DVD Rentals - Body Wins, and That's the Truth

March 3, 2009

There were seven new releases to chart this week, and a few others that just missed that mark. The winner was Body of Lies with roughly 20% more revenue than second place Changeling. Nights in Rodanthe slipped to third, but it is still strong. Quarantine opened in fourth place, just ahead of Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa.

The next best new release was High School Musical 3 - Senior Year, which placed 17th on the rental charts despite opening in first place on the sales chart. This can be explained by a combination of it being a kids/teen movie and the Fanboy Effect. Religulous opened in 19th place, which also suggests a little bit of a Fanboy Effect, while Flash of Genius debuted in 21st place. The only other new release to reach the top 30 was Choke, which placed 30th. Three more films that reached the top 50: Feast III (32nd place), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (35th); and Still Waiting... (43rd). I reviewed all three films, so hopefully I'm not a jinx.

Overall the rental market grew by 4% to $185 million, but that was still 9% lower than the same week last year. But like last week, the big new release was a kids movie, which tend to do poorly in terms of rentals.

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Filed under: Video Sales, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Nights in Rodanthe, Body of Lies, Changeling, Quarantine, Religulous, Flash of Genius, Choke, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, Still Waiting...