Fox Home Entertainment Debuts ‘Virtual Storefronts’ in Malls

Shoppers at nearly 20 malls managed by Taubman Centers will be able to “stop, scan and shop” for Fox movies using a mobile app, under a new marketing partnership between Taubman and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

With the introduction of the “Fox Movie Mall” app (available at the iTunes Store and Android Market), shoppers at the Taubman malls can choose one of the film titles from a wallscape display, scan a QR code, and make their purchases online, to have discs shipped directly to their door. Those that download and launch the Fox Movie Mall app can save up to 50 percent on their purchases, and have access to a “Rio” coloring app, along with additional games, trailers, and movie/TV clips.

The exclusive year-long partnership between Fox and Taubman will also include the installation of home entertainment lounges in central mall locations, with HDTVs showcasing footage from the upcoming “Alvin and the Chipmuks: Chipwrecked” Blu-ray (released March 27), along with other family-friendly films from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

The program kicks off in 18 Taubman mall locations nationwide on March 16.

Sales of ‘Star Wars’ on Blu-ray Top a Half Million in North America

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s nine-disc “Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray,” released last Friday, is already a million seller worldwide.

The studios announced that fans in North America have purchased 515,000 copies of the anticipated Blu-ray set so far, good for $38 million. Worldwide consumer spending on the set has topped $84 million.

As of midday Friday, the set was sitting atop Amazon.com’s chart of best-selling Blu-ray titles, while ranking as the third most popular purchase on the site’s Movies & TV list (which also includes single-disc titles on Blu-ray and DVD, along with electronic sell-through programs). Amazon is seling the set for $79.99, a 43 percent discount from its $139.99 list price.

‘Rio’ Disc Sales Top 2.5 Million In First Six Days

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has reason to sing about home entertainment sales: its animated family film “Rio,” released on disc Aug. 2, sold 2.5 million copies in its first six days, according to the studio.

Combination Blu-ray and DVD packs represented 40 percent of sales (1 million units) during the six-day period, Fox says.

“Rio” was a big-screen hit earlier this year, earning nearly $39.2 million during its domestic opening weekend in April and $143.3 million in domestic theaters to date (via Box Office Mojo).

The DVD release has received promotional support from 50 brands — including Chiquita, which tied in with “Rio” for its theatrical run (via Variety). The fruit brand has been including $3 coupons for the “Rio” disc on millions of its bananas, avocados, and pineapples in supermarkets nationwide.

Fox Adds Android Support for Digital Copy; Promotes ‘Star Wars’ Blu-ray Set with iPad App

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is expanding its “digital copy” program — under which Blu-ray purchasers can download copies of films for viewing on computers or mobile devices — to include support for the Android smartphone and tablet platform (via the Financial Times). The studio, which tested Android digital copies with a Blu-ray release in February (via Engadget), plans to roll out Android support for all titles this fall, beginning with “X-Men: First Class.”

Vincent Marcais, senior vice president of marketing for Fox’s international home entertainment division, tells FT that the studio still views digital copies as driving physical sales. “The starting point for us is that people like to own a movie,” Marcais says. “We need a business model that satisfies that need and Blu-ray is the business model that satisfies that.”

In related news, fans of the “Star Wars” franchise seem to be adhering to conventional notions of ownership, even as they embrace digital platforms. With Fox ramping up promotion for its upcoming Blu-ray collection of the six “Star Wars” films, the studio has released a free iPad app previewing the Blu-ray set’s bonus materials. The app, released Tuesday, is currently among the top 20 free apps on the Apple App Store.

Relativity Signs With Fox for DVD, Blu-ray Distribution

Relativity Media announced Thursday it has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for the marketing and distribution of Relativity’s films on DVD and Blu-ray.

The deal commences with upcoming titles including the thriller “Limitless,” the fantasy drama “Immortals,” and Relativity’s as-yet-untitled Snow White film.

The company’s DVD and Blu-ray titles previously were distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The Fox agreement follows Relativity’s acquisition of Overture Films’ marketing and distribution operations in 2010, along with its signing a streaming pact with Netflix and a deal with Technicolor for services including DVD compression and digital delivery.

With its latest deal, the production company says that it is “now a fully integrated studio with the ability to competitively release both Relativity-produced and third-party pictures across all media.”

Directors Talk Blu-ray, Home Entertainment Tech at CES

Renowned filmmakers Baz Luhrmann, Michael Mann and Oliver Stone will appear at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week, trading thoughts on Blu-ray and other home entertainment technologies.

The directors — responsible for films such as “Moulin Rouge,” “Heat” and “Wall Street” — will offer their impressions of how today’s audiences want to watch movies at home. The panel, presented by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, will take place at Panasonic’s CES booth on Jan. 7. Los Angeles Times reporter Geoff Boucher will moderate the directors’ discussion and an audience Q&A session.

Fox Taps Allied Vaughn For MGM’s ‘Manufacturing on Demand’

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announces a deal with manufacturer Allied Vaughn that enables any retailer with a website to sell made-to-order DVDs from MGM’s Limited Edition Collection of previously unreleased titles.

Initially, more than 50 films — previously unreleased on DVD in the U.S. — will be offered through the “manufacturing on demand program.” The first wave includes the 1982 thriller “Still of the Night” starring Meryl Streep and Roy Scheider; “Rolling Thunder” (1977) starring Tommy Lee Jones; and “The Hawaiians” (1970) starring Charlton Heston.

Fox plans to expand the MGM collection to 400 titles within the next 18 months.

The manufacturing-on-demand model “provides an ideal solution to retailers who wish to expand the MGM DVD titles they offer to their customers without having to make an inventory investment,” said Eric Doctorow, General Manager of MGM Worldwide.

‘Avatar’ Disc Sales Nearing 20M

After three weeks on retail shelves, James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ has topped sales of 19.7 million Blu-ray disc and DVD units combined worldwide, according to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Blu-ray sales account for nearly one third of that number, at 6.2 million units. By Deadline Hollywood

‘Avatar’ Sales Raise The Bar For Blu-ray

Weekend shoppers helped to push Blu-ray sales of “Avatar” past the 2.7-million-unit mark, according to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. In its first four days of release, the title has managed to break the Blu-ray sales record of 2.5 million units, which had been held by Warner Home Video’s “The Dark Knight.”

Retail sales of “Avatar” Blu-ray and DVD have exceeded 6.7 million copies since its launch April 22, putting the title on pace to be the best selling “in recent history,” Fox states in a release.

The key issue for the Blu-ray business is whether future titles will be able to top “Avatar” in turn. As the Wrap points out, the “Avatar” numbers do not come close to besting all-time industry record-setters – such as Disney’s “Finding Nemo,” which sold a combined 8 million DVD and VHS copies on its first day of release in 2003. By The Wrap

‘Avatar’ Sells 1.5M Blu-ray Copies On First Day

Blu-ray sales of “Avatar” topped 1.5 million copies yesterday, while standard DVD sales of the film are estimated to have surpassed 2.5 million units, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Studio Twentieth Century Fox tells the trade mag that retailers had sold out of 60% of their Blu-ray inventory on the disc’s April 22 street date, while mass merchants moved 50% of their “Avatar” DVDs. By The Hollywood Reporter

Redbox Settles With Fox, Universal

As anticipated, the kiosk company reaches 28-day window agreements with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The supply deals end Redbox’s legal dispute with the studios – and keep new-release DVDs such as Fox’s “Avatar” and Universal’s “It’s Complicated” out of Redbox machines until late May. Both deals also cover Blu-ray discs, which Redbox is currently testing. Redbox

Fox, Universal Cut 28-Day Deals With Netflix

Netflix announced agreements with the home entertainment units of Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Studios, in which the service forgoes renting new-release movies from the studios for 28 days in exchange for expanded streaming video licenses.

Among the titles that the studios hope will benefit from the creation of a four-week sales window are Fox’s “Avatar” (released April 22) and Universal’s “It’s Complicated” (in stores April 27).

Through the expanded streaming licenses, Netflix gains Universal titles such as “Gosford Park” and Fox catalog films, along with complete prior seasons of several Fox television series such as “24” and “Bones.”

The new agreements follow Netflix’s first 28-day deal with Warner Home Video, which went into effect in March. There has been little subscriber outcry over the four-week wait to rent Warner’s “The Blind Side” and other new releases.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s stock price was hovering above $80 a share this morning, as investors continue to be wowed by the company’s April 3 introduction of a streaming video app for Apple’s iPad. The stock sold this week for as high as $83.97 a share; current earnings per share are $1.98.

Indeed, Netflix seems to have given up little, if any, brand equity on Wall Street with its delayed DVD acccess deals. “Netflix is a cult stock,” analyst Jim Cramer wrote in a recent blog post. “This stock is loved, and the product is loved, and I cannot countenance selling it even at 31 times next year’s earnings.”

Studios Deal For First Lien On Blockbuster Canada Assets

Continuing its efforts to avoid bankruptcy, Blockbuster has secured new payment terms from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, and Warner Home Video. In exchange, the studios receive a first lien on assets of the chain’s Canada subsidiary. As with Blockbuster’s previously announced rental deal with Warner, Fox and Sony also provide new-release movies for rental via the chain’s stores and by-mail channel day-and-date with the movies’ availability for purchase. Via PR Newswire

Fox Answers Redbox, Repeats Call For Dismissal

In its latest court filings in its litigation with Redbox, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment asserts that the kiosk operator has yet to prove the studio violated antitrust laws when it called for distributors to keep new release DVDs away from Redbox for 28 days after street date. The studio asked Feb. 8 for oral arguments regarding its motion to dismiss the case. By Home Media Magazine

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