Blu-ray Sales: Wrath of the Blu-rays
July 10, 2012
Wrath of the Titans led a trio of new releases on top of the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold 800,000 units and generated $18.37 million in revenue, giving the film an opening week Blu-ray share of 55%. A visually-intensive action movie opening with a Blu-ray share above 50% is no longer a noteworthy event.
21 Jump Street placed second with 615,000 units / $11.68 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 41%, which is a little lower than expected. I guess it was wiser to judge the film as a comedy rather than an action film. Mirror Mirror only sold 365,000 units with revenue of $7.44 million. With an opening week Blu-ray share of 35%, it is clear the film connected with families more than adults. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows fell from first to fourth with 189,000 units / $4.72 million over the week for a total of 2.10 million units / $49.51 million. It is still quite rare for a film to sell 2 million Blu-rays. The Artist placed fifth with 142,000 units / $2.83 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share of 38% is very strong for a drama, but I'm still a little disappointed overall. It was the big winner at this year's Oscars and that should have boosted its sales more.
There were no other new releases in the top ten, but A Thousand Words placed 21st with 28,000 units / $557,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just 22%, which is disappointing, even for a comedy and even for a box office flop.
The overall Blu-ray market was strong no matter how you look at it. It grew 88% in terms of units and 65% in terms of revenue when compared to last week. Compared to last year, there were 215% more units sold, but the revenue only grew by 78%. (Last year the Lord of the Rings Box Set was released, which throws off the numbers.) DVD sales were almost as strong in most cases, stronger in one. DVD growth was practically the same compared to last week, but revenue growth was larger than Blu-ray growth compared to last year. This meant the overall Blu-ray share fell in terms of revenue to 47% from 55% last year. Meanwhile, the unit share was up to 42%, which is higher than last week and last year.
Next week, well, I'm not looking forward to next week. According to Amazon.com, the best-selling new Blu-ray for the week is Barbarella, which is a cult film, nothing more. If it sells more than 100,000 units, I will be shocked. There is some good news, on the other hand, as last year's new releases were just as bad. 13 Assassins was the best-selling new release on DVD and Blu-ray. Sucker Punch led the way on DVD with less than 85,000 units, while Lord of the Rings Box Set continued to lead the way on Blu-ray with 79,000 units. We should beat that, thanks to the holdovers.
Filed under: Video Sales, A Thousand Words, 21 Jump Street, Wrath of the Titans, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Mirror Mirror, The Artist