Home video sales across the board were hopping this week.
The DVD and VHS release of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on Tuesday picked up the record for the best first day of any home video released so far this year, selling 3.5 million and taking in an estimated $60-$70 million, according the The Hollywood Reporter.
Although The Two Towers wasn’t able to take the record for the best one-day seller of all-time, the true record holder is still a matter of dispute.
According to The Reporter, Sony executives claim Spider-Man is No. 1, selling about 7 million combined DVD and VHS units on its release Nov. 1, 2002 and estimated to have generated more than $100 million. Other industry observers, however, dispute that 7 million figure, allowing Disney to believe Monsters, Inc. is the rightful record holder with sales of more than 5 million on its first day of release Sept. 17, 2002. The previous record for first-day sales was held by Disney’s The Lion King, which sold about 4.5 million VHS units March 3, 1995, before the advent of DVD, Disney executives have said.
On the TV-to-DVD end, the complete third season of The Simpsons is doing big business, selling nearly 40 percent of its shipment of 500,000 since its Tuesday release, according to The Reporter. The third season DVD box set doubled those of the first season release and was about 20 percent ahead of the second season, Fox sources told The Reporter.
The increased profit margin–box sets of TV shows such as The Sopranos and Sex and the City usually go for $50–as well as the length of time the box sets sell makes TV-to-DVD products one of the hottest growth sectors in the DVD arena, according to The Reporter.
