'Twilight' DVD sales off to fast start

By John Horn

March 5, 2013 12 AM PT

DVD shoppers can’t get enough of “Twilight.”

In its first weekend of release, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” sold an estimated 3.85 million DVDs, better than the home entertainment debut of the first “Breaking Dawn” movie last year, Lionsgate said Tuesday.

The studio also said electronic sell-through transactions for the final “Twilight” movie were running about 20% ahead of the previous vampire film.

PHOTOS: ‘Breaking Dawn’ premiere

Lionsgate’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1” and its “Hunger Games” were two of the top DVD releases last year, with “Hunger Games” at No. 1 among all 2012 titles and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1” finishing fourth.

“This is further proof that [‘Twilight’] author Stephenie Meyer has created a timeless classic that moviegoers want to enjoy over and over in a wide variety of formats,” Ron Schwartz, Lionsgate’s executive vice president and general manager of home entertainment, said in a statement.

An adaptation of Meyer’s novel “The Host” arrives in theaters on March 29. She also produced the Sundance Film Festival romantic comedy “Austenland,” which Sony Pictures Classics is set to release later this year.

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