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Discover how "Die Another Day" clocked up an astonishing
$120.6m in home entertainment sales and rentals in
the USA...
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Buy Another Day
9th March 2010
Just over six-months since it was released
in theatres, MGM
planned to unleash "Die Another
Day" on DVD ad VHS across
the globe. At the time, it was the shortest window between premiere
and DVD release a
James Bond film had seen.
In the run up to its home entertainment release,
MGM exercised their publicity muscle to maximise pre-orders of "Die
Another Day" from retailers. In late April, MGM sent a special
7 page booklet to buyers and reviewers packed with sales forecasts
and campaign details interweaved with poster artwork and stills
from the film. Amusingly, the electronic version called Rosamund
Pike's character "Amanda Frost".
Above: A promotional pack for
the video-on-demand release which followed the DVD
in July 2003.
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Of the many facts and figures, it was claimed that 42-25% of
males and females under 25 years old rated the movie "above
average", 22 million active DVD households in the USA contain
a Bond fan, and 33% of those asked said they intended to purchase
the DVD. 41% said they would rent it.
The cinema campaign for the "Die Another Day" DVD
trailer was be placed infront of "X-Men 2", "The
Fast And The Furious 2" and "Matrix Reloaded" from
May through to the end of June. It was complimented by a radio
spot blitz across stations in the top 30 markets in the USA over
the same period.
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Whilst stoking up interest with retailers
in April, MGM projected that "Die Another Day" would
sell around 14 million units (DVD and VHS) worldwide, but
this figure would soon need to be revisited when sales
performance in Europe was much better than expected. Excellent
sales in the UK, Germany and France (where the DVD was
released a month earlier than the USA) gave MGM something
to smile about - the title was selling better than even
the optimistic targets. "The sales in the retail stores
have exceeded our expectations in [Europe] and we are very,
very pleased", said MGM president Chris McGurk. He
anticipated that "Die Another Day" would become
the most profitable film in MGM history, after the sales
of television pay-per-view, DVD and VHS were entered.
The good news caused MGM to increase the
sales targets to an amazing 15 million units. At an approximate
unit-cost of $14, the total sales would collect a cool $210
million worldwide. "The Bond films have always been
a tremendous hit with consumers and given the highly anticipated
arrival
of this Special Edition DVD, we are confident the title will
fly off shelves at retail", said David Bishop, president
and COO of MGM Home Entertainment. |
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Above: Cover artwork for the first
Region 1 DVD release (June 3rd 2003).
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On the first day of release
in the USA, "Die Another Day" sold
an astonishing 1 million DVD units. Two of the largest retailers
were already placing re-orders by the second day.
By the end of the first week in the USA, "Die Another Day" sold
about 5 million of its initial shipment of 8 million combined
DVD and VHS units to consumers.
By the end of 2003 in the USA, "Die Another Day" had
scooped an astonishing $80.6m in home entertainment sales and
a further $44.0m in DVD and VHS rental revenue.
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