AS DVD SALES SINK, SO DO ACTORS’ SALARIES

If movie stars are no longer able to command fees of tens of millions of dollars from studios, they can blame the slump in DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales, Viacom chief Philippe Dauman indicated on Wednesday. Speaking at an investors conference in New York, Dauman said that while revenue from digital platforms has helped to […]

ANIMATED FILMS TOP DVD SALES CHART

Two animated family films topped the weekly Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart last week. Warners Happy Feet Two and Paramount/DreamWorks The Adventures of Tintin are looking to overcome their mediocre showing theatrically. The Happy Feet sequel earned just $64 million in theaters; Tintin, just $77.6 million. Debuting in third place was 20th Century Fox’s […]

APES RISE AGAIN ON DVD, BLU-RAY

Rise of the Planet of the Apes rose again to the top of the DVD sales charts last week, according to Nielsen VideoScan First Alert. Disney/DreamWorks’ The Help placed second on the list, followed by Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2. None of these had any significant competition from Final […]

SALES SLIDE FOR KUNG FU PANDA 2 AND OTHER DVD’S

Time was when animated movies accounted for a huge percentage of DVD sales. After all, children never seem to tire of playing the same movie multiple times. But now they can do so without touching a disc — if their parents subscribe to an online rental site like Netflix, which allows kids to watch the […]

KATZENBERG SAYS SOME “SUCCESSFUL” FILMS AREN’T

While several media writers have written about how strongly animated feature films have been performing at the box office this year, DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg begs to differ. In a conference call following the release of first quarter financial results, Katzenberg remarked that some animated movies released this year have performed poorly, even though […]

DRAGON LIFTS DREAMWORKS’S EARNINGS

“In 2010, DreamWorks Animation became the first studio to release three feature-length CG animated films in a single year,” CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg observed during a conference call on Thursday. “How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After and Megamind together grossed approximately $1.6 billion worldwide — the company’s biggest year ever at the box office,” […]

PARAMOUNT TICKET SALES UP, DVD SALES WAY DOWN

Paramount had what can only be described as a sensational fourth quarter at the box office, with such hits as True Grit, Little Fockers, Megamind, and The Fighter boosting the studio’s revenue fourfold over the same period a year ago to $416 million. But it all amounted to little as revenue from DVD and Blu-ray […]

TOP DVD SELLER IS NOT A MOVIE

Movies took a backseat to television at the DVD counters of retail stores last week as the Season 2 set of HBO’s True Blood topped the sales charts in its debut, edging out the romantic drama Dear John, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, which became a surprise hit in theaters earlier this year, Home […]

DVD RENTALS RISE; SALES DECLINE

Home video rentals outpaced sales again during February, the research firm Centris said in a report on Monday. Centris, which calls itself a “market intelligence” company, said that 35.9 million households rented a new release during the month, versus 31.2 million that bought one. The report also noted that 18.3 million households rented a movie […]