The first movie to sell over 10m copies on VHS
For anyone born later than the early 2000s, the humble VHS tape might be something more closely associated with ‘80s nostalgia and Walkmans than a memory of childhood.
Even DVDs are a relic to many now that you can find pretty much anything you wish to watch online, legally or otherwise.
I have vivid memories of figuring out how to rewind VHS tapes when I was barely old enough to understand the film I was watching, or admiring rows of tapes that my grandparents had lined up on a shelf in their spare room. I was fascinated by what could possibly be contained within these thick cases, whether it was episodes of Little House on the Prairie or an old western.
I must admit that I was slightly too young to remember when Blockbuster shifted VHS tapes instead of DVDs, but the experience of carrying home a heavy load of plastic, ready to delve into movies you’d be dying to watch, was surely the epitome of a fun Friday night. The act of going to a rental shop, skimming through titles and trying to agree on one that everyone wanted to watch was an event in and of itself.
VHS was first introduced in the late 1970s, with the South Korean movie The Young Teacher becoming the first to ever receive a VHS release. From there, it became the dominant mode of consuming movies outside of theatres, revolutionising the way that people were able to consume cinema. Now, if you had a VHS and something to play it on, you could watch a movie whenever you wanted, not having to rely on going to the cinema or catching a film while it aired on TV. Moreover, obscure titles were given a new lease of life, and VHS significantly expanded the world of low-budget horror, although this led to the whole video nasty moral panic of the ‘80s.
The first movie to sell over 10 million copies on VHS
So, the ‘80s and the ‘90s were the medium’s prime time, but what was the first movie to reach extreme heights and shift as many as ten million copies? In the ‘80s, it was unusual for VHS tapes to sell a large number of copies, because they were produced with the aim of being rented by consumers rather than kept for individual consumption, however, it seemed like certain movies demanded the need to be endlessly rewatched, especially by younger viewers, so the VHS soon morphed into a product that consumers could more easily buy to keep.
Thus, when Steven Spielberg’s ET the Extra-Terrestrial was released in 1982, within a few years, it had set the record for the VHS with the most sales, shifting over 11m copies to fans who were eager never to be parted from the little alien, which is ironic, because Spielberg had actually refused to release the movie in the format for several years.
These 11m copies were ordered by fans before the video had even hit stores, that’s how keen people were for the movie, and since it had made an insane amount of money from its theatrical run, standing as the highest-grossing movie of all time for many years following its release, the fact that it grossed so much from VHS sales was deeply impressive.
It seems like people just wanted more and more of the heartwarming story, which saw a young boy befriend and help a little alien who simply wants to get back home, making for a moving and tender tale which was a personal one for Spielberg, taking inspiration from his parents’ divorce when he was younger. Yet, it clearly resonated with audiences, who just needed to own a copy of ET the Extra-Terrestrial for themselves, if not the cute and wrinkly alien in question.
