Lord of War, the theatrical film released on DVD and video by Lionsgate last Tuesday, reigned supreme among this week's new DVD releases. After earning $24 million in domestic box office, the action thriller starring Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, and Ethan Hawke sold 2.5 million units in its first week. To satisfy all DVD consumers, the studio released two different versions of the movie concurrently -- a standard version and a two-disc special edition that included the following extra features: Making a Killing: Inside the International Arms Trade, the making of Lord of War, director commentary, Weapons of the Trade and deleted scenes. The movie was also released on UMD and VHS.
The number one opening continued an impressive recent run by Lionsgate, which has scored number one box office hits with the horror thriller Saw II, which grossed approximately $87 million at the domestic box office, and Hostel, which has already grossed approximately $43 million in its first 2 1/2 weeks at the domestic box office. Lionsgate continues its strong DVD release slate with the teen comedy WAITING on February 7 and the highly-anticipated home entertainment debut of Saw II on February 14.
"Lord of War was a great release for Lionsgate. It features a high-powered cast and is the type of action thriller that we were confident would have a strong following in the home video landscape," said Steve Beeks, President of Lionsgate. "Our expectations were extremely high for this release and we put a lot of effort into ensuring that the DVD stood out at retail, including great packaging artwork that has helped pull the units off the shelves."
Lionsgate noted that the impressive DVD debut of Lord of War underscores the strength of its new theatrical releases on DVD, and the Company expects the film to significantly outperform or "overindex" its domestic theatrical box office of $24 million.
Hailed as "Fascinating! A powerful thriller that delivers a bang!" by US Weekly, and given "Two Big Thumbs Up" by Ebert & Roeper, Lord of War is an action adventure story set in the world of international arms dealing. Based on fact and written and directed by Andrew Niccol (The Terminal, The Truman Show), the film follows the globetrotting exploits of arms dealer Yuri Orlov through some of the world's deadliest war zones and provides a riveting, action-packed look at the underbelly of international arms smuggling.
EXCLUSIVE: Andrew Niccol Is Lord of War Saturday, September 10th, 2005 - MovieWeb sits down with the writer/director to talk about his upcoming Nicolas Cage thriller.
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