DVD Sales - Harold and Kumar Escape to the Home Market

August 13, 2008

New releases dominated the sales chart this week, taking 5 of the top 6 spots. This included the new number one film, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, which sold 406,000 units for $9.49 million consumer spending. 21 held up better than expected, down just 45% to 321,000 units sold and $5.96 million in sales for the week for totals of 905,000 units and $17.16 million. Stargate - Continuum sold 277,000 units its first week of release, which was a 10% increase over the first week sales of Ark of Truth, which is good news for the filmmakers and fans and it increases the odds there will be more direct-to-DVD releases for this franchise. Never Back Down was just behind with 272,000 units sold. However, in terms of dollars it would have finished third with $5.72 million. The final release in the top five was Doomsday with a 162,000 unit / $3.65 million opening week performance.

Meanwhile, The Lost Boys: The Tribe just missed the top five with 150,000 units sold for opening week revenue of $2.78 million. The final wide release to chart was Shine a Light, which placed 13th with 50,000 units / $1.01 million in sales.

Blu-ray sales exploded this past weekend up nearly 18% to $9.4 million, which was just over 7% of total home market sales for the week and 10% of the top 20 comparison. And this strong performance came despite no top-notch Blu-ray releases. However, every single new release that did chart this week also came out on Blu-ray as well, and every single release in the top ten is also out on Blu-ray, so the studios are (nearly) fully supporting the format, which is obviously helping overall sales. Additionally, this was the second wave of Paramount Blu-ray releases, which also helped boost sales in their own way.

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Filed under: Video Sales, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Never Back Down, Doomsday, Shine a Light, Stargate - Continuum, Lost Boys: The Tribe, 21