Blu-ray Sales: New Releases Go Haywire
May 16, 2012
We are in the slowest time of year on the home market, and it is really showing on the Blu-ray sales chart. There were only three new releases to place on the Blu-ray sales chart this week, and only one of them earned a respectable opening week Blu-ray share. Haywire opened in first place with 185,000 units / $3.69 million giving it a Blu-ray share of 49%. That's a solid percentage for a film that struggled to find an audience in theaters.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol remained in second place with 134,000 units / $2.86 million for the week and 1.70 million units / $37.37 million after three weeks of release. Joyful Noise earned first place on the DVD sales chart, but only managed third place on Blu-ray with 117,000 units / $2.34 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 23%, which is only about average for the genre. Contraband fell from first to fourth with 116,000 units / $2.86 million over the week and 626,000 units / $13.05 million after two. New Year's Eve opened in fifth place with just 89,000 units / $1.81 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was an anemic 19%, which is soft, even for this type of film.
There were no other new releases to chart this week.
Like last week, overall Blu-ray sales were mixed, and in the same way. Sales were down from last week with 20% fewer units sold and 16% less revenue generated. Compared to last year, sales were up 69% in terms of units and 87% in terms of dollars. It was the exact opposite for DVD sales, as they performed much better than Blu-ray when compared to last week, but much worse when compared to last year. The overall Blu-ray share was lower compared to last week at 35% in terms of units and 40% in terms of dollars, but that was much higher than the same week last year. It is worth noting that this is better than expected, given the weak slate of new releases on Blu-rays. The top two selling DVDs were the wrong genre for high definition.
Next week is not much stronger than this week in terms of the Blu-ray market. The Vow will likely lead the way on DVD, but Underworld: Awakenings should top the Blu-ray chart resulting in a weak overall Blu-ray share. However, Underworld: Awakenings should easily outperform last year's new releases, so the year-over-year comparison should be strong.
Filed under: Video Sales, New Year’s Eve, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, The Vow, Joyful Noise, Contraband, Haywire