I’ve been wondering for some time when the movie press would realize that the true measure of the success of a movie has very little to do with the box office receipts and everything to do with the actual DVD sales. I have no idea if Snakes on a Plane will or won’t be a success based on the DVD sales, but Time is certainly wrong to indict it at this point without using the overall gross of the movie (including early DVD sales) in its picture of health.
There was a time when the box office take made up a significant part of the overall return of a movie. Now it’s meaningless for the most part. Blame the new media landscape and the accessibility provided in the long tail, but personally, I happen to like it this way.