News
'Twilight' Soundtrack Tops Music Charts
By Robert Marich
Nov. 13, 2008 – It is shaping up as good year for the music in movies. The movie soundtrack for supernatural romancer Twilight landed in the number one spot on the Billboard 200 chart, which is a rare but not unprecedented feat for a movie-related music CD.
The top ranking is particularly noteworthy because its related film doesn’t open until Nov. 21, and few other soundtrack albums launched in advance of their theatrical run have held the top spot. In 2002, the soundtrack for disaffected youth drama 8 Mile made took the number one spot prior to the film hitting theaters. That Universal release went on to gross a blockbuster $116.7 million, according to Boxofficemojo.com. The 8 Mile album eventually sold 4.7 million units, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which
ranks as ninth-best ever for a movie-related music album, according to Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition.
Only five other soundtracks have taken #1 in advance of theatrical releases. They are Private Parts in 1997, Murder Was The Case in 1994, That’s The Way Of The World in 1975, A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 and – going way back -- Show Boat h in 1951.
The music industry was in fat days in the 1980s and 1990s, when music album sales were at a peak, before digital media undercut sales of physical music. Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition notes that the top selling soundtrack for 2007 was Hairspray with just 922,000 album units, versus 11.8 million units for all-time soundtrack sales record holder The Bodyguard in 1997.
Twilight is the third movie soundtrack to hit #1 so far this year, following Juno and Mamma Mia!, according to an article by Paul Grein in ChartWatch. These other two landed in the top spot after their associated movies were in release. “This is the first year in which three movie soundtracks have gone all the way since 1998, when Titanic, City Of Angels and Armageddon all rang the bell,” notes the article.
The article continues: “Twilight is the first movie soundtrack to debut at #1 since Jack Johnson's Curious George did it in 2006. It’s the first rock-oriented movie soundtrack to debut at #1 since Private Parts in 1997. Only four other movie soundtracks-Murder Was The Case, Gridlock’d, 8 Mile and Bad Boys-have opened in the lead position.”
Twilight distributor Summit Entertainment could use a hit, after mediocre results with Fly Me to the Moon, Penelope and Sex Drive. Summit is an established foreign sales company that diversified into domestic distribution, where for the first time it markets films to consumers.
For full text, click links below:
www.marketingmovies.net/news/film-based-on-novel-leverages-book-audience/