The DVD edition of the Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace managed to sell some 2.2 million copies during its first week, racking up $45 million in retail sales and setting a new record for first week sales of a DVD. Just two weeks ago The Mummy Returns DVD had set a new record with sales of 2 million units during its first week and many insiders predict that Shrek, which is on sale on November 2nd or Dr. Suess's How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which is coming out November 20th, will break The Phantom Menace's new record. Disney's Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs DVD, which had a heavily promoted pre-release offer that gave customers a free DVD for preordering, recently set a record for first day sales (see 'Snow White DVD Dwarfs Them All'). The inescapable conclusion that one must draw from this recent rash of record-setting performances is that the market for DVDs is very elastic and is able not merely to absorb an avalanche of imposing new releases -- this market positively gorges on these goodies.
Sales for the Phantom Menace DVD are all the more impressive since it has been almost three years since the film was released and eighteen months since the VHS edition hit the market. The Phantom Menace DVD overcame these obstacles with the help of heavy TV and print promotion and by providing consumers with loads of extra value-added features that are exclusive to the DVD, including seven scenes that were planned but not included in the film in its theatrical or VHS release. The two-disc Phantom Menace DVD includes a gargantuan 480 minutes of content, which (along with the improved picture and sound versus VHS) helps explain this new medium's increasing popularity.