Disney sells 5 million copies of Pixar's Cars in two days
Walt Disney Co. said Thursday it sold over 5 million DVD copies of Pixar's "Cars" in the first two days it was available for purchase at stores, putting the film on track to be the industry’s top seller in the U.S. during the 2006 calendar year.
The spectacular sales rate emphasizes the commanding lead DVD sales maintain over digital movie copies, which are slowly emerging as an alternative to physical discs through services like Apple Computer's iTunes store.
By comparison, Disney said it sold almost 500,000 digital movie tracks through iTunes since making 75 of its titles available on the service a little less than two months ago. Earlier this week, it added "Cars" to iTunes along with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," both of which are available as downloads for $12.99.
"We expect to see a holiday boost for Cars merchandise, which has been one of our biggest lines of the year, with retail sales around $1 billion," Disney chief executive Robert Iger told analysts during the company's fiscal fourth quarter conference call on Thursday.
Over 12 million ABC TV downloads via iTunes
Over the last year, approximately 85 million of the entertainment corp's TV shows, movies and short films have been played or downloaded on iTunes, disneychannel.com, and abc.com. In addition, Iger announced that approximately 12 million ABC TV programs have been purchased since October, 2005 via iTunes.
"We have done extremely well on the iTunes platform," he said. "We have launched on two other movie platforms and given some of the announcements that have been made this past week, we believe we will have opportunities to sell movies and television shows on many other new platforms."
Despite beating Wall Street's estimates and doubling profits from the year-ago quarter, shares of Disney fell $1.20 or more than 3.5 percent on Friday amid growth concerns over the 2007 calendar year.
The spectacular sales rate emphasizes the commanding lead DVD sales maintain over digital movie copies, which are slowly emerging as an alternative to physical discs through services like Apple Computer's iTunes store.
By comparison, Disney said it sold almost 500,000 digital movie tracks through iTunes since making 75 of its titles available on the service a little less than two months ago. Earlier this week, it added "Cars" to iTunes along with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," both of which are available as downloads for $12.99.
"We expect to see a holiday boost for Cars merchandise, which has been one of our biggest lines of the year, with retail sales around $1 billion," Disney chief executive Robert Iger told analysts during the company's fiscal fourth quarter conference call on Thursday.
Over 12 million ABC TV downloads via iTunes
Over the last year, approximately 85 million of the entertainment corp's TV shows, movies and short films have been played or downloaded on iTunes, disneychannel.com, and abc.com. In addition, Iger announced that approximately 12 million ABC TV programs have been purchased since October, 2005 via iTunes.
"We have done extremely well on the iTunes platform," he said. "We have launched on two other movie platforms and given some of the announcements that have been made this past week, we believe we will have opportunities to sell movies and television shows on many other new platforms."
Despite beating Wall Street's estimates and doubling profits from the year-ago quarter, shares of Disney fell $1.20 or more than 3.5 percent on Friday amid growth concerns over the 2007 calendar year.
Comments
why would you download CARS for 12.99 when you can get the DVD for about the same price? The DVD Quality is better with no limitations of usage??? And you play it anywhere.
Because you can't get the DVD for the same price, the DVD quality being better is debatable (DVD has higher resolution but worse color), and the other two things you mentioned were the same thing.
why would you download CARS for 12.99 when you can get the DVD for about the same price? The DVD Quality is better with no limitations of usage??? And you play it anywhere.
convienence
why would you download CARS for 12.99 when you can get the DVD for about the same price? The DVD Quality is better with no limitations of usage??? And you play it anywhere.
Cars is $14.99, and that's on Amazon.com. If it's $14.99 on Amazon, it's must be even more in the shops.
/besides like music on iTunes it's because of convenience.
convienence
If you don't mind watching it on the computer.
holy _insert word of choice here_ !!!!!
That's 5 million DVD's, not downloads.
That's 5 million DVD's, not downloads.
Heh. Goooood catch mate 8) 8) 8)
Earlier this week, it added "Cars" to iTunes along with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," both of which are available as downloads for $12.99.
Um, Dead Man's Chest won't be released until December 5, 2006.
Does this have much to do with apple? I mean other than iTunes, but....
I think it really puts the iTunes deal into perspective.... 500,000 downloads of 75 films over a two month period isn't all that much when you consider that the same studio (Disney) sells 5 million copies of just ONE film in two days. Ah well, it's a start I suppose...
why would you download CARS for 12.99 when you can get the DVD for about the same price? The DVD Quality is better with no limitations of usage??? And you play it anywhere.
The DVD retails for $19.99.
Or is it easier just to roll your eyes and pay $6 for a medium?
We don't always buy the best value or pay the lowest price - but it's ALWAYS better to have more choices. It is better to have 100 choices where you can reject 99 of them instead of having 1 choice. Don't hate having a choice.
Also, how much is your actual time worth - driving from your house to a store, paying (cash or credit - you calculating the full interest?), and then driving home - how much gas you using? A typical Walmart buyer who buys a DVD spends $78 so that means by leaving the house you might've spent (in addition to the DVD) another $65 dollars you didn't intend to spend today or perhaps ever spend (honey, this mop takes 10 D batteries and it spins!) so before you narrowly define what is a good deal - make sure you're not spending $65 to save $3 dollars ...
why would you download CARS for 12.99 when you can get the DVD for about the same price? The DVD Quality is better with no limitations of usage??? And you play it anywhere.
I agree with the noob.
I bought Cars sight unseen based on the quality of their other movies. I'll curl up into a fetal position and watch it later...
LOL. $14.99 bags you a non-DRMed copy that will last as long as the physical DVD, no need to reauthorize or copy to a new computer or anything. It gets you director's commentary and 16:9 and 4:3 formats (if it's the same as the other Pixar releases). It gets you spiffy packaging materials and an extra disk full of special features, all equally non-DRMed.
I think that offering films for download is a good idea. And I don't really even have a quarrel with the price. The price, after all, is what people are willing to pay. And some of y'all are willing to pay. Good on ya.
But ferchrissakes, don't tell me this is a good deal, because from my POV it ain't. There's no "debate" possible about the inferior video quality. It's an inferior video - plain and simple. And don't astonish me by saying iTunes is a better deal because I'd spend an extra 80 bucks if I bought it at Wal Mart! What the hell kind of non-argument is that?
"DVD quality being better is debatable (DVD has higher resolution but worse color)"
LOL. $14.99 bags you a non-DRMed copy that will last as long as the physical DVD, no need to reauthorize or copy to a new computer or anything. It gets you director's commentary and 16:9 and 4:3 formats (if it's the same as the other Pixar releases). It gets you spiffy packaging materials and an extra disk full of special features, all equally non-DRMed.
I think that offering films for download is a good idea. And I don't really even have a quarrel with the price. The price, after all, is what people are willing to pay. And some of y'all are willing to pay. Good on ya.
But ferchrissakes, don't tell me this is a good deal, because from my POV it ain't. There's no "debate" possible about the inferior video quality. It's an inferior video - plain and simple. And don't astonish me by saying iTunes is a better deal because I'd spend an extra 80 bucks if I bought it at Wal Mart! What the hell kind of non-argument is that?
8) I'm glad to see some people get it!
Folks, I own AAPL stock too, but wishing success onto iTV doesn't necessarily make it so! Use yer heads!