Phillies World Series DVD To Premier In Philly Theaters Nov. 24

By Terry Lefton, Editor-at-Large

World Series DVD Will Play At Five Philadelphia-Area Theaters

MLB Productions' annual World Series highlights DVD will debut at five Philadelphia-area theaters Nov. 24 and hit retail the next day. In the past, MLB has premiered the DVD at high-profile locations like the Wang Center in Boston. However, this year, an unstable economy sees the debuting of the film at a movie theater in West Philadelphia, with a red-carpet event, complete with Tiffany's World Series trophy, along with concomitant premieres in four additional suburban Philadelphia movie theaters. Tickets are being sold on WorldSeries.com and Phillies.com; red-carpet theatergoers pay $25 and get a copy of the DVD when leaving the premiere. The debut across five theaters, which allows for more screens in each venue to be used in case of heightened demand, was secured through a deal with Screenvision; in-theater ads for the World Series DVD at around 40 area theaters are part of the deal. "This is a much more scalable solution than having one red-carpet premiere at a location with a price two or three times higher,'' said Elizabeth Scott, VP/Programming & Business Affairs for MLB Productions.

STRAIGHT TO VIDEO: Sales of licensed products commemorating the Phillies' first World Series championship since '80 have been rivaling those in the early weeks the Red Sox' '04 championship, which was MLB's biggest championship market ever. However, even the rabid Philadelphia market probably won't purchase the number of videos sold after the BoSox' '04 championship, which generated sales of 550,000 units. MLB licensee Shout! Factory, which is in the fourth of a five-year deal with MLB Productions, is preparing an initial shipment of around 175,000 DVDs, including 15,000 Blu-Ray discs, the first time MLB Productions World Series film is being released on Blu-Ray. "Our best seller to date was after the White Sox championship in 2005,'' said Shout! Factory President Garson Foos. "Given the state of the economy and how tough it is at retail, I'm conservative about a lot of things, but we're pretty confident this year's Series DVD will do as well or better than any of our previous ones.'' Shout! Factory and MLB will support the launch with TV, radio, print and the aforementioned theater ads. The $19.99 DVD hits retailers including Modell's and Best Buy, Nov. 25; the Blu-Ray release hits Dec. 16 at a list price $29.99.