SNL Product Line Eclipses 1 Million Units; Trimark to Roll Out Several Additional Compilations

Business Wire, March 23, 2000

Entertainment & Business Editors

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--March 23, 2000

Trimark Home Video today announced that it has shipped more than 1 million total units of its Saturday Night Live sell-thru product line.

Leading the way to date is "SNL: The Best of Chris Farley," which alone has shipped nearly 200,000 units. Other top sellers include "SNL: The Best of Adam Sandler" and "SNL: The Best of Mike Myers." In April, the company will release the DVD version of "SNL: The Best of Chris Farley," VHS and DVD versions of "SNL: The Best of Steve Martin" and "SNL: Game Show Parodies" on VHS (order date: April 3, street date: April 25 for all three).

"The entire SNL lineup continues to re-order on a consistent basis, and this is directly attributable to the quality of the content provided by NBC and to the time and effort Trimark has spent on packaging and product placement in retail," said Ron Schwartz, Trimark's Senior Vice President of Home Video.

"Our sales team has done a fantastic job of reaching out to the entire video retail base. This is only the beginning of what we anticipate to be a long and successful franchise. In addition to `The Best of Steve Martin' and `Game Show Parodies,' we are currently planning the release of several other compilations, which should hit stores later this year."

Trimark Home Video inaugurated the SNL product line in July of 1999 with "SNL: The Best of Chris Farley" and "SNL: The Best of 96-97." Since then, the company has released 10 other editions: "SNL: The Best of Phil Hartman," "SNL: Bad Boys," "SNL: "Halloween," "SNL: The Best of Mike Myers (DVD)," "SNL: The Best of Adam Sandler (DVD)," "SNL: The Best of Eddie Murphy," "SNL: 25th Anniversary (DVD)," "SNL: Christmas," "SNL: The Best of Chris Rock (DVD)" and "SNL: The Best of Dana Carvey (DVD)."

Trimark Home Video will continue to diversify its sell-thru catalogue in the coming year. The company entered into a first-look output deal with NBC in May of 1999, whereby the company would distribute many of NBC's programs and movies-of-the-week on home video and have a first look at future product.

In addition to the SNL product, Trimark has released the critically acclaimed mini-series "The 60's," "The World's Most Amazing Videos" and "The World's Most Dangerous Magic." With several recent sports-related acquisitions, the company announced last month the creation of Trimark Ultra Sports, which will launch with "The Gravity Games" on March 28.

Trimark Home Video's long-standing "Ultimate Fighting Championship" franchise will now be distributed under this label along with recent acquisitions "The Official Story of the Ryder Cup 1999" (street date: April 11) and "The Indy 500 Series" (street date: May 16).