When Steven Soderbergh announced last April that he was going to release his next six films in the theaters and on DVD on the same day, it shocked many industry insiders. But is Soderbergh’s decision so surprising considering the recent decline in box office receipts since the rise of the DVD? Despite the latest “Star Wars” phenomena, Variety reports that overall box office sales have been down for the last year. However, DVD sales and rentals have become one of the industry’s biggest money-makers, and movies that go “straight to DVD” aren’t so bad anymore. DVD sales have been the saving grace of films such as “The Bourne Identity,” which had less-than-stellar box office results. But does Soderbergh’s decision indicate that the DVD will replace multiplexes around the country? Hopefully not, because going out to the movies is one of the few great American rituals. However, it is hard to beat the convenience and cost of recent DVD advents such as Netflix and Blockbuster Online.

Maybe the rise of the DVD is due to the fact that many Americans are too lazy to get up from the couch to go to the movies, or maybe it’s because we don’t want to pay $10 and sit through an hour of previews, just to watch Vin Diesel play a nanny. In any case, lets hope Soderbergh’s next project is worth watching, either in the theaters or on DVD.