Theatrical
In August 2007, Warner Independent Pictures acquired the North American rights and Pathé the international rights to distribute Slumdog Millionaire theatrically.[14] However, in May 2008, Warner Independent Pictures was shut down, with all of its projects being transferred to Warner Bros., its parent studio. Warner Bros. doubted the commercial prospects of Slumdog Millionaire and suggested that it would go straight to DVD without a US theatrical release.[26] In August 2008, the studio began searching for buyers for various productions, to relieve its overload of end-of-the-year films.[38] Halfway through the month, Warner Bros. entered into a pact with Fox Searchlight Pictures to share distribution of the film, with Fox Searchlight buying 50% of Warner Bros.'s interest in the movie and handling US distribution.[39]
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on 31 March 2009. It opened at No. 2 in the DVD sales chart, making $14.16m from 842,000 DVD units.[40] As of 12 November 2009, an estimated 1,964,962 DVD units have been sold, for $31.32m in revenue. This figure does not include Blu-ray sales/DVD rentals.[40] It had previously been announced that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment would be starting a new marketing program with two versions of each release: a stripped-down minimal version for the rental market, and a traditional full version with "bonus extra" features, such as commentary and "making of" material, for the retail market. The release production was mixed up; some full versions were shipped in rental cases, and some retail versions were missing the extras despite their being listed on the box. Public apologies were issued by Fox and Amazon.[41]
In the United Kingdom, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 1 June 2009. It was 2009's fifth best-selling film on home video retail in the United Kingdom, third best-selling British film, and overall best-selling British independent film in the UK. It was also the year's top online video rental in the UK.[42] On UK television, it was watched by 5.2 million viewers on Channel 4 in 2010, making it the year's fifth most-watched film on UK television, the fourth most-watched British film, and the year's most-watched Channel 4 film.[43]
