DVD sales results for the week ending August 3rd are out and Stargate: Continuum (MSRP $26.99) finished in third place, a very strong showing for direct-to-DVD feature in a week that saw a number of theatrical films released on disc.  Like Stargate SG-1: The Ark of Truth, which was released late last year, Stargate: Continuum is based on the original Stargate TV series and it reunites much of the original cast including Richard Dean Anderson in a satisfying saga in which Ba’al travels back in time and prevents the gestation of the Stargate program, leaving the SG-1 team with the formidable task of restoring the time continuum.  With sales of nearly 300,000 copies over its first ten days of release Stargate: Continuum demonstrates the viability of the franchise and perhaps opens the door for more direct-to-DVD adventures for the SG-1 crew.

 

The stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay was the bestselling DVD of the week, but not by much.  Sony’s 21, which topped the DVD sales in its debut frame and continued its hold on the DVD rental charts again this week, was a very close number 2.  Based on Bringing Down the House, Ben Mezrich’s account of how a group of MIT students were able to beat Vegas casinos at Blackjack with a sophisticated, team-based card counting system, 21 didn’t fare very well with the critics (only 34% positive on the Rotten Tomatoes meter), but the film, which cost just $35 million to make, did quite well at the box office, earning nearly $82 million domestically and over $157 million worldwide.

 

Critics missed the intrinsic interest that the subject holds for audiences as well as the low-key likeability of the young cast led by Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth, the fine supporting work from veteran actors Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey, and the solid workman-like direction of Robert Luketic who lets Las Vegas (rather than his camerawork) display the flash.  The 21 DVD dropped only 45% during its second week of sales and will likely top a million units in its third frame.  The two-disc Deluxe Edition of 21 (MSRP $34.95) is no doubt responsible for a major portion of the sales.  It has a number of features that the film’s youthful audience will really enjoy including “The Advantage Player” in which the film’s attractive young cast demonstrates how to count cards, “Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal,” an excellent “making-of” documentary, and “Money Plays,” which demonstrates how the filmmakers managed to present Las Vegas at its shimmering and alluring best.