LOS ANGELES — When wondering what the top-selling DVDs of 2004 were, such blockbuster titles as "Shrek 2," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and "The Passion of the Christ" immediately come to mind.
But what about "Brother Bear," "The Rundown," "Out of Time" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico"? With robust video sales and rental revenue, these and other 2004 releases have earned more than double their box office take, giving studios generous second helpings of revenue from multiplex also-rans.
"One of the trends that is really emerging in new releases is the power of the mid-box office hit," said Blake Thomas, MGM Home Entertainment's senior vice president of worldwide marketing. "It's all about the right genre, the right star, and recognizing the opportunity."
MGM Home Entertainment built on the $41 million grossed in theaters by Denzel Washington's "Out of Time" by turning it into a $93 million-grossing hit on video. A similar trajectory was followed by the studio's remake of "Walking Tall" starring The Rock.
"In home entertainment, we have the luxury of going second so we really get to learn a lot about the appeal of a film by watching the response of theatrical and taking advantage of the research not available to the theatrical group," Thomas said. "In the positioning of 'Walking Tall,' we were able to fine-tune the positioning to really reinforce the appeal of The Rock."
The Rock had also underperformed on the big screen for Universal Studios in "The Rundown" which stalled at $48 million at the box office. But on video, the film has earned $102 million in sales and rentals.
"The one thing about DVD is so many consumers that buy them haven't seen the movie in the theater," said Ken Gaffeo, executive vice president of Universal Studios Home Video. "We put a lot of emphasis on our marketing campaign, we support them very strongly."
Summer theatrical releases "The Chronicles of Riddick" starring Vin Diesel and "Van Helsing" featuring Hugh Jackman were not the domestic blockbusters Universal had hoped for, grossing $58 million and $125 million respectively.
But with each video loaded with bonus material backed by full marketing campaigns, "Riddick" has earned about $90 million in video revenue to date while "Van Helsing" earned $65 million in sales during its first week alone.
"For 'Riddick' we did the unrated director's cut which extended the movie by over 20 minutes and for 'Van Helsing,' we worked for over a year on the bonus features," Gaffeo said. "We resell to the audience, to the fan base. Also, the talent has been very supportive. Both Hugh Jackman and Vin Diesel did press junkets for the DVD."
Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment had the most opportunity this year to improve upon the box office performances of its movie slate since so many of them had been box office disappointments. Disney has a tremendous batting average when it comes to this conversion, earning $1.57 back in home video for every dollar spent in theaters, well above the industry average of $1.21 for every dollar.
"We've done it year after year," said Pat Fitzgerald, Disney's executive vice president of sales, distribution and trade marketing. "We achieved 36 percent above the industry average. We over-convert just about every one of our products."
Disney's Eddie Murphy comedy "Haunted Mansion" peaked at $76 million in ticket sales but was a huge video hit, amassing $112 million in revenue. "Brother Bear" made $85 million in theaters, then went on to have a sensational video run, making $158 million.
Among the other Disney video titles that out-earned their box gross were "Hidalgo," "Miracle," "Home on the Range," "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "The Alamo."
"We obviously have the ability to do a little bit of armchair quarterbacking," Fitzgerald said. "We can see what might have worked and what didn't work in the theaters. We also do very well with the non-sexy elements like supply and product placement."
The Russell Crowe epic "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" peaked at $94 million in domestic grosses, but when released on DVD by Fox Home Entertainment became a $100 million-plus hit.
"It's tapping into that audience that has already seen it and expanding beyond that to maybe people who couldn't get to the theater to see it will go in and purchase it," said Steve Feldstein, Fox's senior vice president of corporate and marketing communications.
Warner Home Video has also managed to make home video successes out of such box office underperformers as "Gothika," "Taking Lives" and "A Cinderella Story" while Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" has nearly doubled its $56 million box office take.
According to Kelly Sooter, head of domestic marketing for DreamWorks Home Video, now over 60 percent of people who buy a movie did not see it in theaters, up from a few years ago when less than 40 percent had not seen it on the big screen.
"It used to be that you bought a movie because you saw a movie and liked it." Sooter said. "Now it's more of thinking it's a movie you'd like to see or heard was good."