DVD Sales - People were Watching New Releases
August 5, 2009
This was arguably the best week for new releases since summer began with eight reaching the top 30, including two new releases that finished first and second. Number one was Watchmen with 1.23 million units sold generating $25.60 million in sales.
Second place went to Coraline, which sold 1.04 million units earning $19.19 million in sales. It was the first time there had been two DVDs that sold 1 million units in two months. Last week's number one film, A Haunting in Connecticut, fell to third place adding 148,000 units over the week for totals of 587,000 units / $3.26 million after two. Knowing placed fourth with 127,000 units / $1.60 million and has now sold 1.17 million units generating $17.81 million in sales. Amazingly, Gran Torino remained in the top five selling 97,000 units over the week for a total of 3.34 million after seven.
Robot Chicken - Star Wars Episode II just missed the top five with 81,000 units / $1.07 million. Psych - Season Three back-to-back with Monk - Season Seven with 69,000 and 62,000 units respectively. Rounding out the top ten was Prison Break - The Final Break, which sold 59,000 units earning $895,000 during its first week of release. Yet another TV on DVD release, Pushing Daisies - Season Two, placed 13th with 53,000 units / $1.14 million. The final new release of the week to chart was Spongebob Squarepants: To Squarepants or Not to Squarepants, which landed in 16th place with 49,000 units / $610,000.
While DVD sales were good, Blu-ray sales were amazing. Overall sales reached $35.2 million, which was 215% more than last weekend and 472% higher than the same weekend last year. It was also the highest sales for the year, and third highest weekly sales of all-time. Compared to DVD, Blu-ray represented 16.1% of total sales, which was a record, while it represented 16% of the top 20, which was the second best in the format's history. The best selling Blu-ray release of the week was Watchmen with anywhere from 300,000 to 700,000 units. There seems to be some confusion in the numbers. It was reported that 35.5% of all sales for Watchmen were on Blu-ray, which would mean the movie sold roughly 680,000 units in High Definition. But looking at the overall 20 top comparison, we see that the top 20 selling Blu-rays sold just 660,000 units. You can see why this would be issue. I think the most reliable number is 380,000 units, which is still a fantastic start. Coraline was the second best selling Blu-ray moving about a third as many units; however, 140,000 units is an amazing start for a kids movie.
Filed under: Video Sales, Gran Torino, Watchmen, Knowing, Coraline, The Haunting in Connecticut