It’s shaping up to be a nice start to the week at Twentieth Century Fox.
Not only did “The Rise of the Planet of the Apes” shatter early tracking to premiere to $54.8 million at the box office, on the home entertainment front, there was more rosy news. The animated film “Rio” is the biggest selling family title for an August release in history.
True, that's a lot of qualifiers, but in this DVD market, the numbers are robust.
Debuting last week, “Rio moved more than 2.5 million units in its first six days of release, the studio announced on Monday.
That’s doubly good news for a home entertainment sector that has been hurting in recent months and has been desperate for family friendly or tentpole fare to boost its sagging numbers.
Disc sales dropped 18 percent to $3.9 billion in the first six months of the year, according to the Digital Entertainment Group.
“Rio” features the voices of Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway and centers on a blue macaw who falls in love. Released last spring, the animated film made $479.4 million worldwide.
Fox said that sales of the film’s premium two-disc DVD and Blu-ray combo packs represented 40 percent of retail sales.
