Blu-ray Sales: Post-Christmas Slump Hits Hard

February 5, 2013

Given how bad the new releases were, it's no surprise none of them reached the top of the Blu-ray sales chart. (While Looper was awarded the Pick of the Week, it actually came out on the following Monday, while the sales week ends on Sunday, so the numbers will be included in next week's results.) The Dark Knight Rises returned to first place with 314,000 units / $7.65 million for the week giving it totals of 3.90 million units / $79.93 million. It is one of the best selling Blu-rays of all time and about 50% more than The Dark Knight's current running tally. Ted slipped to second place with 306,000 units / $7.63 million for the week. After three weeks of release, the film has sold 2.17 million units and generated $47.64 million in total sales. That's amazing for a comedy. Finding Nemo returned to the top five in third place with 227,000 units / $6.12 million for the week. In total, it has sold 958,000 units / $23.98 million. Pitch Perfect earned $4.05 million for the week from 169,000 units pushing its totals to 529,000 units / $11.24 million. Total Recall rounded out the top five with 140,000 units / $3.51 million for the week giving it totals o 491,000 units / $11.55 million after two.

The overall Blu-ray market fell dramatically compared to last week but grew compared to last year, which is more important. Total sales were 40% lower compared to last week in terms of units and 44% in terms of dollars. Compared to last year, there were 26% more units sold and 58% more revenue was generated. DVD sales were more or less the same compared to last week down 40% in terms of units and 33% in terms of revenue. They also grew compared to last year up 8% in terms of units and 18% in terms of revenue. This left the overall Blu-ray share almost stable at 42% in terms of units and 49% in terms of revenue.

Looking forward to next week, we should see some growth, as there were a of couple new releases with the potential to sell quite well on Blu-ray. Frankenweenie will likely lead the DVD chart, but Dredd could win on Blu-ray. (Or maybe it will be Looper, which was released a day before the other two.) Last year's new releases were led by Contagion, which sold 372,000 DVDs and 236,000 Blu-rays. I think we should top that this year.


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Filed under: Video Sales, Finding Nemo, Frankenweenie, The Dark Knight Rises, Total Recall, Looper, Ted, Dredd, Pitch Perfect