'WEDDING' DVD BIG FAT RENTAL SMASH INDIE FLICK HAULS IN $15.8 MILLION IN 1ST WEEK IN STORES.Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer ``My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' generated an impressive $15.8 million in rental revenue during its first week of release on home video and scored the third-biggest DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. debut ever, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. figures released Thursday by the Video Software Dealers Association. The romantic comedy, released on video Feb. 11, is the biggest title so far this year in both the DVD and VHS (Video Home System) A half-inch, analog videocassette recorder (VCR) format introduced by JVC in 1976 to compete with Sony's Betamax, introduced a year earlier. formats, and is dominating the rental and sales charts by wide margins. ``It's at the top of every category,'' said Kevin Gardner, a spokesman for Blockbuster Inc., the nation's largest video-store chain. The VSDA VSDA Video Software Dealers Association reported that the $8.8 million in first-week DVD-rental revenue for ``Greek Wedding'' is a total that has been topped by only two other movies: the action-adventure ``XXX'' ($9.8 million) and the suspense-thriller ``Signs'' ($9.3 million). HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy Home Video does not discuss specific sales figures sales figures npl → cifras fpl de ventas , but several industry sources estimate that it sold 4 million ``Greek Wedding'' DVDs during the first five days of release. ``We are very happy with the first-week sales we've had,'' said Zane Plsek, director of video for the Wherehouse Music chain. ``It has the biggest first-week unit sales unit sales Sales measured in terms of physical units rather than dollars. Unit sales data are often used by financial analysts when evaluating the health of a company. of any movie we've had this year.'' Romantic comedies in general enjoyed robust sales last week with ``Greek Wedding'' displacing the previous week's top-seller ``Sweet Home Alabama Sweet Home Alabama (song) ,'' starring Reese Witherspoon. Plsek praised HBO's ambitious marketing campaign for ``Greek Wedding,'' which included spots on sports shows. ``They didn't just go after the female market, they went after the guys who would want to buy it for their wives,'' he said. ``The timing, right before Valentine's Day, could not have been better.'' The film about a Greek-American woman (Nia Vardalos) who falls in love with a WASP high school teacher (John Corbett) and struggles to get her eccentric family to accept him bowed in theaters back in April 2002 and became a word-of-mouth box office sensation. Even though ``Greek Wedding'' is now available on video, the film is still playing in theaters and finished last weekend in the top 25 at the box office. It has a cumulative gross of $240.8 million, making it the highest-grossing independent movie to date and the biggest-grossing romantic comedy ever released. ``We anticipated this would be a very successful title, given its box office performance,'' said Blockbuster's Gardner. The film earned an Academy Award nomination last week for Best Original Screenplay for Vardalos, who based the film on her real life. The home video release precedes Monday's debut of the new CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. comedy ``My Big Fat Greek Life,'' which stars Vardalos and most of the movie's original cast. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) ``My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' generated rentals of $15.8 million during its first week in stores. |
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