DVDS EMERGING AS SEASON'S HOT GIFT.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Two of the hottest gifts this holiday season are proving to be newly affordable DVD players and DVD versions of such recent hits as ``Spider- Man,'' ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' and ``Ice Age,'' which are being snapped off store shelves.

``These are perfect grab bag gifts,'' said West Hills resident Shirley Mark as she dug through a large bin of discount DVDs at the Best Buy store in Canoga Park. ``They've come down in price and are more affordable now. I like them because they are more modern than VHS.''

Best Buy Co. spokesman Jeff Faust said the 545-store chain has dramatically stocked up on both DVD players and movies for this holiday season in anticipation of heavy sales.

``The DVD players were one of the most popular items we sold over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend,'' Faust said. ``The prices are down now to where most people can get involved.''

By the end of 2002, approximately 50 percent of U.S. households are expected to own DVD players, resulting in an unprecedented demand for movies and other entertainment in the DVD format, according to the Encino-based Video Software Dealers Association.

With about 250 different models available, the prices vary but many models are selling for well under $100 at such popular retail chains as Best Buy and Wal-Mart and some are even on selling for under $50 at some drugstore and supermarket chains.

``The DVD players are certainly now affordable to almost anyone and there is an awful lot of publicity over some of the programming you get on DVDs,'' said Carrie Dieterich, the VSDA's vice president of marketing and industry relations. ``I think people are really realizing that compared to VHS, the DVD not only has better sound and picture but also has extra material that you can't get anywhere else.''

Projections call for approximately 20 million DVD players being sold by the end of the year compared with 16.7 million players sold in 2001, according to figures provided by the DVD Entertainment Group, an industry-funded nonprofit association.

In addition to the lower prices for DVD players, a growing number of consumers are buying movies in the format. This season in particular has been filled with high-profile blockbusters that finished their theatrical runs just this summer including ``Spider-Man,'' the latest ``Star Wars'' movie, ``Men in Black II,'' ``Austin Powers'' and ``The Sum of All Fears.'' ``Ice Age,'' which hit stores last Wednesday, sold a whopping 7 million copies during its first five days in stores, generating in excess of $115 million in consumer spending.

While these blockbuster titles are expected to lead to a record fourth- quarter for the DVD industry, the third quarter also showed that demand has more than doubled from just a year ago with 153.3 million DVD titles being sold. Most of the titles are double discs and sell for $19.99 but many chains discount them for under $15 for a short period of time when they are first released.

``The holiday season is always a big new release time and it's like one hand washes the other,'' Faust said. ``They drive sales of each other. A greater amount of new releases and more interest in them are driving people to buy DVD players.''

On Tuesday, two more high-profile summer hits landed in stores: ``Austin Powers in Goldmember'' and ``Lilo & Stitch,'' with the latter film having its launch at a televised event at a shopping center in Canoga Park where the film's director and other principals were on hand and characters from the film treated the crowd to singing and dancing.

Studios have begun to treat some DVD launches like movie premieres, with glitzy, star-studded events for the fall DVD releases of ``Grease'' and ``The Scorpion King,'' as more emphasis is being put on first-week sales of a title in the increasingly competitive DVD marketplace.

The day after Thanksgiving, the lines at Fry's Electronics in Woodland Hills snaked through the store, with customers enduring at least an hour wait to pay for their items. Many had in their carts new DVD players that, with a rebate, cost just $39.

Bay Area resident Sarah Ratcliff already had the DVD player but wanted to load up on some of the discount DVDs including the store's most popular title, ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' which was on sale for a deeply discounted $11.77.

``We bought my mom a DVD player for Mother's Day and now we are going to buy her some DVDs for Christmas,'' said the 25-year-old Ratcliff, who was visiting for the holidays.

Standing further back in the line were Agoura Hills resident Ron Monitz and his 12-year-old son, Jonathan. Father and son had differing views on whether DVDs are good Christmas gifts.

Said the elder Monitz: ``At best it's a stocking stuffer. I don't think you can get away with buying a movie and saying it's a personalized gift. It's just another effort by (the movie industry) to infiltrate our homes.''

But his son, who was holding a stack of titles that ranged from ``The Sum of All Fears'' to ``Jaws,'' would welcome such gifts.

``I'm a movie collector,'' Jonathan Monitz said. ``I know everything about them and I like all the extras.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Flying Elvi perform at the release of ``Lilo & Stitch'' on DVD. Studios have begun to treat DVD launches like movie premieres as more emphasis is being put on first-week sales in the increasingly competitive DVD marketplace.

(2) Characters from ``Lilo & Stitch'' perform at a DVD release party. Studios have begun to treat DVD launches like movie premieres as more emphasis is being put on first-week sales in the increasingly competitive DVD marketplace.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer