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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (38178)	1/12/1999 6:22:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

Committed Studios See Greater DVD Sales techweb.com (01/12/99, 4:28 p.m. ET) By Andy Patrizio, TechWeb The list of top-selling DVD titles in 1998 bore little resemblance to the list of biggest box-office draws during the year, according to VideoScan's sales figures. At the box office, movies such as There's Something About Mary, The Waterboy, and Dr. Dolittle drew the largest crowds. But the most popular DVD in 1998 was 1997's James Bond thriller Tomorrow Never Dies. Other top sellers in the DVD market were either bombs or generated a lukewarm response, such as U.S. Marshals and Starship Troopers. In 1998, consumers bought 9.3 million DVD movies, an increase of more than 600 percent compared with the 1.53 million titles sold in 1997. Many retailers reported DVD was a top gift for adults this year. On Dec. 26, Best Buy sold $1.2 million of DVD movies, exceeding VHS sales for the first time on a single day. Only two movies, Godzilla and Lethal Weapon 4, were among the top 10 at both the box office and in terms of DVD sales. According to VideoScan, most DVD owners want movies that show off their home theater's features, which might explain the disparity. "Action-adventure titles showcase better on the DVD format because of its sound and video quality," said Tanya Bates, general manager of VideoScan. Three studios -- Warner, Columbia, and MGM (a Warner affiliate) -- dominate the DVD market, and that's no accident. All three threw their full weight behind the format early on. These studios, along with New Line Cinema, have made the greatest effort to release both titles in both DVD and VHS format simultaneously. Simultaneous releases contribute greatly to weekly sales, said Bates. The studios with the poorest showings in the DVD market were Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Disney/Buena Vista, all of which have had plenty of box-office hits. However, they have not made simultaneous releases with VHS a priority, nor have they provided enhanced video for wide-screen DVDs. They have also favored Divx, the pay-per-view DVD derivative championed by Circuit City. Disney, for example, has released twice as many Divx titles as DVD titles. "There's a lot of resentment out there aimed squarely at Paramount, Fox, and Disney," said Jeff McNeal, who runs The Big Picture, a website for home-theater enthusiasts. This lack of commitment is one reason why a movie released in 1997 became the best-selling DVD of 1998. "The longer they drag their feet, the more opportunity they give to other studios," said McNeal. The top-grossing movie of all time, Titanic, is being readied for DVD, though Paramount hasn't set a release date yet. Published reports indicate director James Cameron wants to make a double-sided, double-layered disc, a first for the format.