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RENTAL ROUNDUP

Martin's Is Buying Repriced Moviestal titles that have been repriced for the sell-through market has enabled Martin's Super Markets here to boost copy depth and profits, said Laura Greenlee, video coordinator.The chain recently began buying 10 of these titles where it used to purchase only one, she said. "We found that, the more copies of a title we have, the better it rents," she said. Studios typically

Martin's Is Buying Repriced Movies

tal titles that have been repriced for the sell-through market has enabled Martin's Super Markets here to boost copy depth and profits, said Laura Greenlee, video coordinator.

The chain recently began buying 10 of these titles where it used to purchase only one, she said. "We found that, the more copies of a title we have, the better it rents," she said. Studios typically re-release movies a few months after their rental street date at sell-through pricing of $20 or under suggested retail.

"If we put a movie out with 10 copies next to one with three copies, the customers will pick up the one with 10 copies because they think it must be the better movie if you've got more copies," she said.

She cited two examples, "The Man Who Knew Too Little" and "Waiting for Guffman." "These were titles that we could not carry the first time they were released. But they do rather well because when you put that movie up as a new release, it pays for itself in two to three weeks," she said.

This also allows the retailer to focus on front-line new releases. "We only bring in A-titles at rental pricing, and for B-titles, we wait until they are repriced," said Greenlee.

Strong DVD Growth Projected by IRMA

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- Replication of DVD software will reach 1.28 billion discs by the year 2002, according to the Worldwide Optical Media Intelligence Report prepared for the International Recording Media Association, Princeton, N.J.

The report was issued during the group's DVD Production '98 conference here this month.

"We are obviously in the audience-building stage of the DVD marketplace," said Charles Van Horn, executive vice president of the association.

"Audiences are slow to change with the introduction of new technology. An educational process is always needed. Look at 2002 as only the beginning of the format's introduction to the consumer mass market."

Other key statistics from Van Horn's presentation showed that North American DVD video replication will increase from 40 million units in 1998 to 183 million units in 2002 and worldwide DVD video replication will reach 65 million units this year and should grow to 430 million units in the year 2002.

Top 10 Supermarket Video Rental Titles

Title (Weeks Out) Studio Retail Last Week

1 Good Will Hunting (5) Buena Vista $107.37 1

2 The Wedding Singer (1] New Line $107.37 New

3 U.S. Marshals (3) Warner $107.37 2

4 Jackie Brown (1) Buena Vista $107.37 New

5 Sphere (4) Warner $107.37 4

6 Wag the Dog (6) Warner $105.77 5

7 As Good As It Gets (12) Columbia $23.96 6

8 Great Expectations (2) Fox $104.37 8

9 Hard Rain (2) Paramount $102.56 3

10 Scream 2 (9) Buena Vista $107.37 7

The chart at right, tailored for the supermarket video market, is based on information taken from more than 1,000 supermarket rental locations serviced by Ingram Entertainment, La Vergne, Tenn.