DVD titans set for November clash By Thomas K. Arnold
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The landscape of the fourth-quarter DVD-selling season is rapidly taking shape as summer starts to wind down and studios race each other to snag prime release dates.
November will see a clash of the DVD titans, with four $100 million-plus theatricals already slotted and a fifth deemed likely.
DreamWorks is set to announce Thursday a Nov. 15 release date for “Madagascar,” the animated feature that grossed $189 million theatrically. That gives it a one-week jump on another animated feature geared toward the same family demographic, Warner’s November 2004 release “The Polar Express.”
20th Century Fox reserved Nov. 29 for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” which grossed $178.5 million in theaters and is one of the summer’s top-grossing live-action theatricals.
Fox also is releasing the year’s No. 1 movie, “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” ($377 million domestic gross), Nov. 1.
That leaves only Nov. 8 untapped, though industry sources peg that as a likely date for Warner’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which has grossed nearly $150 million since its July 15 opening.
October also is almost fully loaded, but with more moderate box office performers. Universal’s “The Interpreter” ($72.4 million) and MGM’s “Amityville Horror” ($64.3 million) will be out Oct. 4, and Universal’s “Kicking & Screaming” ($52.6 million) and Fox’s “Kingdom of Heaven” ($47.3 million) share Oct. 11.
Oct. 25 will find Disney releasing “Herbie: Fully Loaded” ($62.7 million) and Warner issuing “House of Wax” ($32 million). Industry sources expect Warner to drop “Batman Begins” ($195.9 million) on Oct. 18, the month’s only open date, noting that the studio already has slotted for that date a series of two-disc special editions of the four original “Batman” movies from the 1980s and ’90s.
The only true wild card in the fourth quarter is December, with no confirmed releases.
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