OSCARS FUEL DVD DEMAND RELEASE OF 'THE DEPARTED' ON DVD TIMED JUST RIGHT.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ

Staff Writer

When Amazon.com DVD editor Doug Thomas checked his company's "Movers and Shakers" sales chart shortly after the Academy Awards telecast Sunday night, he saw an almost immediate upward trajectory for some of the big winners.

Best picture "The Departed" had perfect timing.

It had been released on DVD just two weeks ago and was already topping the Amazon.com and other sales charts. Last week, three different DVD packages of the mob thriller were residing in the top 25, with a special two-disc edition at No. 2, the widescreen single-disc version at No. 6, and the Blue-ray version No. 21.

"It wasn't a happy accident," Thomas said Monday. "Hollywood for the last several years has been looking at the schedule of the Oscars and the nominations to check their release date."

In fact, some industry observers say the box office boost from Oscar night could disappear as studios focus on timed DVD releases to maximize profits.

This year's crop of Best Picture nominees have not been as popular with the public as recent releases like "Ghost Rider" or "Norbit."

"Departed" was the only bonafide box office hit, with a domestic gross of $131.8 million. "Babel," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "The Queen" have grossed around $160 million combined.

"The films, box office-wise, were relatively weak, with only 'The Departed' making over $100 million, so the Oscars are going to do more to boost the visibility of some of the DVD releases," observed Ralph Tribbey, editor of The DVD Report, a weekly industry newsletter.

Tribbey said "The Queen," for which Helen Mirren won Best Actress, should benefit greatly once it hits DVD shelves on April 24, as should three-time winner "Pan's Labyrinth," the Spanish-language film set for DVD release May 15.

Amazon.com's Thomas said he saw an immediate bump in demand for "The Last King of Scotland," which won Forest Whitaker the Best Actor Oscar. The DVD does not go on sale until April 17.

"Little Miss Sunshine" was already benefiting Monday from Alan Arkin's surprise Best Supporting Actor win as it returned to Amazon.com's top 10 overnight. It was the first of the Best Picture nominees to be released on DVD following its theatrical run last summer.

"The box office boost from the Academy Awards is going to kind of be a thing of the past if these things keep being released on DVD right around the time of Oscar time," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "The conventional wisdom used to be to milk every last dollar out of the box office before you release on DVD. But I think the studios are realizing there is a way to maximize both modes of delivery for these films."

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Oscar buzz is likely to increase sales for "The Departed," out on DVD.

Nick Ut/Associated Press