Four has Fantastic Start
December 17, 2005
Fantastic Four was the movie that stopped the massive box office slump this summer, and it is continuing that strong performance on the home market. It topped the home market with a combined total of $11.26 million, $10.47 million from DVDs and $800,000 from VHS.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith slipped a spot to second with $10.94 million over the week and $26.58 million in total. Dukes of Hazzard opened in third place with $9.22 in total rentals, well ahead of fourth place finisher, Cinderella Man, which earned a disappointing $6.18 million. Rounding out the top five was War of the Worlds, which plummeted 40% to just $4.81 million for the week and $28.57 in total.
The only other new release to chart this week was Dirty Love with $500,000 in combined rentals, or about 12 times what it earned during its short domestic run.
Overall the total box office was down 3.6% for the week at $145.9 million, but up 7.7% compared to the same week last year. Year-to-date 2005 has brought in $7.2 billion cutting its yearly decline to 4.6%.
Fantastic Four was also the champion on the sales chart ahead of fellow newcomers Dukes of Hazzard and Cinderella Man. Fourth place went to Mr. and Mrs. Smith while March of the Pengiuns slipped to fifth.
There were two other new release to chart this weekend and they were both TV on DVD release. 24 - The Complete Fourth Season finished in 12th place while Star Wars - Clone Wars - Volume 2 came in 16th place.
The TV on DVD sales chart included several new releases in the top ten, but Family Guy - Volume 3 and Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story remained in first and second places respectively. 24 - The Complete Fourth Season entered the charts in third place just ahead of fellow newcomer while Star Wars - Clone Wars - Volume 2. Rounding out the top five was Seinfeld - Season 5.
The only other new releases in the top ten was The West Wing - The Complete Fifth Set while Jackass - Box Set just missed the top ten earning an 11th place finish.
There were not one, but two ties on the TV on DVD rental charts this weekend. 24 - The Complete Fourth Season claimed top spot with $212,000, just a fraction ahead of Lost - The Complete First Season, which also earned $212,000. Six Feet Under - The Complete Fourth Season climbed into third place while Sopranos - The Complete Fifth Season shot up to fourth, both with $80,000. Lastly, Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season fell to fifth with $79,500.
Other new releases to chart include Jackass - Volume 1 opening in 6th place with $60,000 and The West Wing - The Complete Fifth Set, which rounded out the top ten with $49,000.
Two last notes, firstly Serenity Watch is in the final stretch with the DVD coming out next Tuesday, but at the moment the DVD is in 4th place on the Amazon Top 100 chart while Firefly - The Complete Series is in tenth place.
Lastly, in a preview for next week's column, first day sales numbers were released for The 40-Year Old Virgin and they are amazing with the DVD selling 2 million copies. To put that into perspective, this means the film earned more money during its opening day on the home market than it earned during its opening week at the box office. (On a side note, there was no breakdown given for Unrated vs. R-Rated, but one would have to assume the former would be ahead of the latter by a considerable margin.)
Filed under: War of the Worlds, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Fantastic Four, The 40 Year-old Virgin, The Dukes of Hazzard, La marche de l'empereur, Cinderella Man, Serenity, Dirty Love