HD DVD titles build their track records

New releases outperforming catalog titles

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 6/30/2006

JUNE 30 | With HD DVD movies on sale for more than a month, retailers are beginning to identify strong performers—and deciding what to stay away from in the future.

• Trans World and DVDEmpire.com have sold through initial orders of Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Serenity and Doom HD DVD titles.

• Tweeter singled out Warner Home Video’s The Last Samurai as its top performer, selling about 200 units through its 153 stores. On average, Tweeter is selling 75 units of each HD DVD title. The electronics specialist is planning to order lightly on catalog titles going forward.

• At Walmart.com, some of the titles that have been in stock longest have generated the most activity: The site’s strongest HD DVD titles include Warner’s three April releases The Last Samurai, Million Dollar Baby and The Phantom of the Opera, said spokeswoman Amy Colella.

• Yet titles deemed quickest out of the gate on street are mainly studios’ day-and-date releases. Case in point: Warner’s 16 Blocks and Syriana, whose standard-definition and HD DVD versions debuted simultaneously on June 13 and June 20, respectively.

After one week, “Syriana sales are double that of [May Warner titles] Blazing Saddles and Goodfellows,” said Mike Barry, director of business development at DVDEmpire. “The newer titles are doing better, as opposed to catalog titles.”

• Titles with HD DVD unique bonus features also are showing promise. At DVDEmpire, Universal’s The Bourne Supremacy and Warner’s Constantine are both nearing first order sell-through.

Warner declined to specify HD DVD unit sales figures.

“All of the titles that we have released to date on HD DVD are doing well and have met or exceeded expectations,” the studio’s senior VP of market management Steve Nickerson said.

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