DVD Sales - Beverly Hills Success
March 17, 2009
There were half-a-dozen new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, including a new number one movie, Beverly Hills Chihuahua. That film sold 1.61 million unites generating $28.40 million in sales, which was enough to put it in sixth place on the 2009 sales chart after just a week of release.
Australia opened in second place with 753,000 units sold and $12.80 million in sales, which is not bad compared to its theatrical run. High School Musical 3 - Senior Year slipped to third place with sales of 214,000 units / $4.02 million for the week for total of 2.26 million units and $40.16 million in sales. It is very likely that the movie has overtaken The Pineapple Express for second place on the 2009 sales chart, but we won't know that officially till this time next week. Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa fell to fourth place with 160,000 units and leads the year with 4.53 million units sold and $74.05 million in sales. Rounding out the top five was Wonder Woman with 106,000 units sold and $2.04 million in sales, which is great for a direct-to-DVD release.
The best of the rest of the new releases was the Special Edition release of Air Bud, which placed 10th with 72,000 units and $1.26 million. Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic opened in 15th place with 58,000 units and $1.17 million. Finally, In the Electric Mist placed 27th in its debut with 42,000 units and $836,000.
Blu-ray sales were down about 10% this past week, which is not surprising given the weak slate of High Definition releases. However, at $10.6 million, it remained at 7.9% of total sales, while Blu-ray grew to 10% of the Top 20 market. Compared to the same weekend last year, Blu-ray shined up 69%, which was the best week-to-week growth since those number were released. The best selling Blu-ray was Australia with just over 100,000 units while the number one seller on the DVD chart, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, was second with 50,000 units. Watchmen landed in fourth place with 24,000 units while Wonder Woman placed sixth with 17,000 units. Watchmen's Blu-ray sales represented 29% of total sales, which bodes very well for the film's chances on High Definition when it is released on the home market in the Summer.
Filed under: Video Sales, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Australia