DVD VIDEO TITLES BREAK OUT BEYOND ACTION FILMS AND INTO THE FAMILY MARKET

Non-Action Titles Account for 25 Percent of Top 100 1999 DVD Video Sales

LOS ANGELES — May 24, 1999 — With the huge popularity of hit DVD Video titles such as "A Bug’s Life" (Buena Vista Home Entertainment), "Antz" (DreamWorks Home Entertainment) and "Mighty Joe Young" (Buena Vista Home Entertainment), non-action titles encompass more than 25 percent of this year’s Top 100 DVD Video sales to date, up from 13 percent in 1998, according to recent data compiled by the DVD Video Group and VideoScan.

The sales charts demonstrate this emerging trend toward the family market, with 11 of the 25 top selling titles this year falling in the categories of family, romance or comedy. Both relatively new in release, "A Bugs Life" (Buena Vista Home Entertainment), released a month ago, and "You’ve Got Mail" (Warner Home Video), released two weeks ago, have already made their way up the chart at #6 and #11 respectively in sales this year.

The trend toward family oriented and non-action titles underscores the growth of the DVD Video installed base. In fact, in the most recent weekly sales charts (for week ending May 16, 1999), 18 of the top 50 DVD Video titles are non-action titles, including family classics such as "Gone with the Wind" (MGM Home Entertainment), "The King & I" (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) and "The Ten Commandments" (Paramount Home Video), as well as new family favorites "Babe: Pig in the City" (Universal Studios Home Video), "Ever After" (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) and "Rugrats" (Paramount Home Video).

"Clearly, DVD Video is reaching beyond the early adopter to more mainstream consumers," said Paul Culberg, executive vice president, Columbia TriStar Home Video and president, DVD Video Group. "We’re encouraged that DVD Video is popular with the entire household and I think you’ll see studios releasing more family titles to satiate the consumer’s appetite for these titles."

The weekly DVD video sales charts are based on sales data collected by VideoScan from retail locations nationwide, including Best Buy, Blockbuster, Circuit City, Musicland, Tower Records and more, but does not include small specialty stores and mass merchants such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart. The charts are available weekly on the DVD Video Group’s web site (www.dvdvideogroup.com).

Since its inception in 1993, VideoScan has been providing timely video sales information and charting capabilities for major studios as well as home video divisions specializing in non-theatrical areas of interest. VideoScan’s computerized point-of-sale tracking system currently collects data from more than 16,000 retail locations. VideoScan utilizes the same technology for its home video and DVD services, that its sister company, SoundScan, presently uses to compile music industry charts and date.

The DVD Video Group is a Los Angeles-based, industry-funded nonprofit corporation that exists expressly to promote consumer awareness of the benefits of DVD Video and to provide updated information to the media and the retail trade about DVD Video players, movies and music videos. Consumers can reach the DVD Video Group at (310) 967-2940 or through its web site at www.dvdvideogroup.com.

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TOP 25 BEST-SELLING DVD VIDEO TITLES

Year-to-Date as of May 16, 1999

Rank Title Label
1 Armageddon Buena Vista Home Entertainment
2 Rush Hour New Line Home Video
3 Blade New Line Home Video
4 Ronin MGM Home Entertainment
5 Waterboy* Buena Vista Home Entertainment
6 Bug’s Life* Buena Vista Home Entertainment
7 Lethal Weapon 4 Warner Home Video
8 Truman Show* Paramount Home Video
9 Soldier Warner Home Video
10 Negotiator Warner Home Video
11 You’ve Got Mail* Warner Home Video
12 Vampires Columbia TriStar Home Video
12 Snake Eyes Paramount Home Video
14 Practical Magic* Warner Home Video
15 Out of Sight UniversalStudios Home Video
16 Pleasantville* New Line Home Video
17 Mask of Zorro Columbia TriStar Home Video
18 Avengers Warner Home Video
19 Meet Joe Black* UniversalStudios Home Video
20 Mighty Joe Young* Buena Vista Home Entertainment
21 Austin Powers* New Line Home Video
22 Ever After — Cinderella Story* Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
23 Siege Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
24 Star Trek: Insurrection Paramount Home Video
25 Antz* DreamWorks Home Entertainment

*Non-Action Titles

Source: DVD Video Group and VideoScan