Blu-ray Sales: Top of the Chart Looks Super

December 8, 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and Super 8 had legitimate claim to top spot in this week's Blu-ray sales chart. The holdover sold more units at 550,000 units to 503,000 units, but the newcomer led the way in revenue at $11.49 million to $9.89 million. That represented an opening week Blu-ray ratio of 55%, which should make the studio happy. Also of note this week, the final Harry Potter release became the best selling Blu-ray of the year with 3.95 million units sold and $86.16 million in total revenue so far. The Lion King returned to the chart in third place with 241,000 units / $5.62 million for the week, giving it totals of just shy of 3.00 million units and $82.87 million after eight weeks of release. Pulp Fiction had its best weekly sales on the Blu-ray selling 215,000 units, while generating $2.12 million in sales. So far the film has sold 405,000 units / $4.56 million in six weeks of release. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides also popped back onto the chart earning fifth place with 208,000 units / $4.60 million for the week giving it totals of 2.76 million units / $74.39 million after six.

The only other new release to land on the chart was Conan the Barbarian, which landed in tenth place with 142,000 units / $3.26 million. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio was just 37%, which is lower than this type of release should earn. On the other hand, it was a box office bomb, so many of those interested in the film were unwilling to spend the extra money for high definition.

The overall Blu-ray market showed mixed results due to the Black Friday shopping frenzy. Comparing this week's Blu-ray sales to last week or last year and you see growth, impressive growth. Sales grew by 40% in terms of units compared to last week, but just 2% in terms of dollars due to the deep sales. Compared to last year, growth was even rosier at 51% in terms of units and 61% in terms of dollars. However, DVD sales were even more impressive on a week-over-week comparison, even though they shrunk when compared to last year. As such, the overall Blu-ray ratio dropped when compared to last week to just 27% in terms of units and 36% in terms of revenue. However, this is still much higher than last year and year-over-year growth is much more important.

I'm not looking forward to next week. None of the biggest releases (The Smurfs, Friends with Benefits, etc.) are what you would call prime releases for high definition. Worse still, this week last year saw the release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which sold more than two million DVDs and half a million Blu-rays. I don't think any film this year will match that total.


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Filed under: Video Sales, The Lion King, Pulp Fiction, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Conan the Barbarian, Friends with Benefits, Super 8