Hollywood Reporter is reprorting that Transformers has already recorded the highest number of DVD's sold for any movie during the first week of release, and that over half copies were sold on the first day!

They go on to state that Transformers holds the 2007 record for:

• Most DVD's sold overall for the first week - 8.3 Million
• Most DVD's sold on release date - 4.5 Million
• Most HD-DVD's sold on release date - 100,000 copies
  
• Most HD-DVD's sold overall for the first week - 190,000 copies
  

Paramount Digital Entertainment International has signed an online distribution deal with the Arts Alliance Media's Vizumi network, its first within the UK, to distribute Paramount Pictures US movies over the internet. The deal meals that films distributed by Paramount Pictures are now available to legally download to rent or own. The deal covers both old and new titles. Films such as The Italian Job and The Untouchables cost as little as £2.99 ($6.09) to buy from such online retailers as LoveFilm, Tiscali and Emap's Empire

"As we seek to broaden our digital footprint across Europe, I'm confident that with the quality of our movie catalogue, along with the strength of our current releases and our upcoming slate, we will provide a compelling proposition for our consumers and our partners alike," said Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Digital Entertainment.

Arts Alliance Media claims to have the largest aggregated online distribution rights collection in Europe, having now signed deals with 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Momentum, Icon, FremantleMedia, Tartan and Discovery Networks..

Source: artsalliancemedia.com

The BBFC completed their video rating of the Transformers Movie on Friday 19th October, giving the film a 12 rating. For those wondering about the length of the film, its a whole 2 seconds longer than the cinema rating.

You can view the video feature listing here, and compare it to the cinema listing here.

The winners of Spike TV's 2007 scream awards have been announced over at CNN, with Transformers winning in five categories.

THE ULTIMATE SCREAM -- 300
BEST HORROR MOVIE -- 28 WEEKS LATER
BEST FANTASY MOVIE -- PAN'S LABYRINTH
BEST SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE -- TRANSFORMERS
BEST TV SHOW -- HEROES
BEST COMIC BOOK -- 30 DAYS OF NIGHT
SCREAM QUEEN -- KATE BECKINSALE, VACANCY
SCREAM KING -- SHIA LABEOUF, DISTURBIA
BEST SUPERHERO -- TOBEY MAGUIRE AS SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN 3
SEXIEST SUPERHERO -- JESSICA ALBA, FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER
FANTASY FOX -- JESSICA BIEL, THE ILLUSIONIST
FANTASY HERO -- JOHNNY DEPP, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END
SCI-FI SIREN -- MEGAN FOX, TRANSFORMERS
SCI-FI STAR -- SHIA LABEOUF, TRANSFORMERS
BEST CAMEO -- KEITH RICHARDS, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END
BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE -- HAYDEN PANETTIERE, HEROES
MOST VILE VILLAIN -- RALPH FIENNES, HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
MOST MEMORABLE MUTILATION -- DISMEMBERED IN CAR CRASH, GRINDHOUSE
BEST COMIC-TO-SCREEN ADAPTATION -- 300
BEST SEQUEL -- HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
"JUMP-FROM-YOUR-SEAT" SCENE OF THE YEAR -- FINAL BATTLE: MEGATRON VS. OPTIMUS PRIME, TRANSFORMERS
BEST DIRECTOR -- QUENTIN TARANTINO & ROBERT RODRIGUEZ, GRINDHOUSE
BEST SCREAM-PLAY -- GRINDHOUSE, WRITTEN BY ROBERT RODRIGUEZ, QUENTIN TARANTINO, JEFF RENDELL, ELI ROTH, EDGAR WRIGHT & ROB ZOMBIE
BEST F/X -- TRANSFORMERS
BEST FOREIGN MOVIE -- PAN'S LABYRINTH (SPAIN)
BEST COMIC BOOK WRITER -- FRANK MILLER, ALL-STAR BATMAN & ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER/FRANK MILLER'S ROBOCOP
BEST COMIC BOOK ARTIST -- JOHN CASSADY, ASTONISHING X-MEN
BEST SCREEN-TO-COMIC ADAPTATION -- 28 DAYS LATER: THE AFTERMATH
MOST SHOCKING COMIC BOOK TWIST -- CAPTAIN AMERICA DIES!, CAPTAIN AMERICA

Hasbro Inc have released the following press release through the Associated Press.

Hasbro transforms to attract movie money: G.I. Joe film, 'Transformers' TV show, sequel coming

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Like one of its own Transformer robots, Hasbro Inc. has spent the last few years trying to change itself from simply a toy company to a business that creates the ideas behind movies, TV shows and electronic games.

When the Pawtucket, R.I.-based company reports its third quarter earnings Monday, investors hope to see the early payoff from the strategy. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect net income to rise nearly 18 percent from this time last year, to $117.5 million, and earnings of 71 cents per share.

Part of what's driving those expectations is the two-decade old Transformers toy line. 'Transformers' the movie was released in the United States on July 3, just after the quarter began, and has helped make Transformers products among the most sought-after toys for the upcoming holiday season.

The movie was the first step in what Hasbro hopes to be a long and fruitful relationship with Hollywood: Hasbro supplies the characters and story lines from its toys - household names such as G.I. Joe and Monopoly. Hollywood turns the ideas into big-budget movies or successful TV shows. Then Hasbro reaps the benefits. A Transformers animated TV show is coming in the spring and Hasbro is also planning a Transformers sequel, a G.I. Joe movie and at least one TV game show.

Hasbro, the world's second largest toy maker behind Mattel Inc., has made movie-related toys for years, but it didn't own some of the most popular brands, such as Spider-Man, and had to pay royalties. A few years ago, it struggled with an overreliance on fads, including Furby, and movie-related toys and was forced to cut hundreds of jobs as it lost $144 million.

These days, the company's strategy is to look at the time-tested brands it already owns - Trivial Pursuit, Battleship, Littlest Pet Shop and Mr. Potato Head, for example - and turn those into new products like movies, TV shows, games or online experiences, said Brian Goldner, Hasbro's chief operating officer.

''Our goal is to create that immersive experience that allows consumers to enjoy our brand anywhere - in any format they want - when they want,'' Goldner said.

Hasbro has had several good quarters and investors responded by driving Hasbro's share price up 56 percent in the last two years, from about $19 per share in mid-October 2005, to a close of $29.25 Thursday.

Still, in a note to investors earlier this month, Gerrick L. Johnson of BMO Capital Markets Corp., cautioned that the entire toy industry could see fallout from a slowing economy and concerns about toy safety. While Hasbro hasn't been involved in the most high-profile toy recalls this year for lead paint, Johnson wrote that sluggish sales could cause retailers to put off buying any more toys in the quarter.

In a separate note, he said he expects Transformers sales could drop off next year due to the lack of a new movie in 2008.

The Transformers movie has made about $700 million worldwide since it was released this summer and about $316 million domestically. Hasbro does not share significantly in the box office - something Goldner says it agreed to forego because it didn't invest in the movie's production cost. But it shares in the success in other ways.

It made money by licensing about 230 Transformers products, including cell phone games, video games, even a jacket that transforms to a backpack and a pillow and sells for about $500.

Goldner wouldn't comment specifically on sales of Transformers toys ahead of the earnings report. But Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of the trade magazine Toy Wishes, said retailers tell him Transformers sell out as soon as they're put on the shelf.

''These toys, the way they transform and the things that they do, they're really fun,'' Silver said. ''It's the hottest thing in the boys' category.''

A new Transformers animated series is scheduled for TV this spring, the Transformers movie DVD hit stores this week, and Hasbro is again working with DreamWorks-Paramount on a sequel, tentatively scheduled to be released in June 2009, Goldner said.

Also in development for a tentative 2009 release is a G.I. Joe movie, based on the 1980s comic books and animation series and pitting the G.I. Joe team against the evil forces of Cobra, Goldner said. Stephen Sommers, of ''The Mummy'' movies, signed up to direct, along with Stuart Beattie, who wrote the first ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' movie.

As with the Transformers movies, Hasbro would not share significantly in the box office, Goldner said. The company said it will make new toys based on the G.I. Joe movie, but would not give details.

Silver said he was excited to see how Hasbro updates the toy line.

''I'm sure G.I. Joe's going to have a lot of cool accessories,'' he said.

Sean McGowan, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, said Hasbro is right to avoid the risk of a box office bomb but should be sharing more directly in the success of a movie based on its properties. He said Hasbro has the right idea in an agreement reached this year with Electronic Arts Inc.

The Redwood City, Calif.-based video game maker now has the right to make Hasbro games for PCs, video game consoles and cell phones. The licensing deal keeps Hasbro from having to get into the video games business itself, and also allows it to do what it does best - make traditional games and toys based on EA's existing video games.

''I don't want to see them get into the business of producing TV shows,'' McGowan said. ''But if they're able to work with the producers to use the intellectual property they have, they should do that.''

Transformers Movie Leader Class Brawl is out now here in the UK at Toys R Us, priced at £39.99, reports The Juggernaut on our message board.

Heerotoysmaker has an auction on eBay.com for a testshot (probably final colours) of the 2008 Transformers figure Allspark Power Optimus Prime.

You can see images of the toy buy clicking here.

Thanks to ebay seller AM7772 for posting images of the Transformers Movie DVD Blackout repainted figure.

The toy is supposed to me more Movie Accurate, in the colour scheme, and also appears to feature Battle Damage.

You can see the auction here.

The Allspark have already started to detail the Easter Eggs on the Transformers DVD, which went on sale yesterday in the US.

On Disc 2 of the Special Edition here are 3 Easter Eggs found thus far.

• In "OUR WORLD" push the Down key on "I FIGHT GIANT ROBOTS" to access an Easter Egg.
• In "THEIR WAR" push the Left key on "INSIDE THE ALLSPARK" to access another Easter Egg.
• In "MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE" push the Up key on "FROM SCRIPT TO SAND: THE SCORPONOK DESERT ATTACK"
• In "TRAILERS" push the Right key on "THEATRICAL TRAILER 4"

Thanks to Seibertron for posting the following press release from Click Communications regarding part of Paramount Pictures promotional events for the release of the Transformers Movie DVD and HD-DVD.

TRANSFORMERS
INVADE LOS ANGELES!

DON’T MISS AN INCREDIBLE PHOTO OPPORTUNITY WHEN A FULL-SIZE TRANSFORMER LANDS AT THE CORNER OF LA BREA & SANTA MONICA

WHAT: Paramount Home Entertainment celebrates the DVD debut of the worldwide smash hit TRANSFORMERS with a special guest appearance by one of the film’s BIGGEST stars—Bumblebee! A full-size, 18-foot tall, 8,200 pound traffic-stopping robot will greet passers-by in the courtyard of the West Hollywood Gateway shopping center on the corner of La Brea and Santa Monica Blvd. This actual prop from the blockbuster film requires a forklift and 10 ton crane to assemble and set up and he will make for an extraordinary visual.

WHO: Bumblebee, the brave Autobot who turns into a Camaro from the year’s most anticipated DVD, TRANSFORMERS, arriving October 16.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 16th starting at 7:00 a.m., through Sunday, October 21st

WHERE: West Hollywood Gateway shopping center
Corner of La Brea & Santa Monica Blvd.

Hasbro's Transformers Site has updated with a news item about the previously seen metallic
T ransformers Movie Voyager Megatron and Ratchet toys. The toys go on sale today in the US exclusively at Best Buy.

Hasbro states that it will "be taking several of the best Transformers Movie toys from all the size classes (Deluxe, Voyager and Leader) and giving them the same metallic finish and display box treatment as a part of a Premium collector's line."

No details on the figures are announced, though it would make sense to be the toys from the actual film.

Thanks to TFWorld2005 for the report.

Japanese online retailer BO-YA has announced the first line-up of Japanese figures for 2008. First up are listings for Trans-Scanning Optimus Prime and Trans-Scanning Bumblebee. No pictures are available at present by the figures will cost 4410 and 3900 respectively. These toys will be released in March. The Allspark power figures will also be released in Japan

MA-19 Landmine 2625 yen, release in Jan 2008
MA-20 Black Arcee 2625 yen, released in Feb 2008
MD-22 Incinerator 3990 yen, released in Jan 2008
MD-23 Stockade 2625 yen, released in Feb 2008

The double packs will also be released in Jan and Feb
SB-01 First Encounter
SB-02 Final Stand
SB-03 Desert Attack
SB-04 Capture of Bumblebee
Finally there are four listings for the Transformers Classics
C-01 Convoy 3675 yen
C-02 Megatron3675 yen
C-03 Bumble 2310 yen
C-04 Starscream 2310 yen

Japanese chain Lawsons will be offering a recolour of Transformers Movie Voyager Class Blackout, entitled Version 4500X. The figure is repainted with a metallic colour scheme and will be come with the Transformers Movie DVD, priced at 8990 yen (about £40). You can see the listing here.

Credit to Snakas for the report.

The Paramount Japan website has been updated with more details on the Japanese DVD release of the live action Transformers movie.

The Transformers Movie will be released in hour different version in Japan. They are :-

1. The regular DVD release - 2 disc collectors set priced at 4,179 yen
2. The Optimus Prime Transforming DVD boxset, limited to 10,000 and priced at 5,670 yen
3. The HD-DVD two disc version, priced at 4,935 yen.
4. A, "to be specified" Special Edition set

By pre-ordering the DVDs, you will receive a Japanese exclusive recolour of the Spychanger Scourge figure into Transformers Movie Optimus Prime, whilst stocks last.

Thanks to Snakas for the link.