DVD Sales - Pirates Find Plenty of Booty on the Home Market

December 17, 2007

Only five new releases landed on the sales chart this week, but that included the top two sellers. Leading the way was Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End with a year's best weekly sales of 7.35 million units and total revenue of $145.06 million, which crushes The Transformers' opening week by nearly 2 million units. In fact, after just one week, At World's End is in fourth place for the whole year. At this pace, it could be the biggest seller of the year by next week.

Second place went to Superbad with an opening of 2.45 million units for opening week sales of $49.10 million. Given its performance on the rental charts, it is clear people were trying Superbad before deciding to buy it. Shrek the Third held very well going into the important last minute shopping rush; this week it was down less than 14% selling 637,000 units for a total of 6.63 million units while its total sales hit $100.59 million. Just behind it for the week, but just ahead of it in total, was Ratatouille with 469,000 units / $7.36 million for the week and 7.19 million units / $107.55 million in sales. Live Free or Die Hard fell from first to fifth. However, it still sold 401,000 units for the week and has $56.06 million in revenue, which are strong numbers compared to the yearly averages.

The only other new release to reach the top ten was 24 - The Complete Sixth Season, which sold 235,000 units to place ninth, but its $8.93 million in revenue would have placed it in the top five for the week. 12th place went to The Nanny Diaries with 203,000 units sold and $4.67 million in revenue, which is a reasonable start given its theatrical run. Finally, Battlestar Galactica - Razor moved 122,000 units for opening week sales of $2.43 million.

Another week, another win for Blu-Ray on the Format War. That's 49 weeks in a row this year, so winning is not a newsworthy event, but winning by 76% to 24% is. Granted, the top two overall sellers, Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End and Superbad, were both Blu-Ray exclusive, but this is still a dominant performance. Speaking of At World's End, it sold 160,000 units during its opening week, which is a record for Blu-Ray exclusive releases and might be a record for an exclusive release for either format. (The Transformers reportedly sold 190,000 units its first week, but that number is under dispute. Also that number includes sales to rental chains while the 160,000 for At World's End does not.) Next week's numbers could have HD-DVD winning its first week of the year, as The Bourne Ultimatum is the only marquee exclusive release, but it might not be enough to save the format. There are a lot of rumors that there will be a blockbuster announcement at CES 2008 next month; an announcement that some are predicting will end the Format War.

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Filed under: Video Sales, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Ratatouille, Live Free or Die Hard, Superbad, The Nanny Diaries