Warner Home Video DVD Revenues Top $50 Million; Collectible Classics
Account for More Than 80 Percent of Warner Home Video DVD
Revenues
LAS VEGAS--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Jan. 8, 1998--
First Year DVD Player Sales Outpace CD and VCR Debuts
Warner Home Video, a Time Warner Entertainment Company, Thursday announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that
its 1997 DVD wholesale revenues totaled $50.6 million in the United States and Canada. "DVD's performance has been
strong, and our numbers prove it. Driven by sales of both new releases and catalog titles, we had total revenues of over $50
million, and we expect 1998 to be even better," said Warren Lieberfarb, president of Warner Home Video. Warner Home
Video DVD catalog revenues totaled $40.6 million, or 81 percent of its total DVD revenues. Revenues from new releases on
DVD totaled $9.6 million, or 19 percent of Warner Home Video's total DVD revenues. Warner sold more than three million
DVDs to retailers in 1997, having launched nationally in August. The top five 1997 DVD titles from the Warner family sold as
follows:
Titles Units Wholesale Revenues
"Batman & Robin" 91,521 units $1,486,301
"Twister" 86,840 units $1,410,282
"Eraser" 79,806 units $1,296,049
"Blade Runner" 64,791 units $1,052,206
"The Fugitive" 61,093 units $ 992,150
Warner Home Video will soon release "L.A. Confidential," "The Devil's Advocate" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and
Evil" on DVD simultaneously with their release on VHS. Warner Home Video will also soon release such titles as "The
Shawshank Redemption," "Heat" and "The Lost Boys" on DVD. Upcoming Warner DVD releases will also include such
collectible classics as the recently acquired "My Fair Lady," plus "Camelot," "The Music Man," "Giant," "Cabaret," "The
Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Rebel Without a Cause." Warner is also set to issue popular concert videos on DVD, such as the
Rolling Stones' "Bridges to Babylon Concert Tour" and the Eagles' "Hell Freezes Over Concert Tour." Warner Home Video
released "Contact" on Dec. 16, 1997. In its first two weeks of availability, Warner received more than 50,000 orders for the
"Contact" DVD. Warner has also shipped 35,000 units of "Conspiracy Theory," released Dec. 31, 1997. Musicland Stores
Corp., demonstrating further evidence of strong demand for DVD, recently reported its first ever weekly DVD sales total in
excess of $1 million (Dec. 14-20, 1997). "We are extremely pleased with the dramatic acceleration we are seeing in our
DVD sales," said Gil Wachsman, vice chairman of Musicland. "It appears that customers are buying a whole new library of
DVD movies when they buy a DVD player. DVD has very quickly grown to a meaningful ratio to our video business, and it's
ramping up much more rapidly than music CDs did in their infancy." DVD's debut outpaced the first year of both the CD and
VCR. Manufacturers shipped an estimated 340,000 DVD players in 1997 -- nearly 10 times the 35,000 CD players sold in
1983, its first year on the market. More than 500,000 players are expected to be shipped by DVD's one-year anniversary in
March 1998. VCRs, which were introduced in 1975, didn't top 200,000 sales until 1977. "In terms of both players and
software, DVD is one of the most successful new product launches in the history of Best Buy. DVD players are selling briskly
and, based on our estimates, the average DVD owner is buying 15-20 disks per player," said Brad Anderson, president and
chief operating officer of Best Buy. Steve Nickerson of Toshiba added, "We are very pleased with how DVD performed this
holiday season, and we expect sales of DVD players to triple in 1998." Open DVD's compatibility with computers is
expected to create a significant new market for DVD in 1998. "Microsoft is very excited about the new types of computing
that will be available because of DVD," said Peter Biddle of Microsoft. "Our customers have told us that they want better
audio and video and we are delivering that through our work on DVD in DirectShow and Windows 98. Customer demand,
coupled with great innovation, is going to help drive the sale of 15 million DVD PCs in 1998." With operations in 73
international territories -- more than the video division of any other studio -- Warner Home Video commands the largest
distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio,
offering top quality new and vintage film titles from the repertories of Warner Bros., Turner Home Entertainment, Castle Rock
Entertainment, HBO Home Video, New Line Home Video and MGM Home Entertainment. Over the last several years, along
with its Time Warner partner Toshiba, Warner Home Video has spearheaded the development and current successful launch
of the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), this year's hottest new entertainment product. DVD -- the next generation digital storage
medium representing the convergence of computer and television with applications for video, music and multimedia -- available
at leading electronic hardware and software retailers throughout the United States since August 1997.
Already Released on DVD
"10" 2 Days in the Valley (HBO) A Christmas Story (MGM/UA) A Little Princess A Time to Kill Absolute Power Ace
Ventura Ace Ventura 2 Adam's Rib (MGM/UA) Addicted to Love Adventures of Pinocchio (NL) All the President's Men
Amadeus Arthur Assassins Austin Powers (NL) Balanchine's Nutcracker Batman Batman & Robin Batman Forever Batman
Returns Beetlejuice Best Years of Our Lives (HBO) Birdcage, The (MGM/UA) Bishop's Wife, The (HBO) Black Stallion
(MGM/UA) Blade Runner (DC) Blazing Saddles Blown Away (MGM/UA) Body Heat Bodyguard, The Bonnie and Clyde
Bridges of Madison County Brigadoon (MGM/UA) Bullitt Caddyshack Camelot (30th) Candidate, The Cat on a Hot Tin
Roof (MGM/UA) Chariots of Fire Client, The Color Purple, The Conspiracy Theory Contact Cool Hand Luke Cyborg
(MGM/UA) Dangerous Liaisons Dark Victory (MGM/UA) Demolition Man Dirty Harry Disclosure Dog Day Afternoon Dr.
No (MGM/UA) Driving Miss Daisy Dumb and Dumber (NL) Elvis: That's the Way It Is (MGM/UA) Eraser Executive
Decision Exorcist, The Fathers' Day Fire Down Below Forbidden Planet (MGM/UA) Forever Young Free Willy From
Russia with Love (MGM/UA) Fugitive, The Get Shorty (MGM/UA) Getaway, The (1972) Glimmer Man GoldenEye
(MGM/UA) Goldfinger (MGM/UA) GoodFellas Green Berets Gremlins Grinch/Horton (MGM/UA) Grumpier Old Men
Grumpy Old Men Hang 'em High (MGM/UA) Hunchback of Notre Dame (RKO) Interview With the Vampire Island of
Doctor Moreau (NL) J.F.K. (DC) Jailhouse Rock (MGM/UA) Jeremiah Johnson Jezebel Ladyhawke Last Man Standing
(NL) Lawnmower Man, The (NL) Lethal Weapon Lethal Weapon 2 Lethal Weapon 3 Little Shop of Horrors Long Kiss
Goodnight (NL) Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome Man Who Would Be King, The Mars Attacks! Mask, The (NL)
Maverick Menace II Society (NL) Michael Michael Collins Midnight Cowboy (MGM/UA) Mortal Kombat (NL) Murder at
1600 My Fellow Americans National Velvet (MGM/UA) Nat'l Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Nat'l Lampoon's Vacation
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Outbreak Outland Pale Rider Pelican Brief Philadelphia Story, The (MGM/UA) Player,
The (NL) Policy Academy Poltergeist (MGM/UA) Postman Always Rings Twice, The Presumed Innocent Private Benjamin
Purple Rain Raging Bull (MGM/UA) Rain Man (MGM/UA) Red River (MGM/UA) Right Stuff, The Risky Business Road
Warrior, The Rob Roy (MGM/UA) Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Rocky (MGM/UA) Rocky II (MGM/UA) Rocky IV
(MGM/UA) Rosewood Rumble in the Bronx (NL) Searchers, The Secret Garden, The Selena Seven (NL) Shine (NL) Show
Boat (1951) (MGM/UA) Singin' in the Rain (MGM/UA) Sleepers Space Jam Spawn (NL) Spawn Animated (HBO) Species
(MGM/UA) Stagecoach Strangers on a Train Streetcar Named Desire (DC) Tango and Cash Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(NL) Tequila Sunrise, The Thelma & Louise (MGM/UA) Tin Cup Tom Jones (HBO) True Romance (DC) Turbulence
(HBO) Twister Under Siege Under Siege 2: Dark Territory Unforgiven Vegas Vacation Viva Las Vegas! (MGM/UA) What
Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Wild America Wild Bunch, The Willy Wonka and The
Chocolate Factory Witches of Eastwick, The Wizard of Oz, The (MGM/UA) Woman of the Year (MGM/UA) Woodstock
-- 3 Days of Peace and Music Wuthering Heights (HBO) Year of Living Dangerously (MGM/UA) Zeus and Roxanne (HBO)
Upcoming DVD Releases
Cabaret (25th)
Camelot
Devil's Advocate, The
Giant
Heat
L.A. Confidential
Little Shop of Horrors
Lost Boys, The
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Music Man, The
My Fair Lady
Outlaw Josey Wales, The
Rebel Without A Cause
Shawshank Redemption, The
The Eagles' "Hell Freezes Over Concert Tour"
The Rolling Stones' "Bridges to Babylon Concert Tour"
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