Video release of SPIDER-MAN sets records

By: Jennifer H. Tomooka
Date: Monday, November 04, 2002
Source: VARIETY

SPIDER-MAN didn't have to do whatever a spider could to get audiences scrambling for copies of his video and DVD release. He merely had to show up on the shelves at your local video store.

VARIETY reports that more than $125 million was spent buying and renting the title on DVD and videocassette on Friday alone, with more than $200 million netted by the superhero on video through Sunday, according to preliminary estimates.

If rental figures weren't enough to impress you, how about this: Sony Pictures Entertainment president John Calley stated that a record 7 million copies were sold Friday, with an estimated 11 million copies expected to be sold through the weekend, generating roughly $190 million in retail revenue.

And the web slinger also has major purchasing power. Sony's Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment president, Ben Feingold, said that between 75%-80% of the copies purchased (roughly 8.5 million units) were on DVD, a record percentage for a major release.

Another significant statistic for SPIDER-MAN is that 40% of the 26 million DVD and VHS copies shipped to stores have already been sold. That's a record in the DVD era and second in sales only to Disney's THE LION KING, which shipped 28.8 million videocassettes in its initial shipment in February 1995, according to Adams Media Research.

SPIDER-MAN is expected to surpass THE LION KING's historic 31 million copies sold to date, but this is assuming that Disney doesn't release the DVD version of THE LION KING (expected 2003) before Spidey has a chance to get there.

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