DVD Sales

[Reply #80 on:]

^ On a related note, is it possible that the DVD sales aren't great for ITWGY because the casual fans of the series are underwhelmed? What I mean is that even if we like the movies many reviews (by both paid critics and dedicated fans) state that the movies don't quite match the greatness of the series (except for ITWGY which is awesome!). If a dedicated fan is a bit underwhelmed imagine how a casual fan feels. Maybe they just didn't see it as a priority to buy ITWGY right away.

Funny you should mention it.  Another fan of Futurama at uni, said he wasn't really en par with Bender's Game, but when he watched it with his little brother, he realised that some of the parts he didn't find it exactly funny, was funny to people who weren't exactly dedicated or even casual fans of the show.

I suggested to him, that fans of the show had become a bit too much fed up by its legacy, and expectations were obviously through the roof for the expectations of the show.  Something that would be impossible to live up to.

But maybe I am entirely wrong.

[Reply #81 on:]

I've just noticed the viewing figures for The Simpsons for the last few episodes in America and they don't make happy reading for Fox. 6 - 6.5 million compared with Family Guy which is getting a million or so more. Although even Celebrity Apprentice (essentially a British import with American celebs) beat both last week. The figures that The Simpsons is getting is similar to what Futurama got on average for TV seasons 4 and 5 and yet The Simpsons gets RENEWED and Futurama CANCELLED!!! HOW FAIR IS THAT!!!!!

(Also the fact that The Simpsons has been mostly crap for at least 8 years or more doesn't help.) 

[Reply #82 on:]

The whole Simpsons vs. Futurama thing is kind of played-out, but for what it's worth, I think that it manages to stay on the air--even with so-so ratings--for two reasons:

1. It's an institution. The Simpsons has been on Fox, in one form or another, since 1987; with the possible exception of Married With Children, it's the one show that most people probably associate with Fox in its infancy.

2. It's still viable as far as merchandising is concerned. I mean, I have a Simpsons garbage can and an old bottle of Simpsons Yoo-Hoo and a hell of a lot of Simpsons trading cards. I haven't watched the show regularly in a good five years, but them bastids is still getting my money.

Then again, maybe I'm just a sucker...

[Reply #83 on:]

Plus, Celebrity Apprentice is far from just a "British import", especially since the American version was around first. Additionally, Fox was under a different regime when Futurama, Family Guy, Arrested Development, Wonderfalls, Firefly, et al were canceled. Under this new regime, Futurama and Family Guy were both resurrected (in different degrees), AD is getting a movie (finally), Brian Fuller got Pushing Daisies (which was also canned prematurely) and is a head honcho in the revitalization-mode Heroes, and Fox has given Joss another chance with Dollhouse. Signs of better times to come?

[Reply #84 on:]

Quick update on ITWGY sales:  156K DVD sales in the US, $3MM.

Blu-ray sales by volume are around 10% of DVD sales, so if we throw in another 15K Blu-Ray units @ $30 each we get $3.45MM.

[Reply #85 on:]

And can anyone clarify please -  where did the information about $ 4mln as the cost of making of 4 DVDs come from? Is it  "official" or kind of a a guess?

[Reply #86 on:]

$4 MM to make the entire set of four DVDs would surprise me.

I can't find a source right now, but the producers estimate that it cost about $1-1.5 MM to produce a single episode of Futurama, so $16-24MM for the entire set.  However, the staff that was assembled for the DVD projects was quite a bit smaller than the full staff for the series, and it's easier to write four movies than sixteen separate episodes.  I'd say $10-15 MM is a reasonable guess for the cost of producing all four DVDs.

[Reply #87 on:]

Thanks for really fast answer, and your figures look quite realistic speedracer. Though it would be still interesting to see a bit more exact figures, I suppose, they show that 4 DVD's project already is quite a success for FOX?

[Reply #88 on:]

The Numbers  is where I get all the figures that I've posted in this thread.

So far BBS has pulled in $14.6 MM, BWABB $5 MM, BG $2.3 MM, ITWGY $3 MM.  Add on another 15% or so for Blu-ray sales for BG and ITWGY, we get about $25.7 MM.  This is the total revenue in the US.

There was a straw poll on this board indicating that about half of all responders were from outside the US.  To be conservative, let's say that the movies pulled in an extra 25% in revenue outside the US.  That gives us about $32 MM in revenue.

Fox keeps a pretty big chunk of the sales for themselves -- the only other costs are for promoting the DVDs (which they barely did), shipping them out and giving the retailers their cut.  I think we could conservatively say that they kept about 75% of the revenue for themselves (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I'm starting to pull numbers out of my ass here).  So of the $32 MM in revenue, Fox would keep about $24 MM.  Since the movies cost only about $10-15 MM, Fox has pulled in a nice profit.