Grinch steals DVD sales record

The Grinch is repeating its box office success on DVD

The DVD of Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas has set a new sales record in its first six days in US shops.

The film was released on video and DVD for the US Thanksgiving holiday - and sold 8.5 million copies in total.

The sales included 3 million DVDs, ahead of the 2.5 million DVDs of Shrek sold in the week after its 2 November release.

Craig Kornblau, home video president of Grinch makers Universal Studios, said: "We have exceeded all expectations."

Growth

Previous big DVD sales have included Universal's The Mummy Returns and Twentieth Century Fox's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, both of which sold some sold 2 million in their first week.

The figures reflect the huge growth in the DVD market, with the number of DVD players in US homes reaching more than 22 million.

Last year's top-selling DVD titles rarely exceeded one million sales.

The Grinch has already been a major box office success in US cinemas, taking $260m (£184m) in ticket sales after opening in November 2000.

Universal Studios estimates that this November consumers spent more than $145m (£103m) buying and renting the VHS and DVD versions of the film, exceeding the first-week revenue of any other live-action video except Titanic.