Twilight year's best-selling DVD so far

Twilight year's best-selling DVD so far
Summit movie sold 5.6 million units, including Blu-ray, in first nine days
By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 3/30/2009

MARCH 30 | Summit Home Entertainment’s Twilight sold 5.2 million DVD and Blu-ray Disc units in its first week on shelves to become the top seller of the year so far.

Summit said consumers purchased 5.2 million copies of the modern vampire tale in the U.S. during in the first week following the title's midnight release on Saturday, March 21. Including last weekend, the title’s nine-day take was 5.6 million units, according to Summit.

A common yardstick used by studios is 20,000 units in first-week sales per $1 million at the box office, which would put the expectation for Twilight, with a $191 million box-office take, at 3.8 million units sold in its first week. At 5.2 million units, Twilight performed more like a $260 million theatrical release.

Summit’s home entertainment chief, Steve Nickerson, attributed the title’s success in large part to its Saturday release, noting that many retailers would not have staged midnight parties for a standard Tuesday release. “These [fan] girls would rather have a community event,” said Nickerson. “All we did was help facilitate what the fans would want.”

The title sold less than 5% of its units on Blu-ray, Summit said, pointing to the movie's overwhelming appeal to females. The majority of the audience for Blu-ray is still male. However, the Blu-ray version of Twilight was only available at Target and Best Buy.

About 5,800 stores nationwide—spanning Blockbuster, Borders, Hot Topic, F.Y.E., Hastings Entertainment and Wal-Mart—stayed open past midnight on Saturday, March 21, to sell Twilight as soon as it became available.

Cast members made appearances at some stores, with 2,500 fans showing up in Salt Lake City to see Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria) at a Wal-Mart; 2,000 people in Los Angeles to see Ashley Greene (Alice) at Hot Topic; and more than 1,000 fans in Dallas for director Catherine Hardwicke at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart set a companywide single-day DVD sales record, with some of its stores' release parties attracting more than 1,000 Twilight fans, according to a spokeswoman. The mass merchant also said the $191 million U.S. box-office hit represented its largest consumer pre-order ever. Wal-Mart is the exclusive sell-through retailer for the single-DVD, which it priced at $17. The retailer staged midnight events in about 2,400 stores, with an exclusive fan greeting filmed on the set of Twilight’s sequel, New Moon, broadcast exclusively through its in-store TV network.

Summit said Twilight’s 3.1 million-unit first-day sales ranked it among the Top 5 best first-day DVD releases over the past two years, along with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End; Warner Home Video’s The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; and Paramount Home Entertainment’s Transformers. Each of those titles had box-office grosses 50% to almost 200% more than Twilight.

 

 

 

   

Kelly Clarkson Holds At No. 1, While 'Twilight' Bites Back
March 25, 2009

KELLY CLARKSON

Editor: Keith Caulfield; Contributors: Gary Trust, Alex Vitoulis; Editorial Director: Silvio Pietroluongo

Kelly Clarkson's "All I Ever Wanted" stays put at No. 1 for a second week on the Billboard 200 while the chart's top debut comes from Gorilla Zoe's "Don't Feed Da Animals" at No. 8 . . . The "Twilight" soundtrack storms back into the top three after it was reissued last week on the eve of the film's DVD release . . . Next week's Billboard 200 should perk up with a flurry of big names, including new efforts from Martina McBride and Mastodon, and the "Hannah Montana" movie soundtrack . . . In Progress Reports, we've got news on the Pussycat Dolls, Brad Paisley and Soulja Boy Tell'em.


FLASH POINTS

• It's a hold-steady kind of week on the Billboard 200 as Kelly Clarkson's "All I Ever Wanted" remains at No. 1 for a second frame, shifting 90,000 (down 65%). U2's "No Line on the Horizon" moves up one slot to No. 2 with 76,000 (down 42%) while the-Dream's "Love Vs. Money" slides down two positions to No. 4 with 56,000 (down 63%) in its second week.

• The "Twilight" soundtrack rebounds to No. 3 with 74,000 (up 251%) after the set was relaunched March 17 with five bonus tracks and a DVD with interviews and music videos. The timing of the reissue coincides with the DVD bow of the hit film on Saturday, March 21. Summit Home Entertainment, which released the "Twilight" DVD, announced that it sold 3 million copies of the movie in its first day of release.

• The chart's highest debut comes from rapper Gorilla Zoe, who enters with his sophomore set, "Don't Feed Da Animals," at No. 8 with 31,000. The Block/Bad Boy South artist's first effort, 2007's "Welcome to the Zoo," debuted and peaked at No. 18 with a 35,000 entrance. Over on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, "Animals" starts at No. 2, giving the rapper his second top 10 on that list.

• The Decemberists' "The Hazards of Love" starts at No. 14 with 19,000 following its early exclusive release through iTunes and on 180-gram vinyl in select indie stores. Yesterday (March 24) the set became available in all standard physical and digital formats.

• After a slow week on the chart in terms of new releases, next week's tally should bring an influx of fresh blood. Among the albums looking to make grand entrances: the soundtrack to the "Hannah Montana" movie, Martina McBride's "Shine," Mastodon's "Crack the Skye" and the "Now 30" compilation. On the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart, we'll see the arrival of Sony Legacy's lavish reissue of Pearl Jam's 1991 debut, "Ten."

The Billboard 200 Sales data provided and compiled from Nielsen SoundScan
1	1	KELLY CLARKSON All I Ever Wanted (S / 19 / RCA / Sony Music)	*11	New	TWIZTID W.I.C.K.E.D. (Psychopathic )
2	3	U2 No Line On The Horizon (Island / Interscope / IGA)	12	13	T.I. Paper Trail (Grand Hustle / Atlantic / AG)
*3	14	SOUNDTRACK Twilight (Summit / Chop Shop / Atlantic / AG)	13	11	THE FRAY The Fray (Epic / Sony Music)
4	2	THE-DREAM Love VS Money (Radio Killa / Def Jam / IDJMG)	*14	New	THE DECEMBERISTS The Hazards Of Love (Capitol )
*5	6	LADY GAGA The Fame (Streamline / KonLive / Cherrytree / Interscope / IGA)	*15	42	CARRIE UNDERWOOD Carnival Ride (19 / Arista Nashville / SMN)
6	5	TAYLOR SWIFT Fearless (Big Machine )	*16	New	STATIC-X Cult Of Static (Reprise / Warner Bros.)
7	7	NICKELBACK Dark Horse (Roadrunner )	17	18	KINGS OF LEON Only By The Night (RCA / RMG)
*8	New	GORILLA ZOE Don't Feed Da Animals (Block / Bad Boy South / Bad Boy / AG)	18	16	KANYE WEST 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam / IDJMG)
9	8	BEYONCE I Am...Sasha Fierce (Music World / Columbia / Sony Music)	19	21	JASON MRAZ We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (Atlantic / AG)
10	9	JAMIE FOXX Intuition (J / RMG)	20	4	J. HOLIDAY Round 2 (Music Line / Capitol)
* indicates titles with greatest sales gains this week