3.7 Million are Virgins No More
December 23, 2005
The 40-Year Old Virgin not only did it lead the way on the rental chart bringing in $10.18 million in combined rentals, ($9.82 million from DVDs and $370,000 from VHS), but it also led the way in sales with 3.7 million units sold. Sales totaled $65 million in its opening week. To put this in perspective, the home market release made more than $75 million during its opening week, which is more than the film earned during its first three weeks of theatrical release.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith remained in second place thanks to the best week-to-week drop-off in the top ten as it fell 28% to $7.91 million for the week and $34.49 million during its three-week run. Next up is The Island, which started its home market run in third place with $7.90 million. Fantastic Four fell from first to fourth with $7.34 million for the week and $18.71 in total. Lastly, Dukes of Hazzard hung onto a spot in the top five with $6.53 million over the weekend and a two-week total of $15.82 million.
It was a busy week for new releases with four films making the charts but missing the top five. Coming sixth was Bad News Bears with $6.01 million. 14th place went to Roll Bounce with just $2.17 million, which is more disappointing than its theatrical run. But that was nothing compared to Valiant, which $1.87 million finishing in 18th place; if a digitally animated film can't make it on the home market, then it truly failed. Lastly, there's Kronk's New Groove, which pulled in just $860,000 in combined rentals.
The rental market was in top shape this past week growing by 7.4% for the week at $156.7 million and 11.5% compared to the same week last year. That lifted 2005's year-to-date numbers to $7.4 billion, but that is still over 4% below last year's pace.
The sales charts were equally busy with 8 new releases in the top twenty, but only one of them in the top five. That one was of course The 40-Year Old Virgin, which as previously stated sold 3.7 million in combined units, (probably more than 3.6 million of which were DVDs). Second place went to Fantastic Four, which held up much better on the sales chart than the rental charts. Third went to Polar Express, up from ninth place last week, and Madagascar also saw an increase in sales climbing from seventh to fourth. Remaining in fifth place was March of the Penguins during its third week of release.
Kronk's New Groove led the best of the rest finishing in eighth place ahead of is The Island, which came in tenth. The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season was the first new TV on DVD release on the charts with a 12th place finish while a pair of first-run releases, Roll Bounce and Bad News Bears, came in 13th and 14th place respectively. Sin City - Recut, Extended, Unrated earned a 17th place finish; it probably would have done better had the theatrical version not have come out just a few months ago. Completely the Alexis Bledel doubleshot, Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fifth Season managed to grab the final spot in the top twenty.
The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season was able to steal the top spot on the TV on DVD sales chart ahead of Family Guy - Volume 3. Lost - The Complete First Season jumped up into third place with Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fifth Season opening in fourth place. Rounding out the top five was Seinfeld - Season 5.
The other two new releases in the top ten were Miami Vice - Season 2 in eighth place and Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Volume 4 in tenth.
There wasn't a single new release in the top ten on the TV on DVD rental charts, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any interesting to report. First of all, every single release in the top five showed at least double-digit increases over last weekend with two releases earning triple digit gains. 24 - The Complete Fourth Season remained in first place with $390,000 in rentals ahead of Lost - The Complete First Season with $270,000. C.S.I. - The Complete Fifth Season shot up 273% to $157,000, climbing from 16th to third place in the process. Family Guy - Volume 3 also saw a triple-digit increase going from eighth to fourth with $126,000 while Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season had the worst week-to-week performance growing by a mere 19% to $94,000.
Because the DVD was released this week, this will be the last time for Serenity Watch, but it's been an interesting ride. Granted, several theatrical releases have boosted sales of other DVDs, we saw it with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However, Serenity was nowhere near the hit those were, but despite this it has had a huge impact on the sale of Firefly - The Complete Series. In fact, right now that DVD set is in fourth place on the Amazon Top 100 chart while the DVD for Serenity is in 1st place, and has been practically all week.
Filed under: Madagascar, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Polar Express, Fantastic Four, The 40 Year-old Virgin, The Dukes of Hazzard, La marche de l'empereur, Sin City, The Island, The Bad News Bears, Serenity, Valiant, Roll Bounce