…details how it looks to be a slow summer in terms of recent big movies hitting DVD. Since there’s little indication that the theatrical season will be much better (although there will be hits, like Star Wars and Batman Begins–although we’ll see if either of them hits Spider-Man like levels), that’s bad news for the studios.
Partly this is due to the lack of many good movies lately. It’s hard to argue with this observation: “Based on the way the box office has been performing lately, TV is looking more exciting than most films,” Newbury Comics buyer Larry Mansdorf said. “People have developed their collections already, and they’re going to ask, ‘Do I want to buy Constantine? I have the last two Keanu flops. Do I really need to buy another?”
However, and I liked hearing this, the TV set market is booming. I knew that, but was astounded to read the following: “In contrast, it’s a blockbuster period in terms of TV. At deadline, 24 TV DVD sets were rolling out on June 7 alone. An average week produces about 14.”
Those are huge numbers. The reasons for this are obvious. First, especially with the advent of season sets, which mostly now sell south of $50, sometimes as low as $30, you are getting a lot of bang for your buck with these. Also, people have emotional attachments to TV shows. If you spent eight years of your life watching something week to week, it’s going to stick with you. I would also imagine a lot of these sets, again because of the generally low prices, are being bought to give as gifts. If your Pop likes classic Westerns, and you can give him a set of Have Gun Will Travel featuring 39 episodes–over 15 hours of material!–and costing about $30, that’s a pretty decent present.
