PRETTY WOMEN CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A RETURN TO THE SCREEN FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

11 February 2010:  One of the top selling ever RomCom videos, Pretty Woman (Walt Disney), has turned 20 and is to be screened at 70 Cineworld Cinemas across the country this weekend, just in time for Valentine’s Day.  

As one of the most celebrated rags-to-riches fairytales, Pretty Woman took nearly £300m worldwide in cinemas and has sold nearly 4 million units since its release on to video in 1990, according to charts supplied by the British Video Association using data from the Official UK Chart Company.  

Positioning itself firmly in the all-time top ten RomCom chart, Pretty Woman is the must-see chick-flick, containing all the ingredients for success: a handsome prince, a damsel in distress and an all expenses paid shopping trip.  So popular was Julia Roberts in the film that the director, Garry Marshall, has marked the film’s 20th anniversary with a new movie, Valentine’s Day (New Line Films), which not only features Julia Roberts as one of the characters but also pays homage to Pretty Woman with Julia’s new character, Kate, quoting one of the most memorable lines from the film – “Big mistake…Huge.”

Other must-see titles for this Valentine’s weekend include the feel-good-against-all-odds musicals, four of which feature in the top ten chart. Dirty Dancing (Lionsgate) has sold over 6 million units at number one, with Mamma Mia! –The Movie (Universal Pictures) a close second, selling just under 6 million units.  Grease (Paramount) is third in the video chart selling 5.5 million and the fourth musical to feature is Moulin Rouge (20th Century Fox) selling 2.5 million units.  Both Bridget Jones releases (Universal Pictures) feature in the top ten at number four and ten, selling in total 7.5m units.   

Demand for romantic titles this week is proving very strong, dominating current retail sales, with Time Traveller’s Wife (EV), The Ugly Truth (Sony Pictures), Couples Retreat (Universal Pictures) and The Proposal (Walt Disney) topping the charts.

Lavina Carey, Director General of the British Video Association, says: “With the weather due to remain cold and snowy  and many still feeling the pinch of this difficult economic time, what better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than cuddling up with your favourite DVD.  The growth and popularity of the romantic titles, particularly around Valentine’s Day, demonstrates how DVD remains the country’s favourite platform for watching movies!”

~ End ~

Notes to editors:

The British Video Association

Video encompasses the home entertainment industry as a whole – from packaged media such as DVD and Blu-ray Discs through to digital services onto portable devices and for home consumption, with ever increasing consumer choice of access and price points. The industry releases about 8,000 titles a year and the BVA champions all content delivery channels.

For more information, please contact: Esme Knight (020 7618 9157) or Stephanie Blott (020 7618 9165).

Visit www.bva.org.uk

UK official Blu-ray website: www.thisisbluray.co.uk

Visit also www.findanyfilm.com

Official UK Charts are at www.theofficialcharts.com