It Still Sinks, but No Matter

The second wave of “Titanic”-mania is about to hit.

After more than 250 days in release, James Cameron’s billion-dollar-grossing Oscar winner still has a lot of wind in its sales. As of last weekend, it ranked No. 21 at the box office, grossing $540,617, bringing its domestic box-office total to a record $599.7 million.

And now it’s on course to break video sales records when it hits stores on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., with the potential to knock off No. 1 seller “The Lion King.”

Disney shipped 27.5 million units of that March 1995 release. Paramount Home Video executives aren’t willing to divulge just how many “Titanics” will be cruising into stores, but Eric Doctorow, president of Paramount’s Worldwide Home Video, said: “Comments that are coming back from retailers around the country are reporting that pre-sales for ‘Titanic’ are exceeding all previous records. A lot of retailers are telling us that while organizing their pre-sale campaigns they have not had as great a response to any other title.”

The cable shopping network QVC has sold more than 229,000 copies of the epic since pre-sales started on June 15. On its first “Titanic” showcase, QVC sold 13,500 copies at $19.95 a pop in just 14 minutes. By July 8, sales reached 100,000. The previous bestseller for QVC was “The Star Wars Trilogy,” which topped out at 111,000. QVC plans to offer “Titanic” through the fall and into the holidays.

Blockbuster, which has been offering “Titanic” for $24.99 since mid-June, also is experiencing record pre-sales orders, topping its previous hits “Aladdin,” “Toy Story” and “Jerry Maguire.”

“The thing that is unique about this video is that we knew that it was going to do well very early on,” said Blockbuster spokesperson Liz Greene.

“Typically in pre-sales, two weeks before it goes to street date is the busiest time. But this has been very consistent since we started to do pre-sales.”

Blockbuster also offered incentives to customers. With each purchase, consumers received a $5 gift card decorated with “Titanic” artwork, redeemable on Sept. 1 for other purchases and rentals.

Pre-Sales Set Records in Uncharted Markets

The majority of the chain’s 4,000 stores will begin selling the videos at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and will remain open until 2 a.m. “There are all sorts of celebrations going on,” Greene says, including a chance to qualify for a free cruise, as well as free posters and radio promotions.

The Internet site Reel.com (https://www.Reel.com) is selling “Titanic” at the extremely low price of $9.99 (plus $3.95 for shipping and handling).

“We’re losing money on every single one,” Reel.com Chief Executive Julie Wainwright says. But the young company thinks it’s worth it. “We wanted to introduce people to our site. ‘Titanic’ is a great vehicle. Some [“Titanic” customers] have already started coming back.”

Wainwright says the company is breaking records every day. “From 1 in the afternoon to about 11 at night, we have heavy-duty steady orders. We were getting an order about every three seconds [one] night.”

Reel.com will be shipping between 200,000 and 400,000 “Titanic” videos. In fact, the company will actually be delivering the videos to the post office on Monday night.

“We have an amazing project schedule for this and just armies of people dedicated at each distribution site to make sure [the videos] get in a box and out the door on time. We have been working with the post office since June to orchestrate this,” Wainwright says.

Wainwright predicts the orders will taper off drastically when the $9.99 sale ends in late September. “You’ll be able to find it everyplace you go,” she says. “Some people are joking that they think banks and dry cleaners are going to take orders for ‘Titanic.’ ”

On Amazon.com (https://www.Amazon.com), a Web site known primarily for selling books, the top-selling title for much of this week was the “Titanic” video, beating out the best-selling books from such writers as Tom Clancy. The wide-screen version of “Titanic” came in at No. 6.

“The listing is updated hourly,” said Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry. “Over the past week or so, it has bounced around in the top five, but it seems to have settled down into No. 1 for a bit.”

“Titanic” marks the first time a video has hit the No. 1 position on the Amazon.com list.

“Videos are not yet one of our main items we offer,” Curry said. “Because we are not seen as a video store, people would not normally come to us to buy a video, so the fact that they are buying the video [is extraordinary]. We have heavily promoted the movie both on our home page, as well as other places, like tie-ins to music.”

Studio Expecting Sales to Endure Over Time

Paramount executives said they are doing everything in their power to make sure this “Titanic”’ doesn’t hit any icebergs. They promise to keep stores stocked with supplies of the videos. Paramount has also established toll-free phone numbers so people can report if retailers jump the gun on sales. “We will react to any and all cases of street date violations,” said Jack Kanne, executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Kanne believes “Titanic” will become an evergreen title for Paramount. “We think this title is one of those titles that will sell for years.”

“We will have a second wave of TV advertising as we get closer to the holidays,” Doctorow adds.

And the video is sure to become a must-have among teenage girls who pine for star Leonardo DiCaprio.

“Blockbuster did a survey this summer of the top slumber-party movies,” says Blockbuster’s Greene. “The films were like ‘Pretty in Pink’ and sort of fun movies that young girls can watch and talk over. They predict this will be the No. 1 major slumber-party movie.”