11 million units in Pirates' treasure chest
Buena Vista says 90% of first-week sales are DVD.
By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 12/9/2003
DEC. 9 | Buena Vista Home Entertainment found its booty with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which sold 11 million video units--an overwhelming 90% on DVD--during its first week in stores.
Consumers are estimated to have spent more than $187 million on the video release since it arrived Dec. 2, according to VB estimates.
Buena Vista said the Johnny Depp starrer has sold more units in its first week than any other live-action title in history. Animated hit Monsters, Inc., also from Buena Vista, sold 11 million units in its first week in September. Another BV title, The Lion King, sold a record 20 million VHS copies in its first week in 1995.
Nearly 10 million Pirates units sold were DVD, said BVHE president Robert Chapek, beating the studio's own expectations of an 85% DVD split. "Consumers are voting with their dollars and they're voting for DVD," he said.
Pirates has quickly become the second best-selling DVD this quarter behind Buena Vista's own Finding Nemo, which the studio said sold 17 million videos (14 million DVDs) in its first week.
"It really shows what great movies our studios have put out this year," Chapek said.
Buena Vista shipped 16.5 million units of Pirates and has since shipped another 4 million units to stores. Chapek said BVHE had extra copies replicated that could be quickly shipped out in case the title sold out at stores, as Nemo did. "We were able to keep it in stock. We were very aggressive in terms of our initial shipment," he said.
With the holiday shopping season in high gear, strong sales are expected through the quarter. "Every indication is this thing is not slowing down much," Chapek said.
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