Monster DVD sales for sequels

DSN Retailing Today, Sept 20, 2004

Finding Nemo shattered the all-time record for DVD sales last year but several titles due in the fourth quarter have a shot taking over the crown.

The biggest hit should be Shrek 2, the summer film that took in $440 million at the box office. The DVD will debut Nov. 5 on a Friday instead of a Tuesday, following a pattern DreamWorks Home Entertainment used for the release of the original Shrek in 2001.

"We're going to anniversary what we did for the first one, since that worked pretty well," said a Dream Works spokeswoman. Industry experts believe Shrek 2 has the best chance of breaking the all-time DVD sales record of 21 million units set by Finding Nemo in 2003.

Another title with a chance at the record is Spider-Man 2, a summer sequel with $370 million in box office receipts. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment will release the two-disc DVD on Nov. 30 and studio executives expect sales to be "significantly better" than those of the original Spider-Man DVD.

Spider-Man sold 15 million copies in 2002 and held the DVD sales mark until Finding Nemo came along. However, the first film came out when fewer homes had DVD players than they do today, which makes it more likely the sequel will at least out-sell its predecessor.

A third title with an outside shot at the crown is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third installment in the Harry Potter franchise that's due Nov. 23.