The secret & hidden box office...

[Tuukka]

The commercial success of a film is always determined according to it's theatrical run. I checked some video and DVD lists at www.boxofficemojo.com (http://www.boxofficemojo.com) and realized that some films make enourmous amounts of money outside their theatrical release. Some even make MORE money on video and DVD. I wonder why this is never acknowledged. Many films that are considered as bombs are not bombs after all and manage to make a nice profit. These two top 2001 lists are just for rentals, the sold DVD's and videos can make dozens of millions in the USA market as well.

1
Unbreakable
Dis.
$20.67
6/26
$95.01
21.8%

2
The Family Man
Uni.
$19.43
7/17
$75.79
25.6%

3
Meet the Parents
DW
$19.19
3/6
$166.24
11.5%

4
Cast Away
Fox
$18.76
6/12
$233.63
8.0%

5
Traffic
USA
$18.54
5/29
$124.12
14.9%

6
What Women Want
Par.
$16.69
5/8
$182.81
9.1%

7
What Lies Beneaath
DW
$16.22
1/30
$155.39
10.4%

8
Miss Congeniality
WB
$15.21
5/1
$106.81
14.2%

9
Swordfish
WB
$15.10
10/30
$69.77
21.6%

10
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Sony
$14.66
6/5
$128.08
11.4%

11
Hannibal
MGM
$14.61
8/21
$165.09
8.8%

12
Along Came a Spider
Par.
$14.39
9/25
$74.08
19.4%

13
Men of Honor
Fox
$13.64
4/10
$48.81
27.9%

14
The Mexican
DW
$13.62
8/7
$66.85
20.4%

15
15 Minutes
NL
$13.41
8/14
$24.40
55.0%

16
Charlie's Angels
Sony
$13.41
3/27
$125.31
10.7%

17
Blow
NL
$13.38
9/11
$52.94
25.3%

18
The Mummy Returns
Uni.
$13.15
10/2
$202.02
6.5%

19
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Dis.
$12.84
6/13
$45.51
28.2%

20
Pearl Harbor
Dis.
$12.74
12/4
$198.54
6.4%

The first number is the DVD gross in millions. The second is date of release. The third is the theatrical B.O and the final percent number is the perecentage of DVD sales when compared to theatrical B.O.

[Tuukka]

And here are numbers for top 2001 video rentals:


1
Meet the Parents
DW
$96.45
3/6
$166.24
58.0%

2
What Women Want
Par.
$78.17
5/8
$182.81
42.8%

3
Miss Congeniality
WB
$75.58
5/1
$106.81
70.8%

4
Cast Away
Fox
$74.92
6/12
$233.63
32.1%

5
What Lies Beneaath
DW
$73.55
1/30
$155.39
47.3%

6
Me, Myself & Irene
Fox
$69.50
1/24
$90.57
76.7%

7
The Family Man
Uni.
$68.49
7/17
$75.79
90.4%

8
Traffic
USA
$66.89
5/29
$124.12
53.9%

9
Remember the Titans
Dis.
$57.85
3/21
$115.65
50.0%

10
Hollow Man
Sony
$56.38
1/3
$73.21
77.0%

11
Men of Honor
Fox
$55.85
4/10
$48.81
114.4%

12
Unbreakable
Dis.
$55.44
6/26
$95.01
58.4%

13
Coyote Ugly
Dis.
$53.93
1/17
$60.79
88.7%

14
Bring It On
Uni.
$53.21
2/14
$68.38
77.8%

15
Charlie's Angels
Sony
$52.95
3/27
$125.31
42.3%

16
The Wedding Planner
Sony
$51.27
7/4
$60.40
84.9%

17
Save the Last Dance
Par.
$51.04
6/20
$91.06
56.1%

18
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Dis.
$50.45
6/13
$45.51
110.9%

19
Gladiator
DW
$49.01
11/22/00
$187.68
26.1%

20
Hannibal
MGM
$48.50
8/21
$165.09
29.4%

[Tuukka]

I mean look at those damn numbers! O Brother where art thou made "only" 45 million at B.O, but then it made 62 million on the video and DVD rentals. If you add all the sold DVD's and videos, you can probably at least 5 million. That means the film made at least 112 million in USA, making it a major commercial success (the film had a budget of 25 million).

[inglourious basterd]

Tuukka...

I was wondering how we read those statistics..

Unbreakable
Dis.
$20.67 A
6/26
$95.01 B
21.8% C

Can you explain what A, B, and C are?

[inglourious basterd]

I have to agree that these numbers are interesting. Perhaps the reason that we do not hear about these numbers is most likely because the rental chains probably keep most of the money. (Otherwise, there is no way that the small mom and pop chains would be able to survive).

The reason is because they pay inflated prices for the VHS and DVD tapes that they rent out. To my knowledge, I believe that they pay $100 (US) to rent out a single VHS tape. Can anyone confirm this? Here is evidence of that:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=40167988&loc=322
In there, they are selling Black Hawk Down for $98.99. Their reason for doing so is as follows:
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Why is this video so expensive??

Rental vs. Sell-Through

Videos are released by studios in either one of two ways. The first is called sell-through. When a studio releases a video to sell-through, it means that the movie is released directly to the consumer market in the $19.99 to $24.99 price range. The second method a studio will use to release a video is called rental. What this means is that the studio prices the video in the $79.99 to $129.99 price range, and intends the video to be purchased by video rental stores. This title is a rental title. However, sales of rental titles are not limited to just video rental stores. You may also purchase the title at the rental price. It usually takes six months after its video release for a rental title to get repriced at sell-through. </font>

[This message has been edited by psudoazn (edited 06-16-2002).]

[FeverDog420]

The $100 price tag is just the retail price for rental tapes. Videostores pay wholesale price for "rental only" movies - around $50-$60.

[Tuukka]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by psudoazn:
Tuukka...

I was wondering how we read those statistics..

Unbreakable
Dis.
$20.67 A
6/26
$95.01 B
21.8% C

Can you explain what A, B, and C are?</font>

A) the video rental B.O in millions
B) The theatrical B.O
C) the percentage of video rental B.O when compared to theatrical B.O

[Tuukka]

I'ms sure that a great percentage of the money goes to video stores. However, theater chains also take 30-50% of the theatrical B.O (I don't remember what was the exact percentage, but I think it was closer to 50%...)