Which movie of these three sold most DVD’s in the USA last year? Skyfall, Fast & Furious 6, or Pitch Perfect?
For us creatives, particularly in the UK, money can seem like a dirty word. But this, as we all know, is show BUSINESS, not show hobby. Or rather it might just be your hobby unless you get jiggy with the numbers.
So here are three sites, below, that have an angle on the money.
Why is this stuff important? Well, um, movies are expensive – so if you want yours made, distributed and making its money back you’ll need a business plan and a marketing strategy.
And data (statistics and damn lies) don’t do any harm. Question: which movie was no. 5 in the list of top DVD sales in the USA last year? Skyfall? Fast & Furious 6? Nope, they were no’s 8 and 10. Number 5 was Pitch Perfect, a modest frat comedy budgeted around $17m. (ref: boxofficemojo.com Skyfall $200m, Fast & Furious 6 $160m).
Universal’s Pitch Perfect made $65m at the theatrical box office. But it sold nearly 3m DVD’s in the USA alone, scooping a further $41m (http://www.the-numbers.com/home-market/dvd-sales/2013). No figures easily available for international DVD sales – but match the USA figures and you might be around right. Eat them apples! So no surprises that “Pitch Perfect 2” is in the pipeline.
Incidentally, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 was top of the tree; selling nearly 5m units in the USA. There’s a lot of money in teenage hormones!
So, here are 3 sites to browse; the-numbers is US centric while boxofficmojo and boxofficeguru both have international data.
http://www.the-numbers.com/daily-box-office-chart