DVD rentals up

[Andrew Pratt]

DVDs fuelled U.S. video rental growth
ENCINO, Calif. (AP) -- Americans spent more money in 2001 watching rented videos and DVDs at home than going to the theatres to see movies, according to a trade group.

Rental revenues grew 2.1 per cent to $8.42 billion US, compared with $8.38 billion in box-office revenue, the Video Software Dealers Association said Monday.

Driving the increase is the popularity of the DVD format. The number of DVD rentals grew 164 per cent over 2000, the association reported. Revenues from VHS rentals were $7.02 billion, while revenues from DVD rentals were $1.4 billion in 2001.

In the fourth quarter, revenue from DVD rentals grew 32 per cent over third-quarter revenue, the association said.

"Video rental remains a strong, vibrant and growing industry," said Bo Andersen, president of the VSDA.

[Lex]

Andrew, I had a nice reply ready, but then lost it during a hickup. oh well.

Long and short, you guys think the increase in sales is at the expense of the box office? If so, wonder how long before decreased ticket sales have an upward impact on DVD prices?

Lex

[George Bellefontaine]

I really don't think dvd rentals are affecting the boxoffice per-se.In fact, films seem to be doing quite well with some titles breaking BO records. What I'm more concerned about is the fact that J6P has adopted dvd and really doesn't understand it. He still curses the black bars and complains to the video clerks who pass these complaints on to their head offices.So what you are seeing now is more P&S rentals on the shelves of the big guys like Blockbuster.
I just hope the studios don't forget we early adopters who helped push dvd to where it is today.We went for dvd because it not only offered a great picture, but because the film you were viewing was transferred in its Original Aspect Ratio.
We can only hope that HDTV will push sales of widescreen tvs. The black bars will disappear and J6P will be happy, and the rest of us will be happy in Widescreenland.




My Homepage!

[Andrew Pratt]

I don't know about other area's of Canada but all out local mega plex's have cut their prices drastically trying to get people back into the theaters again. We're now down to around $7.50 cdn a ticket which is at least $4 cheaper then it was only a few months ago.

I'm not so sure the studio's are loosing more money these days since I'd be willing to bet there are a lot more people buying DVD's then were buying VHS (new anyway) so it might ballence out with DVD sales helpping curb the lower attendance at the theaters...

[P-Dub]

I'd have to agree with George. Overall I think theatrically on the whole the movie business is doing pretty well. For individual films it is now even more hit or miss. It would be interesting to see what the breakdown of the grosses for each film and compare it to the total box office gross and do this for prior years. My theory is that there are more big hits that make up the large gross recently as compared to prior years where there may have been a more even distribution. But that's just my theory. It's like a movie has to gross well the openning weekend or it's not going to do well at the box office.

However, dvd gives a mediocore or poor box office movie new life. What people skip in the theaters, they will either buy or rent to see. I think that's even more the case these days. With DVD you'll get great sound and picture for a fraction of the cost of two tickets. The thing that worries me is the increased preasure for Pan & Scan titles. At the moment there are not many, but I'm sure the preasure is there and I think it poses a bigger threat than rental pricing.

I wish our theaters would lower prices, but they it's still pretty pricy to go to a movie these days.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[John Holmes]

It seems like just yesterday, when I would walk into any video store and ask about DVD and the clerks and owners would say "What?".

I too am glad it has become mainstream. Hopefully, it's not at a price of giving up widescreen.

Now, if I could just find some of those 8" laserdisc videos!




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's