DVD Sales - Dark Knight Shines Bright
December 22, 2008
Not many new releases charted this week, but that doesn't matter as we had a record breaking release at the top. Not only did The Dark Knight become the fastest selling DVD of the year with 7.50 million units and $158.74 million, it also became the first Blu-ray to sell more than 1 million units during its first week of release, as it just crossed into seven digits.
Horton Hears a Who was second with opening week sales of 1.84 million units and $32.19 million. This pushed The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian into third place with 1.05 million units and $17.66 million for the week and 4.39 million units and $72.38 million after two. Wanted added 713,000 units and $14.38 million to take its running tally to 3.05 million units and $63.70 million. It should crack $100 million in sales eventually. WALL-E was down just 30% and remained in the top five one more week with 589,000 units / $9.74 million. More importantly, it became the top-selling DVD of 2008 with 9.41 million units. At least it will be the best selling DVD of the year for one week. It is likely that this time next week The Dark Knight will have overtaken it.
The only other new release to reach the top 30 was Lost - Season Four with 494,000 units and $18.85 million in spending. In terms of units, it was the eighth best selling DVD of the week. In terms of dollars, it was third.
Blu-ray sales exploded to their best level ever with $60.8 million, which is roughly 12% of the total home market sales, while it earned 14% of the top twenty comparisons. This was a record in terms of raw dollars, and top twenty comparisons, while percentwise it is the fourth best week ever. Needless to say, sales were led by The Dark Knight, which we are estimating at just over 1 million units sold during its first week of release. This is better than most people were expecting, although I was a little more bullish than most in predicting a 1.2 million unit opening week. However, that's close enough to call a victory. That said, that's it for marquee releases this year, and no new release for the rest of the year is going to come close to The Dark Knight. It is possible that no new release until the fourth quarter of next year will come close to The Dark Knight, as the winter box office has fallen off a cliff.
Filed under: Video Sales, The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Horton Hears a Who, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Wanted