Babel was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.[23] It was later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.[24] It opened in selected cities in the United States on 27 October 2006, and went into wide release on 10 November 2006.[4] When the film was released in Japan in 2007, several moviegoers reported queasiness during a scene in which Rinko Kikuchi's character visits a nightclub filled with strobe lights and flashing colors. In response, distributors administered a health warning describing the scene.[25]
Home media
On 20 February and 21 May 2007, Babel was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively.[26][27] On 25 September 2007, Paramount re-released the film as a two-disc special edition DVD. The second disc contains a 90-minute 'making of' documentary titled Common Ground: Under Construction Notes.[28] Babel has also been released on the high-definition formats, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc.[29][30]
On its first week of release on DVD in North America (19–25 February 2007), Babel debuted #1 in DVD/Home Video Rentals.[31] Total gross rentals for the week, were estimated at $8.73 million.[32] In the first week of DVD sales, Babel sold 721,000 units, gathering revenue of $12.3 million. By April 2007, 1,650,000 units had been sold, translating to $28.6 million in revenue.[33] In July 2008, its US DVD sales had totaled $31.4 million.[34]
