Ladder Climbs to the Top

March 19, 2005

Ladder 49 topped both the DVD rental charts, ($8.39 million) and the VHS rental charts ($1.61 million) for $10.00 million total rentals for its first week of release. Granted, it was a slow week for releases as no other new release made it in the top twenty on combined rentals.

Flight of the Phoenix held up well dropping just over 15% during its second week of release landing $7.17 million for the week and more than two thirds of the way to matching it domestic box office. Also finishing in the top five were Taxi with $3.90 million combined rentals, The Notebook with $3.62 million and Exorcist: The Beginning with $3.56 million.

A couple of interesting notes on the charts. Firstly, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle topped its domestic box office with its DVD rentals alone $18.68 million to $18.23 million. Secondly, Garfield: The Movie has spent the last 21 months on the VHS Top Forty charts raking up $10.8 million in VHS rentals in that time to go with its estimated $40 million in DVD rentals.

Ladder 49 also took top spot on the DVD sales charts while last week's winner, Bambi - Special Edition dropped to second place. Third place went to Friends - The Complete Ninth Season; it's a rare feat for a TV on DVD release to crack the top ten and almost never does one finish this high. Fourth place went to The Notebook while newcomer, Woman Thou Art Loosed rounded out the top five.

Just a little preview for next week's column, if you picked up The Incredibles on Tuesday, you were one of 5 million people to do so as the film raked in an estimated $80 million in one day DVD sales.


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Filed under: The Incredibles, The Notebook, Garfield: The Movie, Ladder 49, Exorcist: The Beginning, Taxi, Flight of the Phoenix, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Woman Thou Art Loosed