DVD Sales: Red and Secretariat in Two-Horse Race
February 8, 2011
Among the new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, there were two that were in a relatively close race for first place. At least it was close compared to the third place film. Coming out on top was Red with 1.12 million units sold for $15.07 million in opening week consumer spending.
Second place went to Secretariat with 837,000 units / $13.86 million. Saw: The Final Chapter opened in third place with 214,000 units / $3.42 million. This is barely above what Saw 6 opened with, and that film was a lot weaker at the box office. Even more disturbing for the film, it generated less revenue than Open Season 3 did during its first week of release, although it topped it in units sold. The direct-to-DVD sequel pulled in $3.71 million from 208,000 units sold. Rounding out the top five was The Social Network with 178,000 units sold for the week and an adjusted 1.11 million units in total. More on that adjustment in a second.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest opened in seventh place with 158,000 units and earned $2.39 million. Meanwhile, 143,000 people couldn't wait for the full-season set of Glee: Season Two, so they picked up Volume One. Thanks to the TV on DVD pricing, the DVD placed fifth with the week in terms of revenue at $2.86 million.
As for that adjustment, we get DVD sales figures from many sources, and after adding in a healthy dose of original research, we come up with the most detailed DVD sales numbers you will find anywhere on the internet. Sometimes we'll receive new figures that cause us to change estimates for earlier weeks.
Most times these adjustments don't affect our numbers too much, but this was not one of those times. Sadly, a lot of recent DVD sales were weaker than originally reported. With how weak the DVD sales have been recently, this is even more troubling. Our weekly sales charts have been updated to reflect the changes.
It was not a good week for Blu-rays, with only one that sold well: Red with 640,000 units, which is a little low for an an action movie; however, this one is aimed at a more mature target demographic than most such films. Likewise, Secretariat doesn't have a target demographic that is normally associated with the High Definition revolution, so it's not surprising that it was well back in second place with 260,000 units. Saw: The Final Chapter placed third with 100,000 units. Quite frankly, I was expecting more, even when compared to its disappointing DVD sales. Further down the list we find The Social Network at 70,000 units, while Open Season 3 sold a rather anemic 45,000 units.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest missed the top five with 40,000, but that's not bad for a limited release.
Filed under: Video Sales, Secretariat, Saw 3D, The Social Network, Luftslottet som sprängdes, Red, Open Season 3