Batman Beats New Competition
November 5, 2005
Despite suffering a 34%, second week drop-off, Batman Begins was still able to retain its hold on the home market crown, which is just further proof of the weakness in the rental market. This week the film added $7.85 million to its $19.88 million, two-week total.
The next three spots all went to new release led by Bewitched with $6.90 million, which is a rather low result given its box office numbers. On the other hand, House of Wax'a $6.60 million was more than a fifth of its total box office revenue. The last newcomer in the top five was Herbie: Fully Loaded with a rather anemic $5.49 million. The Interpreter remained the oldest release in the top five adding $3.56 million to its $23.57 million running total.
The only other theatrical release to chart this week was Melinda and Melinda with $970,000. That was enough for 22nd place and more than a quarter of what the film earned during its theatrical run.
Overall the rental market took in $140.3 million, which is 9.4% higher than last week but 11.1% lower than last year. Year-to-date, 2005 has brought in $6.3 billion but that is 5.0% off last year's pace.
Over on the sales charts, the top four were identical to the rental charts: Batman Begins, Bewitched, House of Wax, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. The only difference in the top five was Cinderella, which came in fifth place.
There were no other new first run releases charting this week, but there were a few special editions including two versions of The Wizard of Oz. The Special Edition finished in eighth place while The Collector's Edition came in 14th place. The other special edition charting was Titanic, which earned ninth place on the charts. There were two other wide releases, but they were both TV on DVD and we'll get to those in a second.
Sitting on the top of the TV on DVD charts was Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story for the fifth week in a row. Next up was the first of two newcomers, Alias - The Complete Fourth Season. The other old-timer, Lost - The Complete First Season, climbed into third place ahead of The Munsters - The Complete Second Season. Rounding out the top five was South Park - The Complete Sixth Season.
Again, there were no other new releases in the top ten, but The L Word - The Complete Second Season came close reaching eleventh place. Also of note, Firefly - The Complete Series remains in the top ten with a seventh place finish this week, which is very good news for Serenity's DVD release, which is scheduled for December 20th.
On the rental side of the TV on DVD charts, Lost - The Complete First Season remains in first place with $419,000 in rentals this week. Second place went to the first of two new releases, Alias - The Complete Fourth Season at $233,000. Desperate Housewives The Complete First Season fell to third in a close battle with $227,000. The L Word - The Complete Second Season performed much better on the rental charts placing fourth with $181,000 with Six Feet Under - The Complete Fourth Season rounding out the top five with $124 million.
One last note, Firefly - The Complete Series popped into the top ten during its 99th week of release with $76,000.
Filed under: Batman Begins, The Interpreter, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Bewitched, House of Wax, Serenity, Melinda and Melinda