Did the 'Bubble' burst?
Magnolia hasn't revealed details on pic's DVD revs
The Steven Soderbergh-helmed pic bowed on the bigscreen, DVD and HD Net simultaneously the week of Jan. 27. In its first 10 days in theaters, "Bubble" generated $127,888, mostly at sites owned by distrib Magnolia's sister exhib Landmark Theaters. Magnolia said the windfall would come from DVD sales. But two weeks later, Magnolia hasn't coughed up any details on DVD revs.
Homevid veep Randy Wells declined to say whether "Bubble" met its projected first-week revenue of $5 million, let alone how many DVDs have been sold since its Jan. 31 bow. He wouldn't even cop to company statements putting the initial DVD shipment at 100,000 copies.
Early reports characterized DVD sales as slow, and Rentrak pegged the first-week rental take at $76,000, ranking No. 167 for the week ended Feb. 5.
Wells maintains the company is pleased with "Bubble's" perf.
"People still showed up at theaters, bought the DVD and watched it on HD Net, and I think that's being overlooked," he says. "It's not 'Lord of the Rings.'"
But Magnolia shipped even more copies of "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" a couple of weeks before "Bubble's" DVD debut.
"Enron," however, had $4 million B.O. and a timely subject going for it. As of Jan. 31, it also boasted an Oscar nom.
