BUSINESS 2005: MOVIEGOERS CHOOSIER SCATTERED MEGAHITS CAN'T SAVE BOX OFFICE BUT DVD SALES RISE.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

In a year that offered up the final installment of ``Star Wars'' and a darker chapter in the ``Harry Potter'' series, movie fans showed that they are still willing to line up at the megaplex for a big-event picture.

But as 2005 dragged on and ambitious fare like ``Kingdom of Heaven,'' ``Stealth'' and ``The Island'' bombed and far too many other films failed to cross the $100 million mark domestically, it became increasingly clear that the moviegoing public had become a far more choosier bunch.

They embraced ``War of the Worlds,'' ``Batman Begins,'' ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and ``Wedding Crashers'' over the summer but attendance between the first weekend in May and Labor Day weekend was down by nearly 12 percent compared with 2004.

In contrast, sales of DVD titles continued to grow, but even that was at a slower pace than at any time since the format's inception in 1997. Still, with only an average 4-6 month window between a film's theatrical and DVD debuts, consumers could more easily opt to wait to see a film with lukewarm buzz in the comfort of their own home rather than shell out the price of movie tickets.

While new-release films remained hot commodities on DVD, the biggest growth area in 2005 was TV shows on DVD. With slimmer packaging, lower prices and more titles than ever, fans are scooping up boxed sets of current shows like ``Lost,'' ``Desperate Housewives'' and ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' as well as such older favorites as ``I Love Lucy,'' ``M*A*S*H'' and ``Roseanne.''

As for the current television season, CBS has continued to dominate in the overall ratings with its three ``CSI'' shows and other hit dramas like ``Without a Trace,'' ``NCIS,'' and ``Ghost Whisperer.'' But ABC has continued its ratings ascent with such water-cooler hits as ``Housewives,'' ``Lost,'' ``Grey's Anatomy'' ``Dancing with the Stars,'' and ``Commander in Chief.''

Behind the scenes, it was a year of major change among the executive ranks led by the Sept. 30 retirement of Michael D. Eisner as chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Co. after more than two decades in the job.

Eisner had been under fire during the latter years of his reign from such foes as former second-in-commands Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Ovitz, Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, Miramax Films founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and former Disney board member Roy Disney, nephew of the company's founder.

But Eisner left Disney in a stable place despite the lack of blockbuster films in 2005 and his successor, Robert Iger, has managed to resume negotiations with Pixar to continue its lucrative film distribution partnership with Disney. Frustrated with Eisner, Jobs had cut off talks in early 2004.

Another changing of the guard took place at Paramount Pictures where longtime studio chief Sherry Lansing retired at the start of the year and was succeeded by Brad Grey who has since replaced several top executives with his own team, which includes studio President Gail Berman, former president of programming at the Fox television network.

Ironically, since Grey took over, Paramount has had some of its biggest hits in years: ``War of the Worlds,'' and ``The Longest Yard,'' both produced under Lansing's regime.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, one of Hollywood's most storied movie studios, ended its days as an independent company in 2005 and MGM became a unit of Sony Corp.

Major change also took place at Miramax Films as the Weinstein brothers severed ties with parent company Disney after a few tumultuous final years. The Weinsteins began their own company while a scaled-down Miramax remains a specialty division of Disney, which kept the division's valuable 800-film library.

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Johnny Depp portrays a top hat-wearing candy tycoon in ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,'' a Warner Bros. fantasy adventure that attracted audiences in 2005.

(2 -- color) Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter skillfully wields a wand in the Warner Bros. fantasy ``Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,'' a major revenue-booster for the studio.

Warner Bros.