Crashing the Home Market

January 14, 2006

We had a new number one this week as Wedding Crashers took top spot on both the rental and the sales charts. The film earned $13.57 million in combined rentals, $12.80 million of that from DVDs.

That pushed The 40-Year Old Virgin down to second place, but that film still had the best week-to-week performance in the top five, down 36% to $5.41 million for the week and $32.84 million during its four-week run. Four Brothers also slipped a spot, falling 44% to third with $4.59 million for the week and $20.70 in total. The second newcomer this weekend was The Cave with $4.44 million, which is nearly 30% of the film's $14.89 million total domestic run, and that should all but guarantee it will tops the latter figure. However, it is a case of too little, too late. Lastly, Must Love Dogs just managed to hang onto a spot in the top five with $4.00 million for the week and $17.35 million in total.

Only two other new releases came out this week as Broken Flowers and The Gospel were sandwiched around Serenity. Those three films finished in 22nd through 24th places with $1.41 million, $1.35 million, and $1.32 million respectively.

Overall the post-holiday week saw a huge drop-off: down 24.3% to $161.1 million, which means 2006 started off the year down 7.3% from 2005.

As previously stated, Wedding Crashers won the weekly race on the sales chart just like it was the best on the rental charts. However, The Cave was able to score second place on the sales charts, which is a result I would not have expected. This meant The 40-Year Old Virgin fell to third place, but since it was one of the best selling DVDs of 2005, no one should be disappointed. The Gospel also did better on the sales chart than it did on the rentals, finishing in fourth place ahead of American Pie Presents - Band Camp, which fell from 2nd to fifth.

There were no other new releases to chart this week and really nothing else of interest in the top twenty to report.

It was a strange, strange week on the TV on DVD sales charts as Family Guy - Volume 3 retook the lead from The Shield - The Complete Fourth Season. Also switching spots were The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season and Battlestar Galactica - Season 2.0, which finished in third and fourth places respectively. But that's not what was so weird. In fifth place was Firefly - The Complete Series, which was possibly a delayed boost from the sale of Serenity DVD.

Other shows that jumped up the charts this week were The Chappelle Show - Season Two and Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fourth Season as the two shows finished in ninth and tenth places respectively.

The rental charts remain a week behind. However, the last week we have numbers for saw 24 - The Complete Fourth Season again lead the way with $373,000 ahead of second place Lost - The Complete First Season with $300,000. C.S.I. - The Complete Fifth Season was well back with $123,000 while Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season climbed into fourth place with $101,000. Lastly, Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fifth Season rounded out the top five with $92,000.

The only other new release to chart was The Shield - The Complete Fourth Season, which just missed a place in the top five with $90,000.

-

Filed under: Wedding Crashers, The 40 Year-old Virgin, Four Brothers, Must Love Dogs, Serenity, The Gospel, The Cave, Broken Flowers