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.
“‘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.
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.
