Best selling DVD from each studio?
 

I'm just curious to know if anyone happens to have stats on what the highest selling DVD is from each major studio.
A while back, Gladiator appeared to be Dreamworks #1 seller, but I'm pretty sure that one of the Shreks dethroned that one.
Soo..Any help on the others?

Current numbers are not available, but here's a good indication of what it looks like (with the No. 1 status reflecting combined sales when different versions released):

DreamWorks (dist. Universal): Shrek 2
Warner: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Sony: Spider-Man
Universal: Fast and the Furious
New Line: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Buena Vista: Finding Nemo
Fox: Passion of the Christ
MGM: Die Another Day

Thanks

I believe Azkaban may just best Chamber of Secrets.

I'd like to know what Mondo Macabro, one of my personal fave studios, has for the best selling title. I'll guess.....Mill of the Stone Women? How about Blue Underground? Maybe Zombie, The Final Countdown or Dead and Buried?

Maybe Django for BU? I see a lot of people buying that where i work.

Thats a good call. Could be.....:thumbsup:

Why? It didn't at the box office...

I wonder what Criterion's is. Is it Armageddon or The Rock?

I would guess Anchor Bay's is the different versions of Halloween combined, or could it be Army of Darkness?

Lower vhs sales. Numbers I can find have Azkaban about a million units ahead of Chamber of Secrets.

Criterion's is Fear and Loathing. It was in a recent article somewhere.

[Edit: All references to "Chamber" in this reply are really for "The Sorcerer's Stone."]
It's possible, but not likely. <s>Chamber</s> Sorcerer's Stone had sold 9.1 million units by the end of 2002, after seven months of sales. Azkaban had sold 9.4 million after five weeks of sales at the end of 2004. The installed user base for DVD players nearly doubled during the two-year span since <s>Chamber</s> Sorcerer's Stone's release, so it has continued to sell well during that span, getting a boost as each new sequel and book has been released. That, coupled with the general truism that the first installment in any series is typically the biggest seller, make it much more likely that <s>Chamber</s> Sorcerer's Stone is No. 1.

The Final Countdown is No. 1 for BU by far--not even close, according to Bill Lustig. It remains the only BU title to appear among the top 10 weekly sellers, as tracked by Video Business.

Armageddon has generally been reported as Criterion's biggest seller.

Those could be, if combined. But the only title reported as being a big seller for AB is Manhunter. It set sales records for the company when 100,000 copies were shipped in 11 days, thanks to interest generated by Hannibal.

According to this recent article, Criterion's all-time bestseller is Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Number 2 is Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.

The article also says that Grand Illusion was their first DVD release in 1998, which is dead wrong. Although it is spine #1, it didn't hit shelves until the late 1999, after a number of other releases.

DJ

You do know that Chamber of Secrets was released in April 2003, the second installment of the series, right?

Yikes, thanks for the correction. All of the info I have posted is for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is the No. 1 WB title. For some reason, I got fixated on Chamber and was thinking of that as the first installment. I have edited my comments accordingly.

Ah, thanks for that. Although as DJ points out, the article got the first Criterion DVD wrong, an easy mistake considering the spine-number discrepancy, the article offers actual numbers for the DVD sales based on an interview with its execs. I see no reason to doubt it. I would have never, ever guessed that Fear and Loathing would have been tops, though.

There is some other sloppy reporting in that article, though. It notes, for example, that Fear and Loathing's success pushed Criterion DVDs "beyond title-driven retail outlets such as the Virgin Megastore to mass merchants including Best Buy." Criterion DVDs have always been available at Best Buy (and other mass merchants), which has probably sold more of them than any other retailer.

why oh why, God, is Harry Poter Warner's #1 flick?! Seriously, I hate it when excellent, classic masterpeices of cinema are pushed out of the way to make room for the next children's book rip-off/Disney chash-in (i.e. Lion King 1 1/2)

How on earth do you compare the Harry Potter films to those Disney straight to video sequels???

hmm, let me think.

Both cheap cash cows? Check.

Both not as good as original source material? Check.

Both get on MasterShake 05's nerves? Check.

How does Warner selling what "alot" of people wish to purchase to those people pushing "classic masterpeices of cinema" out of the way. No offense, but you probably get a whole lot more DVDs you like thanks to Harry Potter.

Um, if i could understand the question i'd be happy to answer it

He's wondering how a DVD such as the Potter ones, which have a big appeal and big sales figures, push "classic masterpeices of cinema" out of the way.

And his thought is that studios will put out more movies rather than less if they have some big sellers (kinda like the Armageddon reasoning for Criterion).

Poster can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seemed pretty obvious to me...

nah it was just the wording. thanx.

And to answer the question, its pretty obvious. To other people, regular, everyday people who don't go on DVD messageboards and don't know the difference between HD-DVD and Blu Ray, they go out and tell themselves they are only going to buy one movie a month. Then they get to the store, see a movie like, say, HEAT sitting on the shelf, but think "well, my kids like cartoony bullshit, so i'll buy SHARK TALE" and virtually keep the better movie from doing well by spending their money on some big, over-hyped Shrek/Nemo clone. When you actually sit down and think about it, you will see where my reasoning comes from and will probably agree with me.

EDIT: And don't give me the whole, "they can buy both" b.s. I always see people in stores arguing with themselves/loved ones over which movie to get cuz they don't want to spend 30+ bucks on getting both. And 90% of the time, they make stupid decisions, like buying a movie like Shark Tale over a movie with superb writing, directing and acting that deserves to do well.

shark tale + DVD= Cash for Steven Spielberg
Cash + Steven Spielberg= A new War of the Worlds
A new War of the Worlds + Movie Tie In= New Classic War of the Worlds dvd


you see we are all connected in the great circle of life

You mean people actually buy things that they want to see rather than what you want to see?! Mon dieu!

DJ