sony close to dvd deal on "fahrenheit 9/11"-report
CORRECTED - Sony close to DVD deal on "Fahrenheit 9/11"-report July 7, 2004 6:23pm ET (Reuters)
In LOS ANGELES story headlined: "Sony close to DVD deal on 'Fahrenheit 9/11'-report" please read in 3rd paragraph ... $60 million through its first two weekends ... instead of ... during its first six days ... (corrects time frame)
A corrected story follows:
LOS ANGELES, July 7 (Reuters) - Sony Corp.'s home entertainment division is close to acquiring DVD and home video rights to Michael Moore's controversial documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," Hollywood trade paper Daily Variety reported on Wednesday.
The report that a home entertainment deal is near comes as Moore's scathing critique of President George W. Bush and the U.S.-led war in Iraq is headed for release in several overseas markets.
The film, which grossed a record $60 million through its first two weekends in the United States and Canada, the most ever for a political documentary, was slated to open in France, Switzerland, Belgium and the Middle East on Wednesday and in Britain on Thursday. It debuts in several Latin American nations next week.
"Fahrenheit" won the top award at the Cannes film festival in May, and analysts expect it to find a particularly warm reception in countries, like France, where public opinion has clashed with the Bush administration over its Iraq policy.
At a news conference in New York on Tuesday, Moore said he planned to focus his energies on campaigning against Bush's re-election bid at home rather than promoting his film overseas.
"We have an election coming up," Moore said of the November U.S. presidential race. "Every day spent outside the United States is another day outside our mission, which is to do our best to remove Mr. Bush from the White House."
Both Sony and the Fellowship Adventure Group -- the entity formed by Miramax Films Co-Chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein to buy the rights to the film when the Walt Disney Co. refused to release it -- declined to comment on talks about DVD distribution.
But Variety said Sony was nearing a deal to release DVD and VHS versions of "Fahrenheit" this fall through its Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment unit. Other bidders included NBC Universal and Lions Gate Entertainment , which is one of the film's two domestic distributors.
Moore's last documentary, his Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine," which explored gun violence in America, grossed just over $21 million during its nine-month run at the box office and, according to Variety, generated $12 million in home video revenues. (Contributing to this report was Larry Fine in New York)
