Blu-ray Sales: Star Trek's Next Generation Debut
August 7, 2012
There was very little activity from the new releases on the Blu-ray sales chart this week, but slightly more than there was on the DVD sales chart. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight remained in the top two spots. Batman Begins added 253,000 units / $2.53 million over the week for totals of 2.1 million units / $26 million. That would be really good for a first run release, for a film that predates Blu-ray, it is awesome. The Dark Knight sold 213,000 units / $4.53 million over the week for totals of 7.5 million units / $121 million. It has likely sold more units than Avatar, but will need a few more weeks like this to top Avatar's total revenue.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol rose to third place with 110,000 units / $1.26 million for totals of 2.38 million units / $49.40 million after more than three months of release. The best new release of the week was Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season One, which sold 95,000 units and generated $5.73 million in revenue. This revenue was tops for the week. This is an excellent start for a TV on DVD release, especially one that's not a first-run release. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows rose to fifth place with 86,000 units / $2.14 million for the week and 2.52 million units / $57.62 million after more than a month of release.
The only other new release to chart was Silent House, which earned 13th place with 42,000 units / $836,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 43%, which is excellent for a suspenseful horror film, as opposed to a visually flashy horror film.
There were no first-run releases in the top ten, so it should comes as no surprise the overall Blu-ray market declined this week down 31% in terms of units and 23% in terms of dollars. On the other hand, Blu-ray again saw triple-digit increases over last year up 183% in terms of units and 151% in terms of revenue. DVD sales were also down from last week by even greater amounts than Blu-ray fell, plus they were only mixed compared to last year. This helped the overall Blu-ray share, which was just over 50% in terms of units and 58% in terms of revenue. I wasn't expected this. I was expecting the overall Blu-ray share to retreat this week.
The new releases next week are again really weak with Total Recall: Mind Bending Edition possibly leading the way. Or maybe Forever Marilyn will generate the most revenue. Or perhaps Batman will still lead Blu-ray. Last year, the new releases were dominated by Rio, which sold 1.34 million DVDs and 766,000 Blu-rays. I don't see any film matching that figure and we could have one of the worst weeks on Blu-ray this year.
Filed under: Video Sales, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, Silent House