Enchantment: ‘Potter’ Moves 6 Million on Day 1
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The second installment of the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” worked its magic on the home video front, selling more than 6 million VHS and DVD combined units nationwide in its first day in release, according to several industry sources.
While Warner Home Video executives declined comment on sales of the latest “Potter” release, when taking into account that the title was released Friday simultaneously in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Spain and Scandinavia, combined VHS and DVD sales are estimated to have topped 11 million units as of Sunday, according to several industry sources.
Nevertheless, “Potter” is considered an evergreen title that will continue to build up steam over time, unlike most other home video releases that do the vast majority of sales during their first few weeks on store shelves, several retail sources said.
This was the first Friday release for a “Potter” title, making logistics at retail more complicated than the industry standard of a typical Tuesday release date.
Since DreamWorks Home Entertainment set the precedent of releasing a major title on a Friday with “Shrek,” several studios have followed suit, especially when the title is marketed for sale rather than rental as the “Potter” series has been.
The home video release of the second “Potter” movie, which earned $260 million at the box office, topped both Nielsen VideoScan’s First Alert DVD and VHS sales charts during its first three days in release and came in at No. 3 on Video Store magazine’s weekly rental chart, earning an estimated $7.96 million in gross domestic rental revenue during its first three days on rental shelves.
Revolution Studios’ romantic comedy “Maid in Manhattan,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes, continues to top the weekly rental charts, regaining its No. 1 slot last week after dipping briefly to No. 2 the previous week, when Universal Studios Home Video’s “Red Dragon” topped the rental chart during its debut week.
“Maid,” which is distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, earned an estimated $10.96 million in rental revenue for the week ending April 13 for a 19-day cume of $40.5 million, according to Video Store data. The DVD slipped slightly from its No. 3 slot to No. 5 on VideoScan’s First Alert weekly sales chart but continued to sell more than 1 million units during the same frame, according to industry sources other than VideoScan. “Maid” is priced for rental on VHS.
“Red Dragon,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Edward Norton, slipped slightly during its second week on rental shelves, taking the No. 2 slot and earning a respectable weekly estimate of $9.77 million for a 12-day cume of $22.8 million, according to Video Store data.
The “Dragon” DVD continued to do well at retail during its second week in release, taking the No. 2 slot behind the second installment of “Potter,” according to VideoScan’s First Alert sales chart for the week ending April 13.
Nielsen VideoScan is a service of VNU that collects VHS and DVD sales data from a sampling of all categories of retail stores. VideoScan charts do not include sales data from Wal-Mart and Toys “R” Us. Most other sell-through retailers are represented.
Video Store magazine, a leading business-to-business weekly serving the home entertainment industry, compiles and analyzes VHS and DVD rental data through an interactive methodology using a multisource predictive model with data from a statistically significant national sample of video retailers.
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