Manga Entertainment has announced that Blood: the Last Vampire -- the first fully digital animated film from Japan--is the fastest-selling title in its history. In the first month after its release on August 28th, Manga has sold over 120,000 units at wholesale (in VHS and DVD combined), and it's appeared on best-selling DVD lists in Video Business, Billboard, Video Store Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly. The title was backed by two unconventional marketing efforts. First, it had a limited theatrical release beginning last summer (see 'Blood: The Last Vampire Bows in August'), and was held over in many theaters. Manga viewed this as marketing for the video release, rather than a distribution channel to be protected by delaying release of the video. Second, the movie was streamed free on the Sputnik 7 website on its video release date, and was downloaded by some 61,000 viewers (see 'Streaming Blood Yields Sales'). As with the theatrical release, this was viewed by Manga not as competition for its video sales, but as a way to promote them. Now Blood will have another video-on-demand streaming broadcast on Sputnik7.com at 6 p.m. ET on Halloween night, October 31st. Manga President Marvin Gleicher said, 'We are very excited to bring a film like Blood to America and present the newest digital film technology to all entertainment platforms. Its success has proven to be a landmark time in the history of Manga Entertainment.'
