【单选题】

Forget Harry Potter. No matter that the film about this schoolboy with magic powers broke all box-office records on its opening weekend, taking $94 m in the United States and $23 m inBritain, the truly momentous phenomenon in the film industry is not a pre-pubescent wizard but a humble circular piece of plastic: the digital versatile discDVD、.

Next year, for the first time, sales of movies inDVD、format are forecast to outsell those on video cassette inAmerica, reaching a total of $9.5 billion, according to Morgan Stanley, an investment bank.Already, 80% ofAmerican households haveDVD、players. With aDVD、recorder now in the shops as well, something that can record from the TV as well as play the discs,Christmas sales are expected to be strong.A、technology considered a flop when it was launched in 1997 is now the basis for the fastest-growing consumer appliance ever.
Some in the film business complain that people are simply buyingDVDs instead of video cassettes: there is no net gain. YetDVDs can do things that the cassette cannot. such as offer a choice of language in which to watch a movie, not to mention a clearer picture.And the studios have cleverly stuffedDVDs full of lively extra features, such as new clips or interviews with the director.
Moreover, people appear to want to build up collections ofDVDs, rather as they do of recorded musiC、TheDVD、is steadily gaining shelf space, even in the movie-rental store, and it should overtake (赶上，追上) the cassette even there within three years.And shops likeDVDs, not least because they take up less space. TheDVD、could well boost the size of the overall home-video market.
Already, recent releases onDVD, such as Snow White and the SevenDwarfs and Star WarsEpisode One, have sold millions of copies each.At a time when any revenue growth in the media industry is startling,DVD、sales atAOL Time Warner jumped by 44% in the third quarter this year, compared with the same period of 2000, to $279 m.
But how lasting will theDVD、effect be Some 80% of a film’s revenue comes from its distribution after the cinema release: to home video, pay-TV and the like. "The largest single portion of that revenue will be theDVD、business, " saysChristopherDixon of UBS Warburg, an investment bank, which in turn will help to reduce the risk involved in making movies. "TheDVD、if the most exciting development in the film industry, " he adds, "but every eight years there has been a new distribution platform in the entertainment business. None of them lasts forever. \
When launched in 1997,DVD、recorder was considered ______.
A、technological breakthrough
B、momentous phenomenon in the film industry
C、total failure
D、the fastest growing consumer appliance