Huh? Mummy Returns DVD beat TPM DVD afterall????

[Champion of the Force]

Browsing through ComingSoon.Net and found this article:


According to The Hollywood Reporter, an independent review of first-week DVD sales shows that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" did not break the first-week DVD sales record set by Universal Studios Home Video's "The Mummy Returns."

Despite a Fox news release and related stories in the media claiming that "Menace" had broken "Mummy's" record, VideoScan research shows that the "Menace" DVD came up short in a first-week sales comparison.

The trade says that while VideoScan does not take into account Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us or Amazon.com, "Mummy" outsold "Menace" by 2-to-1 in their respective first weeks at Wal-Mart and Kmart, industry sources said. "Menace" DVD sales did top "Mummy" on Amazon.com.

O ..... k. :mischief (<----- like our new mischief smilie? :) )

On another note, ComingSoon.Net also had an article about LOTR and what the producer said about the film. Read it here:

http://www.comingsoon.net/cgi-bin/archive/fullnews.cgi?newsid1004621288,37654,

The the first film is now clocked at 2 hrs 50 mins - not including credits. Looks like they didn't cut out as much as we feared they would (they were previously aiming to get it under 2 hrs 30 mins). :)

[JonathanLB]

Wow that is long.

Umm, no, Mummy Returns did not beat TPM. They can write what they want, just as people wrote that TPM didn't sell as many copies on video as Fox said. Well, the truth is, it did. Those sales figures are carefully tracked and Fox cannot just lie about them.

TPM beat Mummy Returns significantly, regardless of what they said. The truth is obviously quite relative to these journalists as they continue to bend it ceaselessly against TPM, but especially with regard to the VHS and DVD releases.

[Champion of the Force]

Hmmm, re-reading it again and I noticed this part:


The trade says that while VideoScan does not take into account Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us or Amazon.com ...
Perhaps that skewed their figures no? :mischief

[JonathanLB]

But even so, it wouldn't be 2-to-1 at other stores. That's absurd. Those morons at VideoScan never get anything right.

[darth_mcbain]

I don't know about that - I don't have any actual statistics, but it doesn't seem right that the Mummy Returns would be able to beat The Phantom Menace. I didn't think that there was that much buzz about the Mummy at all, and while it was a fun movie, it was IMHO pretty substandard and a disappointment. I couldn't see that beating TPM...

And as for skewing statistics, you can pretty much skew statistics to prove anything you want.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think the article is really messed up, first it says it doesn't include Walmart and then it says it does? I think its full of crap mostly because at the very least it doesn't include big distrubters like Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Comp USA and other computer and electronic stores which were carring it so dismissed it as soon as I read it.

[Jedieb]

First question; Why was there an independent review in the first place? Did a bored Star Trek/LOTR?Titanic fan have some free time on his hands?

Second question; How badly did Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us and Amazon.com screw this independent reviewer? Did they not allow him to return a video game because the seal was broken? Did a check out person at TRU ask for a price check on a Queen Amidala doll and humiliate him in front of the whole store? Why else would he not count their sales data?

Third Question; "I can understand how TPM may fall slightly short of The Mummy Return, especially after the video being out for so long, but a 2 to 1 margin?!" Doesn't that seem a bit much?

Fourth Question; Sometimes at night I look at the sky and ask myself; "Why is a flabby freak like Richard Simmons considered an exercise and health expert?"

Like Roseanne after a walk to the mailbox, that report smells funny.

[BUFFJEDI]

I have often thought the same about R.simmons:rolleyes

[Darth23]

I've been talking about this at TF.net, I can't believe I missed this thread here. :p

I actually PAID 15 bucks to hollywoodreporter.com to see the WHOLE ARTICLE, there was a lot of confusion after TF.net posted the link and misrepresented what the article said. According to the article, TPM didn't get the record in it's first week, the 2.2 million dollar record. The way sales look, TPM either will or already has passed TMR in total units sold.

One of the reasons they did an independant estimate was because FOX didn't release and hard numbers when theu announced that TPM took the record.

The 2 - 1 thing seems odd, specifically is said that the Videoscan chart which lists the tio selling dvds only covers 80-85% of RETAILERS. Wal-mart, K-mart and Amazon.com aren not included in this 85%. Wal Mart is a big retailer, I didn't actually know that K-mart sold dvd. According tot he article SOURCES at the two retailers states that The Mummy Returns outsold TPM 2-1 at those as stores. The article also stated that TPM beat TMR on Amazon.com

It sound kind of odd that TPM would lose so handily at only a few outlets, but then I'm not a paid full time analyst, so I dont' know if thats an anolmoly or not.

Since there are really and hard numbers available for dvd and video sales, it's hard to say what really happened. I knwo that on Amazon the Mummy was number 1 breifly when it came out, then faded out of the top ten, TPM has been mostly in the top 5 since july, it was number 1 for a week or 2, then it's been number 2 behind Shrek, and hasn't dropped.

I'll reprint the entire article:



From Hollywoodreporter.com:

"'The Mummy' vs. 'Menace': That's a wrap

Nov. 01, 2001
By Brett Sporich


An independent review of first-week DVD sales shows that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" did not break the first-week DVD sales record set by Universal Studios Home Video's "The Mummy Returns."

Despite a Fox news release and related stories in the media claiming that "Menace" had broken "Mummy's" record, VideoScan research shows that the "Menace" DVD came up short in a first-week sales comparison.

While VideoScan does not take into account Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us or Amazon.com, "Mummy" outsold "Menace" by 2-to-1 in their respective first weeks at Wal-Mart and Kmart, industry sources said. "Menace" DVD sales did top "Mummy" on Amazon.com.

Overall, DVD sales show that while "Mummy" continues to lead in total sales, "Menace" is gaining ground quickly, taking the top DVD sales slot for the week ending Oct. 21, and it leads VideoScan's First Alert DVD sales chart for the week ending Oct. 28.

Fox's Eddie Murphy starrer "Dr. Dolittle 2" topped the video rental chart its debut week, earning an estimated $7.3 million after five days on rental shelves, Video Store magazine research shows.

"Mummy" placed second on the rental chart, earning more than $7 million last week, for a cumulative total of $38.1 million.

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment's debut of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" was the third most-rented video last week, earning $5.2 million after five days on rental shelves.

VideoScan is a service of VNU and ACNielsen that collects VHS and DVD sales data from a sampling of all categories of retail stores. VideoScan charts do not include sales data from Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us or Amazon.com. Most other sell-through retailers are represented.

Video Store magazine, a leading business-to-business weekly serving the home entertainment industry, compiles and analyzes VHS and DVD rental data through an interactive methodology using a multisource predictive model with data from a statistically significant national sample of video retailers."