"Kill Bill" appears to be well positioned for a $100 million opening week ... kind of.
Consumers already spent about $40 million buying the DVD of "Volume 1" the first day it was in stores on Tuesday. That number is expected to nearly double over the course of the first week with combined spending on the purchase and rental of the DVD and videocassettes.
With "Vol. 2" projected to have an opening weekend in theaters at least matching the $22 million of the first episode and potentially reaching $30 million, that would bring total consumer spending on the two-part movie to more than $100 million in one week.
First-week DVD spending on "Vol. 1" should easily eclipse total domestic box office grosses, which reached $70 million.
"The economics of DVD are crazy," writer-director Quentin Tarantino said Monday night at a launch party for the DVD at the Playboy mansion. "It's kind of exploded in the last five years. It's almost unfathomable."
Miramax Home Entertainment and distributor Buena Vista Home Entertainment reported Wednesday that more than 2 million copies of the DVD and videocassette were sold on the first day. That includes about 1 million copies sold to rental stores and counts all pre-orders taken online and at retail.
Sources expect about 4 million copies to be purchased by Sunday.
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