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Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment revealed today that it has shipped more than 26 million copies of "Spider-Man" on DVD and videocassette in North America -- more than any other home entertainment title in history. "Spider-Man" goes on sale in the U.S. today.

It is also estimated that "Spider-Man" will ship more than 14 million units internationally. This would bring the worldwide ship number of "Spider-Man" to a record-breaking 40 million units -- substantially all of which will be released simultaneously worldwide during this month.

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (CTHE) President Benjamin Feingold said today: "Home entertainment has proven to be virtually recession proof and we expect industry growth to be 15 to 20% for all video categories this fourth quarter led by CTHE's line-up of 'Mr. Deeds,' 'Spider-Man,' 'Men In Black II,' 'Stuart Little 2' and 'XXX.' It is the strongest holiday lineup from one studio in home entertainment history."

"We thank all of our suppliers, Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios as well as the films' directors, producers and actors for giving us the opportunity to shine this fourth quarter. We also thank our retail partners and their associates, logistics team, our marketing and promotional partners and our own personnel for bringing 'Spider-Man' and our other films to market."

"It's exciting to be a part of an event film such as 'Spider-Man,' especially when you get to see the successful culmination of all the planning and hard work that went into selling it on DVD and video. We are very proud of the fact that our efforts have been etched in video history and we look forward to an incredible 4th quarter sell-off for all of our retailers." continued Marshall Forster, Executive Vice President for Sales for Columbia TriStar.

Avi Arad, president of Marvel Entertainment, added, "The incredible success of 'Spider-Man' on DVD clearly mirrors the box-office success of the film. Both performances are true barometers of our culture's love and fascination with this beloved heroic character as well as the record-breaking popularity of this incredibly produced and directed movie. We at Marvel are simply delighted over the results produced by Columbia TriStar's very creative, strategic and effective sales and marketing teams."

"Spider-Man" is available as a 2-disc set in both wide and full screen editions on DVD. "Spider-Man," features an exclusive web of innovative interactive elements loaded with special never-before-revealed "Spider-Man" factoids and a first look at comic book-to-film comparisons. Also released day and date was a specially packaged limited edition Collector's DVD Gift Set, loaded with extra features for the ultimate home viewing experience.

"Spider-Man's" theatrical performance and now home entertainment release have broken virtually every major milestone:

-- Garnered more than $800 million worldwide at box-office (more than $400 million in domestic box-office)
-- Biggest opening weekend in Hollywood history
-- Biggest single day box-office
-- Fastest film in history to ever reach the $100 million mark (3 days), the $200 million mark (9 days), the $300 million mark (22 days) and the $350 million mark (31 days)
-- Starring Tobey Maguire ("Wonder Boys," "The Cider House Rules"), Willem Dafoe ("Shadow of the Vampire," "The English Patient") and Kirsten Dunst ("Bring It On," "Jumanji," "Crazy/Beautiful"), "Spider-Man" was directed by Sam Raimi ("A Simple Plan," "The Gift") and produced by Laura Ziskin ("As Good As It Gets," "To Die For") and Ian Bryce ("Saving Private Ryan," "Almost Famous").

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SOURCE: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment