‘Baby Mama’ Delivers on Video

18 Sep, 2008 By: Thomas K. Arnold

The Universal Studios Home Entertainment comedy "Baby Mama" topped the national home video sales and rental charts the week ended Sept. 14, its first week in stores.

The Lionsgate actioner "The Forbidden Kingdom" came in a close second on both charts, while debuting at No. 1 on the Blu-ray Disc sales chart.

Both films performed similarly at the box office, with a slight edge going to "Baby Mama" at $60.3 million, compared to $52 million for Kingdom.

The two films are among five new releases snagging the top five spots on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for the week ended Sept. 14. Another Universal title, the direct-to-video "Barbie & The Diamond Castle," debuted at No. 3, while a pair of TV DVD season sets — Walt Disney Studios’ “Grey’s Anatomy” (season four) and Warner’s “Smallville” (season seven) — bowed at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

The previous week’s top seller, season four of the TV series “The Office,” slipped to No. 6.

On Home Media Magazine’s video rental chart for the week, "Baby Mama" and "The Forbidden Kingdom" pushed the previous week’s top renter, 20th Century Fox’s "What Happens in Vegas," to No. 3.

Total rental activity, according to Home Media Magazine’s market research department, rose 3.3% from the previous week.

On the Blu-ray Disc chart, "Forbidden Kingdom" bumped the previous week’s top Blu-ray seller, Paramount’s "Transformers," to No. 2, but demand remained strong for the film, which was initially released a year ago on DVD and HD DVD only. In its second week, "Transformers" still managed to sell 80% as many copies as "Forbidden Kingdom."