Treasure Withstands Heavy Assault

May 21, 2005

Three new films in the top five and two more than just missed could push National Treasure out of top spot. The film fell just 11% this week for $9.40 million in DVD rentals and $1.30 million in VHS rentals for a combined rentals of $10.70. The film also held up well in DVD dropping to second place.

The best performer of the new releases was Assault on Precinct 13 in an amazingly tight race with In Good Company, the former beating the latter $6.00 million to $5.99 million. Also close behind was Meet the Fockers at $5.88 million and Racing Stripes at $5.75 million, (all figures for combined rentals.)

A couple of new films just missed the top five and they were The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which made $3.79 million, and Alone in the Dark, which managed $3.29 million, more than half its total domestic box office.

Overall the rental market showed a bit of life this week climbing 4.4% for the week to $138.9 million. And while that was 5.5% above the same week last year, 2005 is still behind 2004 by 1.5% at $2.9 billion.

Newcomers were even stronger on the DVD sales charts with Assault on Precinct 13 taking top spot; I knew the film would do better on the home market, but I wasn't expecting this strong a showing. Last week's winner, National Treasure, was the loan holdover in the top five at second place. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou also performed better on the sales charts earning a third place finish ahead of In Good Company and Racing Stripes. Just missing the top five, but still deserving a mention was Alone in the Dark, which could still end up showing a profit.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith has already made George Lucas a profit before the first ticket was sold. And I'm not talking about marketing deals with M&Ms either. The hype surrounding that movie has pushed Attack of the Clones into 12th place on the DVD sales chart while The Phantom Menace came in 13th. Clone Wars - Volume 1 came in 18th place while the Original Trilogy topped the VHS Charts. Simple amazing.


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Filed under: Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, Meet the Fockers, National Treasure, Racing Stripes, In Good Company, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Assault On Precinct 13, Alone in the Dark