MUST-SEE DVDS TV SHOWS, HIT MOVIES MAKE DISCS A TOP HOLIDAY SELLER.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

CANOGA PARK - It's no accident that just a few yards from the front door of this crowded Best Buy store is a massive, eye-catching display featuring a batch of new DVD releases including ``Spider-Man 2,'' ``Shrek 2,'' and ``The Star Wars Trilogy.''

Christmas shoppers are gravitating toward the DVD aisles at Best Buy and other retailers in droves as movies and television shows on DVD have become one of the most popular and convenient gifts of the holiday season.

``It's amazing to watch people walk into the store with a handwritten list of 30 titles, hand it to (an employee) and say, 'Help me find these,''' Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas said Tuesday. ``It's a great way to knock off a lot of the list people fast.''

Part of the boom is because more people than ever can play DVDs; VCRs are quickly fading as the primary movie player in many homes. DVD players, now in more than 63 million households, are expected to be in two of every three households by the end of the year, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, an industry trade association.

The popularity is obvious in the 340 million DVDs sold in the third quarter of 2004 alone, a 59 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. Nearly 1 billion discs have been shipped during the first nine months of the year, nearly matching the entire total of 2003.

``In the last two years, standing in line you'll see a shopping cart and people will have three, four, five, six DVDs in there,'' said Kelly Sooter, head of domestic home entertainment for DreamWorks Home Video. ``The week after Christmas is also a great week because people are bringing things back that they want to exchange and people have gift cards and cash in their pockets.''

The 661-store Best Buy chain as well as such retailers as Target, Fry's Electronics and Circuit City are advertising many new releases at deep discounts to lure customers into their stores. Wal-Mart also discounts some titles. ``Shrek 2,'' for example, was sold for $14.77 at the West Hills location this week.

``I used to give CDs,'' said Craig Falstrom, a 49-year-old accountant shopping at the Best Buy store in Canoga Park on Monday. ``DVDs are good gifts especially when you know someone likes a movie. I have a friend who liked 'The Bourne Supremacy' but his wife hated it so I can get that for him and get 'Urban Cowboy' for her, which he hates.''

Shopping in a nearby aisle was 22-year-old college student Jonathan Goldberg, who was looking for some DVDs to give as gifts, though he couldn't stop picking titles out for himself, too.

``I got my mom the first season of 'Dallas' for her birthday,'' Goldberg said. ``There are more TV shows out now so it gets easier and easier to find the right gift.''

Boxed sets of television shows new and old like ``Seinfeld,'' ``Friends,'' ``The Simpsons'' and ``Sex in the City'' have made the TV-DVD business especially hot, with industry sales of $2.3 billion expected this year and 30 percent increases predicted each year through 2008.

``TV on DVD is a full season, you have something for everybody and it is very collectible,'' said Ken Gaffeo, Universal Home Video's executive vice president of marketing. ``You can find something for everybody.''

The movie studios have become increasingly savvy with their release schedules and marketing campaigns for the television titles. While mainstream network shows are predictable big sellers, cult shows with are also enjoying success.

``We got this enormous franchise with 'Stargate SG-1,''' said Blake Thomas, senior vice president of marketing for MGM Home Entertainment. ``We ... (released) the seventh season and the response has been enormous. It seems that every season is bigger than the one before.''

TV-DVD sales through the first nine months of 2004 are running 65 percent ahead of the same period last year. In 2003, total TV-DVD sales reached $1.4 billion. More than 400 TV-DVD boxed sets are scheduled to be released next year - approximately the same number released this year.

In a sure sign that the VCR is on its last legs, industry research has shown that during the past year, more women are now buying DVDs for their children, just as they used to be the primary purchasers of family oriented VHS titles.

``It's all Disney and 'SpongeBob (SquarePants') and they watch them over and over again,'' said West Hills resident Tawni Litrov, who was busy picking out DVDs for her kids Monday at the Wal-Mart store in Fallbrook Center in West Hills.

With a DVD player now in the family car, Litrov said DVDs are an even more ideal gift for her children this year. But she also hopes to find some DVDs in her own Christmas stocking.

``If it wasn't so expensive, I'd get my sister-in-law a season of ``C.S.I.,'' Litrov said. ``We love that show. I wish someone would buy it for me!''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Cindy Lambrix shops for DVDs Tuesday from the thousands of titles available at the Best Buy in Canoga Park.

(2 -- color) The availability of blockbuster movies like ``Spider-Man 2'' has made the DVD one of the season's most popular gifts.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer