The huge launch of Modern Warfare 2 has helped the popular Call of Duty franchise to reach a new milestone, passing the $3 billion USD revenue mark, says publisher Activision.
Overall, the six CoD titles have sold 55 million units with Modern Warfare 2 crushing recent entertainment launch records by taking in $550 million USD in its first five days of availability.
In just its first day, the game sold 4.7 million units in the US and UK markets. The new milestone has Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick calling the franchise one of the “greatest entertainment franchises of all time.”
“If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty games, it is likely to be one of the most viewed of all entertainment experiences in modern history,” he continued..
Result for: franchise
The Sony Pictures blockbuster District 9 was given a release date of December 29th this week but more interestingly was the revelation that the Blu-ray version will include a demo of the upcoming God of War III video game on the same disc.
The God of War series is a Sony-exclusive and has been a blockbuster franchise so far, with the first two games selling almost 9 million units combined.
Sony says that gamers can unlock an “exclusive making-of featurette of the game” after they complete the demo included with the movie.
“The combination of District 9 and the game demo of God of War III is an unprecedented home entertainment offering,”notes Lexine Wong, senior executive VP at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “We are thrilled to give consumers not only an incredible high-definition presentation of District 9 and the wealth of bonus material about the movie, but also a taste of what is destined to be the biggest videogame of 2010. This pairing of the movie and game demo is just another example of what is possible with the Blu-ray format.”
Peter Dille, senior VP of marketing and PlayStation Network at Sony, also added, via VB: “Blu-ray functionality has long been a differentiator that separates the PS3 from other home entertainment systems. Through this collaboration with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, we’re able to create a unique experience only available on the PS3 system that blends two of the most popular entertainment options available, watching District 9 and playing God of War III off the same disc.”
Result for: franchise
The unstoppable force that is Paranormal Activity has become (percentage-wise), the most profitable movie of all-time, domestically.
As of this morning, the low budget horror film has brought in $62.5 million USD domestically, even beating out the latest in the Saw franchise this weekend by a large margin.
The film cost about $13,500 USD to make, and its domestic distribution rights were bought by Paramount for a mere $300,000. Currently the movie is sitting on 462,000 percent profit, an astounding figure which just surpasses that of the Blair Witch Project which cost $35,000 to make and brought in $140.5 million domestically, a 400,000 percent profit margin.
Oversees figures are not added in the calculations as overseas rights were given to different distributors in both cases.
Making the numbers even more impressive is the fact that movie has not even been given a full run yet. It will be given another expansion next weekend for Halloween.
“I couldn’t be happier with our team’s great work. Adam Goodman believed in this movie and championed it from the first day he saw it. He recognized it was a great story with commercial potential, and made sure it had a home in our schedule and the release it deserved,” added Paramount chairman Brad Grey.
