There were more than ten new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's sales chart, including the first summer blockbuster to reach the home market. That film, X-Men Origins - Wolverine, took top spot with a massive 2.42 million units and $40.20 million in consumer spending at retail in its opening week. Second place went to Barbie and the Three Muskateers with surprisingly strong sales of 399,000 units and $5.64 million. Grey's Anatomy - Season Five was the first of three in a row for TV on DVD releases, as it earned third place with 259,000 units and $9.47 million in spending. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Season Four placed fourth with 210,000 units / $5.07 million during its opening week. The Big Bang Theory - Season Two rounded out the top five with 156,000 units / $4.52 million.

The best of the rest of the new releases was Next Day Air, which placed ninth with 102,000 units for the week while generating $2.04 million. X-Men - Volume Three placed tenth with 81,000 units while Volume Four placed 12th with 76,000 units. Strangely, Bionicle - The Legend Reborn was able to squeeze in-between with 77,000 units.

Star Wars - The Clone Wars - Clone Commandos was close behind with 53,000 units / $525,000, which was enough for 16th place. WWE - The Best of Smackdown was barely able to grab a spot in the top 30 with 38,000 units / $756,000 in opening week sales.

Blu-ray had its best week since the Watchmen / Fast & Furious one / two punch back in July. Overall sales were up 112% from last week to $25.5 million. More importantly it was up 273% from the same weekend last year. Compared to DVD, Blu-ray represented 12.5% of total sales and 16.7% of the top 20 comparison. It comes as no surprise that X-Men Origins - Wolverine was the number one seller on Blu-ray, as it sold roughly 900,000 units. The second place film was The Dark Knight, which sold just under 30,000 units.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2009-09-29