Millions Rent Rings, But More Buy Sin

September 3, 2005

This week there were three new releases ranking in the top five on the rental charts led by The Ring Two with $7.45 million, $6.99 million of that coming from DVD rentals. On a side note, many rental places are phasing out VHS rentals and it won't be long before the industry stop tracking these numbers entirely.

Coming in second was another newcomer, Beauty Shop, which managed $6.13 million during its opening week. The first of only two holdovers in the top five was Sin City with $5.92 million, down a disappointing 35% from last weekend. Next up is the other holdover, The Wedding Date, with $5.21 million. Rounding out the top five was A Lot Like Love, which just squeezed into the final spot ahead of Guess Who $4.99 million to $4.98 million.

The only other newcomer to chart this week was Layer Cake with $630,000, which isn't bad since it was a limited release.

The home market numbers continue to mimic the slump that the box office went through for so many weeks. Although it was done a miniscule 0.3% from last weekend at $133.4 million, it was still down 8.2% from last year leaving 2005 4.5% behind 2004's pace with $5.1 billion.

On the sales side Sin City continues to lead and many of the people who purchased this version will hate it when the special edition comes out. Next up were the three newcomers The Ring Two, Beauty Shop, and A Lot Like Love. Rounding out the top five was the only other holdover, The Wedding Date, which dropped from second to fifth.

Two other new movies managed to place in the top twenty with Layer Cake coming in seventh and The Transporter - Special Delivery Edition placed 10th, which bides very well for the sequel's chances this weekend.

There were just as many newcomers on the TV on DVD side with The O.C. - The Complete Second Season leading the way. The Simpsons - The Complete Season Six slipped down to second place head of the penultimate season of Six Feet Under. Rounding out the top five were two felt-heavy shows, The Muppet Show - Season One - Special Edition, which placed in the top five for the third week in a row, and Alf - Season Two, which opened in fifth place.

The only other new release in the top ten was Kung Fu - Season Three and that show came in tenth place.

One last note, TV on DVD sales are experiencing significant year-to-year growth up over 25% despite loses at the box office, rental and sales markets. TV on DVD sets now account for 20% of current sales and that figure should continue to grow as more and more studios get into the game.


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Filed under: The Ring Two, Sin City, Guess Who, The Transporter 2, Beauty Shop, The Wedding Date, The Transporter, A Lot Like Love, Layer Cake