Blu-ray Sales: January 27th, 2013: End Begins On Top

March 14, 2013

New releases did well on the Blu-ray sales chart for the week of January 27th, 2013. This includes End of Watch, which earned first place with 428,000 units / $9.41 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just a hair over 50%, which is really impressive for this type of release. Taken 2 slipped to second place with 244,000 units / $3.84 million for totals of 1.08 million units / $20.59 million. Death Race 3: Inferno opened in third place with 78,000 units / $1.71 million for a opening week Blu-ray share of 33%. This is a little lower than expected for an action film, but being direct-to-DVD does mitigate that somewhat. Looper remained in fourth place with 40,000 units / $1.00 million for the week and 517,000 units / $11.60 million after four. Frankenweenie was right behind with 40,000 units / $1.41 million and 281,000 units / $8.60 million after three weeks of release.

The Paperboy just missed the top five with 39,000 units / $511,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 27%, which is pretty good for a drama. Searching for Sugar Man debuted in 19th place with 15,000 units / $347,000. It didn't even make the top 30 on DVD and its opening Blu-ray share was massive at 80%. Granted, the small numbers mean it doesn't have that much of an impact on the overall Blu-ray share. The Quiet Man was next with 13,000 / $288,000, which is a good start for a catalog title like this. The final new release to chart was The Men Who Built America, which opened in 23rd place with 12,000 units / $358,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 21%, which is better than expected for a TV on DVD release.

The overall Blu-ray market slipped a little bit when compared to last week, down 17% in terms of units and 20% in terms of revenue. The overall Blu-ray share was more mixed when compared to last year, up 7% in terms of units and down 9% in terms of revenue. DVD sales were better than Blu-ray sales, down 7% in terms of units and 18% in terms of revenue when compared to last week. When compared to last year, DVD sales were 29% higher in terms of units and 13% higher in terms of revenue. This left the overall Blu-ray a little lower at 33% in terms of units and 40% in terms of revenue. This isn't a bad result.

Next week it is not a particularly good week for new releases. Hotel Transylvania should lead the way on the DVD sales chart. It might even lead the was on Blu-ray, mainly because there's not a lot of competition. Last year the new releases were led by Treasure Buddies on DVD and Drive on Blu-ray. I think Hotel Transylvania will help DVD sales grow, but Blu-ray could be in trouble, again.


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Filed under: Video Sales, The Quiet Man, Frankenweenie, Looper, Taken 2, End of Watch, Searching for Sugar Man, The Paperboy, Death Race 3: Inferno