"Star
Wars" DVD Sells at Lightspeed
Thu Sep 23, 6:30 PM ET
By Josh Grossberg
A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Star Wars became a
monster movie hit.
Now, history is repeating itself--on home video.
The long-awaited four-disc DVD box set of the original Star Wars
trilogy racked up impressive sales in its first day on shelves
Tuesday. The DVDs, combined with the separately released hugely
antipated new videogame, Star Wars Battlefront, generated a stellar
$115 million, according to figures released by 20th Century Fox
Home Enterainment and Lucasfilm.
Although the studios didn't break out the exact figures for the DVD
box set and the videogame--an action-shoot 'em up in which gamers
can reenact all the epic battles from the movies--Variety reports
about 90 percent of the sales came from the DVDs, or about 2.5
million copies. The sets retailed for $70 but were available at
deeply discounted prices, usually $40-$45, at most big boxes.
That means that George Lucas's revised "special edition" versions
of 1977's Star Wars (now known as Star Wars: Episode IV--A New
Hope), 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi
easily shattered the record for the top-selling film compilation on
DVD.
However, the estimated 2.5 million DVD copies isn't in the same
star system as the all-time champ, Finding Nemo, which moved about
8 million copies on day one.
"The reason [20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm] put that out that way
because it's a huge number. It's a tough game the publicists play
and it's all about bragging rights," says Scott Hettrick, editor of
industry trade Video Exclusive.
Hettrick says the box set won't sell nearly as many units as the
year's other top-selling release, The Passion, mainly because the
latter is priced cheaper--it can be had for as little as $12 a
copy.
"There's no way a set of titles with four discs is going to sell as
many copies at about $40 as that film," says Hettrick. But, he
adds, with the holidays approaching, the Star Wars set "could get
into the $300 million range which could rank it one of the top five
titles of the year. And if you include all the different versions
over the years, it's by far and away the top-selling franchise of
all time."
A potent force for sure.
The original Star Wars films had ranked 1-2-3 on Amazon.com's most
requested DVD list and topped most-wanted polls at several
DVD-centric Websites. The box set does not include the original
versions, but the revamped editions that came out in 1997.
Aside from beefing up the special effects, such as a better-looking
CGI Jabba in the first Star Wars, the box set features other
noticeable changes from '97--like the addition of Ian McDiarmid in
a scene in Empire and a young Hayden Christensen (news) replacing
the ghost of Sebastian Shaw next to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda at the
conclusion of Jedi.
The set includes feature commentary from Lucas and a
two-and-a-half-hour documentary that includes interviews with cast
and crew and never-before-seen archival footage. There are also
featurettes on storyboarding, production design, costumes and
special effects.
The DVD debut is being timed to revive interest in the blockbuster
space opera in the months before May 2005 opening of the final
prequel, Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith. (The first
two prequels, Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace and Star
Wars: Episode II--The Attack of the Clones are already available on
DVD.)
Some diehards have expressed disappointment over Lucas' refusal to
release what they consider to be the holy grail—the original
theatrical versions.
But a Lucas isn't backing down--at least not yet.
"I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it,"
the filmmaker told Yahoo recently. "But I want it to be the way I
want it to be...they [the fans] think it should be their way. Which
is fine, except I'm making the movies, so I should have it my
way."
