Blu-ray Sales: Ides of January

January 31, 2012

January is typically a really bad month for the home market, and it is usually even worse for Blu-ray. Not only are there not many hits coming out, but those that are being released tend to be films that are better suited to DVD than Blu-ray (middling hits, dramas, etc.). This is certainly the case with this week's new releases. Leading the way on the Blu-ray sales chart was Ides of March, a political drama, with 116,000 units / $2.08 million. Its opening Blu-ray share was 39%, which is better than expected for the genre. Moneyball was in second place in terms of units with 109,000 units, but led the way in terms of dollars with $2.50 million. After two weeks of release, the film has sold 576,000 units and generated $12.24 million in total. Abduction was next with 83,000 units / $1.65 million, giving it an opening week Blu-ray average of just under 30%. Action films should do better, so this suggests the film's main audience was Twilight fangirls. Courageous opened in first place on DVD, but only managed fourth place on Blu-ray with 72,000 units / $1.48 million. An opening Blu-ray share of just 16% is bad, even for the genre. The Killer Elite remained in the top five with 54,000 units / $1.27 million for the week, lifting its totals to 297,000 units / $6.12 million after two.

No other new releases charted.

The overall Blu-ray market slumped when compared to last week and last year. Compared to last week, it was down 57% in terms of units and 53% in terms of dollars. Its decline compared to last year was not as strong, but it still fell a distressing 15% in terms of units and 5% in terms of dollars. DVD sales held on better than Blu-ray compared to last week, but worse compared to last year. The overall Blu-ray share slipped to hit 29% in terms of units and 35% in terms of dollars, which is barely better than last year's numbers.

Next week should be better with the release of Paranormal Activity 3 and Real Steel, among others. However, Red led last year's DVD sales chart with more than 1 million units and the Blu-ray sales chart with 660,000 units. I don't think any of this year's releases will match that.


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Filed under: Video Sales, Abduction, Real Steel, Moneyball, Killer Elite, Courageous, The Ides of March