Meeting Expectations

April 30, 2005

As expected, Meet the Fockers was the top draw at the home market, earning the trifecta in the process. The film took in $10.46 million in DVD rentals as well as $1.86 million in VHS rentals. The movie also sold 3 million combined in DVD and VHS units on its opening day alone, one of the better sellers of the year.

That performance pushed Ocean's Twelve into second place with $8.08 million in combined sales. Spanglish and Sideways were again neck and neck at $4.69 million to $4.28 million. Rounding out the top five for the second week in a row was Hotel Rwanda with $3.43 million.

There was also a glut of new DVD releases in the top forty, five to be exact, and all of them had limited runs domestically. Topping that list was House of Flying Daggers with $1.96 million in combined rentals ahead of Birth, which opened with $1.5 million in DVD rentals. The other three films on the list all beat their theatrical totals, by a wide margin in some cases. Riding the Bullet lead the way with $920,000 in combined rentals compared to a theatrical total of $100,000. A Love Song for Bobby Long made just $160,000 theatrically and $690,000 in first week DVD rentals. While Primer beat its theatrical run $620,000 to $425,000.

The top five of the sales chart was quite a bit different, at least after number one, which as mentioned earlier was Meet the Fockers. House of Flying Daggers may have missed the top ten on the rental side, but it finished second on the sales side, one of the benefits of the Fanboy Effect. Both Ocean's Twelve and Sideways were pushed down a couple spots to third and fourth respectively, while The Incredibles continues to live up to its name, sticking around in fifth place during its sixth week of release.

On the sales side there was an interesting development as there were three Star Wars DVDs in the top twenty. Highest on the list was Clone Wars - Volume 1 at 13th place, ahead of Attack of the Clones's 18th place and The Phantom Menace's 20th place finish. This bodes very well for Revenge of the Sith's release in a few weeks.

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Filed under: Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, Meet the Fockers, The Incredibles, Ocean's Twelve, Sideways, Spanglish, Hotel Rwanda, House of Flying Daggers, Birth, Primer, A Love Song for Bobby Long, Riding the Bullet