Blu-ray Sales: Avengers Begin To Rewrite Record Book

October 12th, 2012

The Avengers became one of the best selling Blu-rays of all time after just one week of release. Its opening week sales were outstanding at 3.39 million units / $67.69 million. This was by far the biggest new releases of the week and it crushed the competition on the Blu-ray sales chart. In fact, it was easily the best single week on the chart and places the Blu-ray in the top ten on the all-time list. (More on that next week.) Its opening week Blu-ray share was 62%. I suspect by the end of the Christmas shopping season, a 60% opening week Blu-ray share will be the norm for any major release. More...

DVD Sales: Avengers Earns an A Minus

October 12th, 2012

The Avengers dominated a lengthy list of new releases and sold roughly 20 times the number of DVDs of the second place release on this week's DVD sales chart. It sold 2.09 million units and generated $35.41 million in opening weekend revenue. This is a good start on the home market, but not great compared to the film's theatrical run. In fact, it wasn't even the best opening of the year, as both The Hunger Games and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 sold more during their first week of release, and they both had shortened opening weeks. That said, it is already in eighth place for the year and this film did much better on Blu-ray than it did on DVD. More on that very shortly. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for September 25th, 2012

September 25th, 2012

It's the unofficial beginning of the Christmas Shopping Season. Starting the rush this year is The Avengers, which broke records at the box office and will likely do the same on the home market. It is clearly a contender for Pick of the Week, but I'm not sure if the Blu-ray Combo Pack or the 3D Combo Pack is the better deal. The only other contender for Pick of the Week is Bond: 50 on Buy from Amazon. However, it's a double-dip... or triple-dip. I've lost count. In the end, I'm going with The Avengers on 3D Combo Pack. It's only $5 more, so it is worth future-proofing. More...

Limited Releases: For a Good Time, Go to a Limited Release

August 31st, 2012

It is a slow week for limited releases. There are six on this week's list, but none of them are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. In fact, only half are earning overall positive reviews, and that might change for the worse as more reviews come in. (As I'm writing this, two of them are at exactly 60% positive. Last minute update: both of them fell below 60% positive reviews.) The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is earning the best reviews and it was a massive hit in its native China, but it will likely struggle here. There are plans to expand For a Good Time, Call... on the 7th and the 14th of September, but while I want to see this film more than the rest of the new releases, I have my doubts it will expand significantly. More...