'The Social Network' Set to Cross $200 Million Worldwide as Acclaimed Motion Picture Makes Its Way Back Into Theaters and Debuts on DVD

CULVER CITY, Calif., Jan. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As The Social Network, the most critically acclaimed film of the year, is set to launch on DVD,  the hit film is poised to pass $200 million at the worldwide box office. It was announced today by Jeff Blake, chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for Sony Pictures.  To date, The Social Network has grossed more than $93 million in the US and $104 million overseas, and will pass the $200 million mark in the next few days.   The DVD will be released on January 11, 2011, and contains more than eight hours of bonus extras about the motion picture.  The film will also be re-released in approximately 600 theaters nationwide on January 7.

Commenting on the announcement, Blake said, "The Social Network has struck a chord with audiences all around the world.  No invention defines our era like Facebook does, but what has made it break through as a motion picture is that it is a parable for our time.  Everyone, everywhere, can relate to the human motivations of the real-life people who are depicted in the film. At the box office, this film showed true staying power, grossing more than four times its opening weekend gross – a rare accomplishment when the average for wide releases last year was below three times its opening weekend gross.  It is always a great feeling to see a film connect with moviegoers, but this film is incredibly special to us – we are as proud of it as any film in our studio's history."

The Social Network has been embraced during this year's awards season, with four honors from the National Board of Review, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor for Jesse Eisenberg.  The film has also received six Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, and nominations for Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, as well as two nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, including Ensemble and Eisenberg for Best Actor, and nominations for Best Picture from the Producers Guild of America and Best Adapted Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America.  The film has also been named Best Picture by 24 critics groups, including the New York Film Critics Circle, the New York Film Critics Online, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the San Francisco Film Critics, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Dallas/Ft. Worth Film Critics Association, the Washington Area Film Critics Association, the Toronto Film Critics Association, the UK Regional Critics Awards, Sight and Sound, the Village Voice/LA Weekly Critics Poll, the African American Film Critics Association, the Black Film Critics Circle, the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the Houston Film Critics Society, the Detroit Film Critics Society, the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, the St. Louis Film Critics Association, the Indiana Film Journalist Awards, the Utah Film Critics Association, the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society.  The film also appears on over 350 critics' Top Ten lists.

The film has been named Best Picture of the Year by numerous publications, including The New York Times, New York Post, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Chicago Sun-Times, Denver Post, Boston Phoenix, Cleveland Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, the Huffington Post, IFC.com, Miami Herald, Lincoln Journal-Star, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, MSN Movies, North County Times, Oklahoma Gazette, Omaha World Herald, Orlando Weekly, Sight & Sound, Time Out Chicago, Time Out New York, and Tulsa World, among many others.

In The Social Network, director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin explore the moment at which Facebook, the most revolutionary social phenomenon of the new century, was invented – through the warring perspectives of the super-smart young men who each claimed to be there at its inception.  Drawn from multiple sources, the film moves from the halls of Harvard to the cubicles of Palo Alto as it captures the visceral thrill of the heady early days of a culture-changing phenomenon in the making – and the way it both pulled a group of young revolutionaries together and then split them apart.  In the midst of the chaos are Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), the brilliant Harvard student who conceived a website that seemed to redefine our social fabric overnight; Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), once Zuckerberg's close friend, who provided the seed money for the fledgling company; Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who brought Facebook to Silicon Valley's venture capitalists; and the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence), the Harvard classmates who asserted that Zuckerberg stole their idea and then sued him for ownership of it. Each has his own narrative, his own version of the Facebook story – but they add up to more than the sum of their parts in what becomes a multi-level portrait of 21st Century success – both the youthful fantasy of it and its finite realities as well.  The film is produced by Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, and Cean Chaffin and based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich.

About Sony Pictures Entertainment

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation.  SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; a global channel network; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of entertainment in more than 140 countries.  Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com.

SOURCE Sony Pictures Entertainment