Hostel Tops Tepid Week on the Home Market
April 29, 2006
It was a slow week for new releases as Hostel took the top prize on the rental charts. But it was a close contest with it pulling in $8.42 million compared to the $8.11 million earned by the second place film, Fun with Dick and Jane.
Third place went to Narnia as the film fell 32% to $4.28 million for the week and $19.42 during its run. King Kong was able to remain in fourth place thanks to a 28% drop-off adding $3.51 million to its four-week total of $26.71 million. On the other hand, Wolf Creek fell from third to fifth with $3.24 million for a two-week total of $8.69 million.
Three other newcomers charted this week led by Mrs. Henderson Presents with $1.29 for a 17th place start. That's not a great start, even compared to the film's theatrical run, but I have a feeling it will have long legs on the home market. The other two new release were both direct-to-DVD releases with Mercenary for Justice opening in 22nd place with $1.06 million and Irresistible in 31st place with $750,000.
There was another small week-to-week drop-off as the overall rental market slipped just 1.5% to $142.3 million, which is coincidentally 1.5% higher than the same week last year. Year-to-date, 2006 continues to close in on 2005 and is now just 0.4% behind with $2.5 billion.
Hostel also finished first on the sales charts while the rest of the top five was exactly the same as last week, just one place lower. That meant Narnia fell to second place while Fun with Dick and Jane slipped to third. King Kong finished fourth, just like it did on the rental charts and Chicken Little came fifth during its fifth week of release.
There was only one other release to chart, and that was Mrs. Henderson Presents, which finished in 10th place.
There weren't many new releases on the TV on DVD sales chart either, but that doesn't mean there was nothing newsworthy to report. Mind of Mencia - Uncensored Season 1 completed its climb to the top, which is even more impressive as it took 5 weeks to get there. This meant Robot Chicken - Volume 1 slipped back into second place, but the sales for this release have still been amazing. The only new release in the top five was Remington Steele - The Complete Third Season, which finished fourth. Grey's Anatomy - Season 1 remained in fifth place during its 10th week of release.
The only other new release to chart was Thundercats - Season Two - Volume 1 as it just missed the top five in sixth place.
Filed under: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, King Kong, Chicken Little, Fun with Dick & Jane, Hostel, Wolf Creek, Mrs. Henderson Presents