest shorts on Web
JAN. 16 | Organizers of the Sundance Film Festival will make its program of short films available for limited free viewing on the Sundance Web site and for sale through iTunes, Netflix and Xbox Live Marketplace.
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Piracy hits DVD sales in France
JAN. 16 | FROM VARIETY: PARIS— DVD sales have fallen for the third consecutive year in France, according to preliminary data released by the French Digital Video Federation. Federation general director Jean-Yves Mirski says, "piracy is the main reason."
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Fox decodes Apple DRM for DVD downloadable copies
JAN. 15 | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will be significantly expanding its slate of releases embedded with digital copies, after securing the ability to use Apple’s digital rights management technology. The first titles are Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest (pictured), which streeted today, and the upcoming action feature Hitman on March 11.
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Image, BTP merger deadline extended
JAN. 14 | Image Entertainment and BTP Acquisition Company have again extended the deadline to finalize their merger to Feb. 1.
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Chinese sites take piracy stand
JAN. 14 | FROM VARIETY: BEIJING— Some 50 Chinese web sites, including China.com.cn, People.com.cn and 163.com, have agreed to stop providing access to pirated movies.
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Paramount unveils new structure
JAN. 14 | FROM VARIETY: Confirming what had been one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood, Paramount Pictures unveiled Friday a new structure that ups John Lesher to president of Paramount Film Group. Also earning a promotion is Rob Moore, who had been president of worldwide marketing, distribution and home entertainment.
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Directors Guild ‘shouting’ for pact
JAN. 14 | FROM VARIETY: Showbiz insiders were hopeful at the prospect that the Directors Guild of America could reach a tentative contract pact with the majors as early as this week, after DGA leaders spent Saturday and Sunday in formal contract negotiations with reps for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
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Bucket List tops box office
JAN. 14 | FROM VARIETY: Hollywood skipped the red carpet Sunday, but star power still drove the B.O., with Jack Nicholson-Morgan Freeman starrer The Bucket List (pictured) winning the weekend. With an estimated bow of $19.5 million, Warner Bros.’ road-trip laffer narrowly edged Sony/Screen Gems’ First Sunday, which reported $19 million.
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Atonement, Sweeney win Globes
JAN. 14 | FROM VARIETY: Two films that twist their genres, the period romance Atonement and Tim Burton’s adaptation of the murderous musical Sweeney Todd, were named the top movies of 2007 at the odd and quickly executed 65th annual Golden Globes "ceremony" Sunday.
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Retailers adjust high-def space
JAN. 18 | Following Warner Bros. Entertainment’s decision to support Blu-ray Disc exclusively, some key retailers are adjusting how they merchandise high-definition discs.
Click for Full Story
Yuma sells 3 million on DVD, Blu-ray
JAN. 17 | Outlaw western 3:10 to Yuma sold 3 million copies on DVD and Blu-ray discs in the U.S. and Canada in its first week of release, according to Lionsgate. The studio, which prides itself on its box office-to-DVD conversion rate, said the movie outsold films with two to three times its box office. The sales figure includes units shipped for rental.
Click for Full Story
Toshiba plans big HD DVD marketing campaign
JAN. 14 | Toshiba is launching a massive marketing campaign for its HD DVD hardware, including granting $150 to $200 price chops on players.
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Videogames lift 43% in 2007
JAN. 17 | Driven by consumer demand for advanced consoles, videogame software and hardware achieved record sales of $17.94 billion in 2007, according to the NPD Group. That haul represents a 43% jump over 2006. Overall software sales lifted 34% to $8.64 billion. This category was boosted by the year’s best-performing title, Halo 3.
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GameStop reports record holiday sales
JAN. 14 | FROM TWICE: GameStop, the world’s largest videogame specialty chain, reported a record holiday period, with net sales rising 34.7% to $2.3 billion and comp-store sales growing 20% for the nine weeks ended Jan. 5.
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Sony to focus on 40GB PS3 in Japan
JAN. 14 | FROM VARIETY: Sony will stop selling two PlayStation 3 models—the 20GB and 60GB—in Japan at the end of the month to concentrate on the 40GB console.
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Rental downloads more popular than sell-through
JAN. 18 | With its move into the movie rental business this week, Apple became the latest digital player to acknowledge that the download-to-own movie business, as currently executed, isn’t catching on with consumers.
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ITunes adds movie rentals in PPV window
JAN. 15 | UPDATED: Apple is offering movie rentals over iTunes in the pay-per-view window and is retooling Apple TV to allow users to rent titles directly from their TV in high-definition.
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Directors, producers make deal that includes downloads
JAN. 18 | FROM VARIETY: The Directors Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Televisoin Producers signed a deal that gives helmers jurisdiction over all but the most low-end Internet production, a toehold in Internet streaming that could prove lucrative for popular skeins and, most significantly, a residual formula for paid downloads based on distributors' gross, rather than the hated producers' gross formula that has long been applied to home video.
Click for Full Story
PBS expands YouTube presence
JAN. 17 | FROM BROADCASTING & CABLE: PBS is expanding its program postings on YouTube, including a lot more of them, longer clips, more off-PBS clips from shows before they even get on PBS and more Web-only content.
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TiVo pacts with online indie distrib
JAN. 17 | FROM VARIETY: Online entertainment authority the Internet Movie Database, a subsid of Amazon.com, has agreed to acquire Without a Box, an 8-year-old Los Angeles Web-based media shop focused on the indie film biz, and TiVo has paired up with Jaman.com.
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Sundance offers contest shorts on Web
JAN. 16 | Organizers of the Sundance Film Festival will make its program of short films available for limited free viewing on the Sundance Web site and for sale through iTunes, Netflix and Xbox Live Marketplace.
Click for Full Story
Fox decodes Apple DRM for DVD downloadable copies
JAN. 15 | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will be significantly expanding its slate of releases embedded with digital copies, after securing the ability to use Apple’s digital rights management technology. The first titles are Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest (pictured), which streeted today, and the upcoming action feature Hitman on March 11.
Click for Full Story
IFC adds VOD label
JAN. 15 | FROM VARIETY: IFC, already known for its video-on-demand offerings, is adding another VOD label to expose lesser-known festival titles to cable TV households. Festival Direct debuts Feb. 29 with five titles.
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Wal-Mart looking at net video do-over
JAN. 14 | FROM MULTICHANNEL NEWS: Wal-Mart Stores, after shuttering its initial paid video-download service in December after less than a year in business, appears to be actively looking to restart a similar service on its own.
Click for Full Story
Netflix reduces Instant Watch restrictions
JAN. 14 | Netflix tried to get a jump on Apple’s expected announcement about rental downloads by lifting time restrictions for its Instant Watching feature, which streams TV and movie content from the Netflix Web site directly onto a Windows-based PC.
Click for Full Story
Consumers download NBC Universal shows at CES
JAN. 18 | Over the course of the Jan. 7-10 CES show, attendees downloaded more than 10,000 NBC Universal programs onto SanDisk flash drives from Mediaport kiosks as part of a partnership.
Click for Full Story
Fox decodes Apple DRM for DVD downloadable copies
JAN. 15 | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will be significantly expanding its slate of releases embedded with digital copies, after securing the ability to use Apple’s digital rights management technology. The first titles are Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest (pictured), which streeted today, and the upcoming action feature Hitman on March 11.
Click for Full Story
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