The top news and charts for week ending May 26, 2008.
Electronics specialists expect Blu-ray to outpace DVD Malugen out as Movie Gallery emerges from Chapter 11 Borders, Target give Blu-ray a bigger footprint Flexplay disposable DVD revived at Staples |
Treasure on Venice Beach A replica of Mt. Rushmore was built on Venice Beach in Venice, Calif., to celebrate Disney’s DVD release of National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. Sand sculptor Todd Vander Pluym used more than 400,000 pounds of sand to replicate the American monument of the four U.S. presidents. Click for more industry photos. |
"UNTRACEABLE" leads Top DVD Renters Chart "INDIANA JONES: ADVENTURE COLLECTION" leads Top DVD Sellers Chart "THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA" leads Top Blu-ray Sellers Chart |
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SWEETING: High-def hurry |
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RED STATE, BLUE STATE: Wal-Mart pushes upgrade |
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DISC DISH: Drillbit Taylor DVD, Blu-ray |
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DVDIALOG: Dead ahead with George Romaro |
Flexplay disposable DVD revived at Staples
MAY 23 | Staples will begin selling disposable discs from Atlanta-based Flexplay Technologies in its 2,000 stores across the country beginning in mid-June. Flexplay has deals with Warner Home Video, New Line Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment and DreamWorks to sell new release movies.
Click for Full Story
Electronics specialists expect Blu-ray to outpace DVD sales
MAY 23 | High-end consumer electronics retailers expect set-top Blu-ray players to begin outselling DVD players by August, as a wave of new models eases current supply problems.
Click for Full Story
Borders, Target give Blu-ray a bigger footprint
MAY 23 | Borders and Target are among retailers markedly ramping up promotion and merchandising of the Blu-ray Disc format.
Click for Full Story
Vudu casts boxes onto Best Buy shelves
MAY 22 | Vudu has scored shelf space at two dozen Best Buy California outlets, marking the fledgling product’s first distribution in bricks-and-mortar stores. Since its fall 2007 launch, the device that beams films directly to TV sets without the use of a computer has been limited to such online retailers as its own Vudu.com Web site and Amazon.com.
Click for Full Story
Trans World still spinning losses; but games, DVD are strong
MAY 22 | Trans World Entertainment reported wider losses in its first-quarter fiscal 2008, despite strong videogame sales and positive DVD comps boosted by Blu-ray. In a Thursday call with analysts, Trans World blamed most of its weak results on industry-wide music declines.
Click for Full Story
GameStop Q1 profit jumps on GTA, Smash Bros.
MAY 22 | GameStop’s fiscal first-quarter earnings more than doubled on record sales of Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto IV and demand for Nintendo game titles such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Click for Full Story
Keyes and Dunn will lead Blu-ray session at Home Media Expo
MAY 21 | Blockbuster chairman and CEO Jim Keyes and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn will lead the opening session of Home Media Expo 2008 on June 24 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
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MOD Systems joins DEG trade group
MAY 21 | MOD Systems joined trade organization Digital Entertainment Group to align itself with the studios’ home-entertainment units as it plans to roll out its on-demand DVD software in kiosks nationwide.
Click for Full Story
HP running family-friendly download stores
MAY 21 | Hewlett-Packard, which folded the movie download store it ran for Wal-Mart in December, is getting back into the business, this time partnering with The Parent Teachers Assn. and the Boys and Girls Club of America to launch kid-friendly online video stores.
Click for Full Story
Malugen out as Movie Gallery emerges from Chapter 11
MAY 20 | Movie Gallery said Tuesday that it has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Co-founder Joe Malugen is out as chairman, CEO and president, and is being replaced by two executives.
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Redbox brings on ex-JetBlue CFO
MAY 20 | Redbox, the largest U.S. movie-rental kiosk maker, said today that it named former JetBlue Airways chief financial officer John Harvey as its financial chief as the company prepares for an initial public offering.
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Top 100 CE Retailers’ sales hit $125 billion
MAY 20 | FROM TWICE: NEW YORK—It certainly wasn’t the best of times for CE retail last year—what with bankruptcies, restructurings, higher gas prices and the housing market meltdown—but it clearly wasn’t the worst either.
Click for Full Story
Netflix debuts new set-top player
MAY 20 | FROM CONTENT AGENDA: The first dedicated set-top box capable of displaying movies streamed from Netflix on a TV screen goes on sale Tuesday from the Netflix Web site. The $99 box is being sold by Roku, a privately held, Saratoga, Calif.-based maker of digital music players and other consumer devices.
Click for Full Story
Hastings posts strong Q1 on videogame sales, rentals
MAY 19 | Videogames powered earnings growth for Hastings Entertainment in its fiscal first quarter 2008. Hastings posted $3 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, in net income for the three months ended April 30, marking a 20% jump from the comparable 2007 period.
Click for Full Story
VeggieTales franchise celebrates 15 years
MAY 23 | VeggieTales will celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2008 with a special-edition DVD re-release of Where’s God When I’m S-Scared, a live 10-week tour and two book titles, among other tie-ins.
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Studios get into action for Father’s Day
MAY 23 | Studios will be supporting the latest hardware wave with new BD titles, many of which will be marketed around Father’s Day on June 15.
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Image picks up three films at Cannes
MAY 21 | Image Entertainment has finalized three film distribution deals at Cannes, underscoring its drive to acquire high-profile features to turnaround its business.
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Legend to distribute Paramount DVD titles
MAY 20 | Independent distributor and film restorer Legend Films obtained the rights to release 32 Paramount Home Entertainment film titles on DVD, including movies starring Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen and Richard Pryor.
Click for Full Story
Report: Studios’ digital revenue will grow 15% a year
MAY 20 | Major studios’ worldwide revenue should rise about 20% over the next few years, due in some part to growing contributions from Blu-ray, according to a new Adams Media Research and Screen Digest study.
Click for Full Story
Prince wears box office crown
MAY 19 | VARIETY BOX-OFFICE REPORT: Disney sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian grossed an estimated $56 million from 3,929 theaters to easily win the weekend at the domestic box office in a strong, but not spectacular, start.
Click for Full Story
Electronics specialists expect Blu-ray to outpace DVD sales
MAY 23 | High-end consumer electronics retailers expect set-top Blu-ray players to begin outselling DVD players by August, as a wave of new models eases current supply problems.
Click for Full Story
Borders, Target give Blu-ray a bigger footprint
MAY 23 | Borders and Target are among retailers markedly ramping up promotion and merchandising of the Blu-ray Disc format.
Click for Full Story
Studios get into action for Father’s Day
MAY 23 | Studios will be supporting the latest hardware wave with new BD titles, many of which will be marketed around Father’s Day on June 15.
Click for Full Story
Flat-panel TVs to lead ’08 electronics growth
MAY 22 | Revenue growth in worldwide consumer electronics products will be led by demand for flat-panel TVs this year, U.K.-based research firm Understanding & Solutions said this week. Blu-ray player sales will continue to be an ancillary portion of home-entertainment revenue.
Click for Full Story
Trans World still spinning losses; but games, DVD are strong
MAY 22 | Trans World Entertainment reported wider losses in its first-quarter fiscal 2008, despite strong videogame sales and positive DVD comps boosted by Blu-ray. In a Thursday call with analysts, Trans World blamed most of its weak results on industry-wide music declines.
Click for Full Story
GameStop Q1 profit jumps on GTA, Smash Bros.
MAY 22 | GameStop’s fiscal first-quarter earnings more than doubled on record sales of Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto IV and demand for Nintendo game titles such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Click for Full Story
EA extends bid for Take-Two
MAY 19 | Electronic Arts today extended its two-month-old bid for rival games publisher Take-Two Interactive by a month, but the maker of the Grand Theft Auto series said the offer is still insufficient.
Click for Full Story
Hastings posts strong Q1 on videogame sales, rentals
MAY 19 | Videogames powered earnings growth for Hastings Entertainment in its fiscal first quarter 2008. Hastings posted $3 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, in net income for the three months ended April 30, marking a 20% jump from the comparable 2007 period.
Click for Full Story
Vudu casts boxes onto Best Buy shelves
MAY 22 | Vudu has scored shelf space at two dozen Best Buy California outlets, marking the fledgling product’s first distribution in bricks-and-mortar stores. Since its fall 2007 launch, the device that beams films directly to TV sets without the use of a computer has been limited to such online retailers as its own Vudu.com Web site and Amazon.com.
Click for Full Story
HP running family-friendly download stores
MAY 21 | Hewlett-Packard, which folded the movie download store it ran for Wal-Mart in December, is getting back into the business, this time partnering with The Parent Teachers Assn. and the Boys and Girls Club of America to launch kid-friendly online video stores.
Click for Full Story
Report: Studios’ digital revenue will grow 15% a year
MAY 20 | Major studios’ worldwide revenue should rise about 20% over the next few years, due in some part to growing contributions from Blu-ray, according to a new Adams Media Research and Screen Digest study.
Click for Full Story
Netflix debuts new set-top player
MAY 20 | FROM CONTENT AGENDA: The first dedicated set-top box capable of displaying movies streamed from Netflix on a TV screen goes on sale Tuesday from the Netflix Web site. The $99 box is being sold by Roku, a privately held, Saratoga, Calif.-based maker of digital music players and other consumer devices.
Click for Full Story
Flexplay disposable DVD revived at Staples
MAY 23 | Staples will begin selling disposable discs from Atlanta-based Flexplay Technologies in its 2,000 stores across the country beginning in mid-June. Flexplay has deals with Warner Home Video, New Line Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment and DreamWorks to sell new release movies.
Click for Full Story
Electronics specialists expect Blu-ray to outpace DVD sales
MAY 23 | High-end consumer electronics retailers expect set-top Blu-ray players to begin outselling DVD players by August, as a wave of new models eases current supply problems.
Click for Full Story
Flat-panel TVs to lead ’08 electronics growth
MAY 22 | Revenue growth in worldwide consumer electronics products will be led by demand for flat-panel TVs this year, U.K.-based research firm Understanding & Solutions said this week. Blu-ray player sales will continue to be an ancillary portion of home-entertainment revenue.
Click for Full Story
MOD Systems joins DEG trade group
MAY 21 | MOD Systems joined trade organization Digital Entertainment Group to align itself with the studios’ home-entertainment units as it plans to roll out its on-demand DVD software in kiosks nationwide.
Click for Full Story
Netflix debuts new set-top player
MAY 20 | FROM CONTENT AGENDA: The first dedicated set-top box capable of displaying movies streamed from Netflix on a TV screen goes on sale Tuesday from the Netflix Web site. The $99 box is being sold by Roku, a privately held, Saratoga, Calif.-based maker of digital music players and other consumer devices.
Click for Full Story
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