DVD Sales - Going Out of Business is Good Titles

March 11, 2009

A combination of terrible new releases and two massive store sales (including the Circuit City Going out of Business sale) meant this week's sales chart was dominated by some of the biggest hits from last year. However, the number one DVD remained High School Musical 3 - Senior Year, which sold an additional 543,000 units for the week to give it a total of 2.05 million units sold and $36.14 million in consumer retail spending. Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa remained in second place with 403,000 units and $6.39 million over the week while it now has sold 4.37 million units and generated $70.97 million in spending after nearly a month of release. Body of Lies held on strong in third place with 242,000 units sold and now has $11.87 million from 634,000 units sold. The first of the sale items was WALL-E, which had its best showing in three months to place 4th with 211,000 units / $3.27 million over the week for a total of 8.36 million / $131.70 million. The Dark Knight also returned to the top five with 203,000 units sold, giving it s running tally of 12.43 million units and $215.68 million.

On the other hand, the best of the new releases was Sex Drive, which missed the top ten with just 116,000 units and $2.31 million in sales. The Haunting of Molly Hartley opened in 15th place with 99,000 units / $1.78 million in sales. Meanwhile, Futurama - Into the Wild Green Yonder landed in 20th place with 83,000 units sold for opening week spending of $1.60 million. This is a step up from the previous release in the franchise. Finally, just missing the top 30 was NFL Super Bowl XLIII with 60,000 units sold and $1 million in spending. It is very rare for a sports DVD to reach the top 30, so this one coming close is a great sign.

Thanks to the terrible new releases, and the explosion of cheap DVDs, Blu-ray sales slipped 11% to $11.9 million, which was 7.9% of total sales and 8% of the top 20 comparison. Compared to last year, on the other hand, Blu-ray sales were up 46.4%, the biggest increase in three weeks. The best selling Blu-ray title this week was Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa, with about 60,000 units, while Iron Man was second with 57,000 units, which is more than it sold on DVD over the past week. The best new release of the week was Akira at 21,000 units, while Futurama - Into the Wild Green Yonder was right behind with 19,000 units.

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Filed under: Video Sales, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, WALL-E, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Body of Lies, The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Sex Drive, Futurama - Into the Wild Green Yonder