New Releases Score a Hat Trick on the Home Market

November 26, 2005

New releases finished one, two, three on the rental charts this week with Madagascar leading the way. The film earned $7.94 million in combined rentals, which was ahead of the second place film by just over half a million dollars.

That second place film was The Skeleton Key with $7.36 million and that's a pretty good start compared to its theatrical run. Also doing well compared to its theatrical run was Stealth with $6.70 million, but in this case its way too little, way too late. Next up are a couple of holdovers in the second week of release. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fell to fourth with $5.89 million during the week and $14.40 during its run while Christmas with the Kranks grabbed the final spot in the top five with $5.43 million during the weekend and $12.25 in total.

The only other new film to chart this week was Happy Endings, which came in 24th place with $820,000 in combined rentals.

Overall the rental market brought in $142.3 million over the week, which was down 1.9% from last week and 7.7% from last year. Year-to-date, 2005 has managed $6.8 billion in total rentals and that puts it behind last year's pace by 5.0%.

Over on the sales side, with Madagascar took the lead over Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, which was pushed into second place. Stealth finished in third place just ahead of fellow newcomer The Skeleton Key. Lastly, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Single Disc Edition earned a fifth place finish during its second week of release while the Deluxe Edition plummeted to ninth place.

There were no other first-run releases making it on the charts this week, but there were a few TV on DVD releases and a special edition that finished in the top twenty. Leading the way was Friends - The Complete Tenth Season in 7th place with The Sound of Music - The 40th Anniversary Edition finishing in 10th place. Oprah - 20th Anniversary DVD Collection opened in 15th place, just ahead of Scrubs - The Complete Second Season, which came in 16th.

The Star Wars Effect seems to have died down as none of the other releases charted this week, but Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire helped The Prisoner of Azkaban climb into 11th place on this week's chart.

It was a busy week for TV on DVD releases with five new releases in the top ten, including a new number one in the form of was Friends - The Complete Tenth Season, which meant Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story slipped into second place. Oprah - 20th Anniversary DVD Collection finished the week in third place with Scrubs - The Complete Second Season coming in fourth. Rounding out the top five was Beavis & Butt-head - Volume 1 - The Mike Judge Collection.

Other new releases in the top ten include Charmed - The Complete Third Season in seventh place and Stargate Atlantis - The Complete First Season which just grabbed the last spot in the top ten.

Continuing Serenity Watch, Firefly - The Complete Series slipped to eighth place on this week's chart while Serenity's DVD release fell to 26th on the Amazon Top 100 chart.


-

Filed under: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Madagascar, Christmas with the Kranks, The Skeleton Key, Stealth, Serenity, Happy Endings