DVD Sales - New Releases Lack Spirit on the Home Market

April 29, 2009

There were just a pair of new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week. This includes the new number one DVD; however, sales of The Spirit were hardly impressive as it managed just 334,000 units and $6.27 million in sales. Twilight climbed into second place with 296,000 units sold for the week giving the film totals of 7.38 million units and $133.50 million dollars after a month of release. The Day the Earth Stood Still slipped a spot to third with 293,000 units / $5.18 million for the week and 1.18 million units / $19.83 million after two. Bedtime Stories fell from first to fourth with 280,000 units for the week; however, it is still sold 1.96 million units after two weeks, while generating $33.57 million in sales. Rounding out the top five was Marley and Me with 269,000 units / $4.63 million for the week and 2.52 million units / $45.44 million after three.

There was only one other new release to chart, and it was The Reader, which did very well for a limited release (although the Oscar win helped). During its first week of release, the film made $4.54 million from 234,000 units sold.

Blu-ray sales returned to Earth this week after three weeks of glorious results. Compared to last week, total sales were down 45% to $10.8 million, which was only 15% higher than the same weekend last year. However, DVD sales were down even more given Blu-ray 9.7% of total sales and 12% of the top 20 comparisons. It's easy to see why sales were down this week, as the best selling Blu-ray was The Spirit, which proved a tough sell on DVD. It did sell just over 100,000 units in High Definition, which was nearly one in four total sales. That's an impressive ratio, but weak in terms of total numbers. Additionally, the only other new release to chart on the DVD sales was not even released on Blu-ray day-and-date.


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Filed under: Video Sales, Twilight, Marley & Me, Bedtime Stories, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Reader, The Spirit