[Ostrogoth]

I remember back in the late 80s, many movies took 12-24 months (maybe even longer) to get released on VHS after being released in the theater. As time went on, the VHS, and eventually DVD release dates, got closer and closer to the theatrical release dates. I'm still under the impression that we've moved to the 2-5 month delay range (pending marketing decisions, involving theater performance) for most major studio theater releases.

I know as of last year, some indie companies started releasing the theater and DVD versions on the same day (they were selling DVDs when you left the theater).


I've always wondered if there are any good websites out there that cover, in data or graph format, the history of theater release dates versus home media release dates. I think this would be some interesting info.


Anyone seen any websites/links that cover this type of stuff?

Anyone have an examples of some mainstream stuff that has hit DVD in under 2 months after the theater release, as of recently?


Thanks

 

[Ostrogoth]

no one...?

somebody must have come across something while surfing.

 

[davdev]

I don't have any graphs, but the release dates are definatly getting closer, especially for DVD's released in other regions. I think the Russian DVD for The Departed was released very shortly after the movie opened

 

[LugNutX]

This question interested me, so I analyzed the last two months of DVD releases. I chose 36 of the biggest releases (from large studios and/or large box offices) between December and January and compared the theater and DVD release dates.


My findings:


Shortest release span: 88 days

Saw III, $80.2 million

Jet Li's Fearless, $24.6 million

All The King's Men, $7.1 million

Longest release span: 165 days

The Devil Wears Prada, $124.7 million

A Scanner Darkly, $5.3 million

Average release span: 121 days (or roughly 4 months)


In general, movies with bigger box office receipts took almost a month longer to hit DVD than those with smaller revenue. This did include most of the summer blockbusters.


I'm not sure how this compares to years past, but I intend to analyze some previous years to see if the release times are getting shorter. I would also like to look at independent/small budget films vs. big studio films, and see if there is a correlation with box office receipts.


Note that these are all U.S. release dates, I did not look at international numbers.

 

[Ostrogoth]

hey, thanks for the info. interesting to see some data.


The reason I originally posted this thread is because I remember coming across a webpage a few years ago that had this type of info and haven't seen it since.


...was hoping someone would have seen something.


It's always interesting to see the marketing techniques that are used to maximize sales.