DVD premieres bring it on

Universal franchise extensions score at retail

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 8/18/2006

AUG. 18 | Universal Studios Home Entertainment is using the performance of Bring It On: All or Nothing as evidence of consumers’ appetite for DVD premiere franchise extensions.

It’s a premise other studios eager to build their DVD premiere businesses are happy to support.

Universal said it sold through 750,000 units of the direct-to-DVD cheerleading comedy, representing $12 million in revenue, in its first week in stores. Roughly 75% of sales were to consumers; the rest were rental units.

“It’s a beloved franchise,” USHE president Craig Kornblau said. “Consumers love these movies as long as we hit the bulls-eye on what they’re looking for.”

The studio is already working on a fourth installment in the Bring It On series.

The third release in the franchise, All or Nothing sold 50% more units its first week out than sophomore effort Bring It On Again did following its 2004 release, the studio said. The series started with 2000 theatrical Bring It On, starring Kirsten Dunst.

Kornblau said marketing budgets on the two sequels were comparable but attributed the increased sales on the latest release to consumers’ appetite for more.

“This has a fan base of consumers that are looking for more,” he said. “For us, our challenge is coming up with making another movie true to the essence of the franchise.”

The title fell short of the 1 million DVDs of American Pie Presents: Band Camp that Universal sold through for the first week of its debut in December. Universal will release its next original, American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile, at the end of this year.

Sell-through retailers, who in the past saw DVD premieres primarily as rental inventory, also have become more accepting of direct-to-DVD releases since Universal put out Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power last year, Kornblau said.

Almost all major studios have increased their focus on DVD premieres over the past year. Warner Home Video and Sony Pictures Television have launched their own DVD premiere efforts. Paramount Home Entertainment launched a DVD premiere division last fall, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has tripled its DVD premiere output this year following its success with The Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin—The Untold Story, which was the top-selling DVD premiere title in 2005.

Warner DVD premiere Rest Stop, due Oct. 17 on the Raw Feed label, “is getting placement that is typically reserved for theatrical titles that generate $30 million at the box office,” said Jeff Baker, Warner’s senior VP and general manager of theatrical catalog. “For a direct-to-video film, that is quite unusual.”

Retailers are expected to build Warner-branded displays featuring Rest Stop and other studio catalog horror titles.

“If you ask a retailer what the biggest concern is as it relates to DVD, they say that the big hits are few and far between,” Baker said. “Retailers want something exciting for the other months. Made-for-video has really filled in a gap.”

Susanne Ault contributed to this report