Blu-ray Sales: Mad Money for Madagascar
November 5, 2012
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted was one of seven new releases to reach the top 20 on this week's Blu-ray sales chart. It took first place with 768,000 units / $15.36 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 45%. This is good for a digitally animated kids movie. In fact, this wouldn't be bad if it were an action film.
Prometheus slipped to second place with 251,000 units / $5.20 million over the week for a total of 940,000 units / $18.97 million after two. That's not bad, but not great either. Thanks to its 3D debut, Avatar returned to the chart in third place with 162,000 units / $4.06 million over the week for totals of 6.19 million units / $136.37 million. It was a milestone week for The Avengers. Over the week the film sold 146,000 units and generated $3.59 million. This pushed its running tallies to 4.05 million units / $85.49 million. Cinderella fell to fifth place with 133,000 units / $3.32 million for the week giving it totals of 1.21 million units and $28.62 million after three weeks of release. This is an excellent run for a catalogue title. Then again, films from the Disney vault are not your typical catalogue release.
Moonrise Kingdom just missed the top five with 83,000 units / $1.65 million during its first week of release. Its Blu-ray share for the week was 44%, which is outstanding for a limited release dramedy. On the other hand, That's My Boy was not good earning eighth place with just 45,000 units / $892,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just 28%, which is weak, even for a comedy. Chernobyl Diaries was just behind with 40,000 units / $892,000 for an opening week Blu-ray share of just under 30%. That's not a good start. Mad Men: Season Five just missed the top ten with 31,000 units / $945,000 for the week. TV on DVD releases rarely have strong Blu-ray shares, so 25% is better than expected. The final new release to chart was Pete's Dragon, which landed in 15th place with 20,000 units / $389,000. This is inline with most catalogue releases.
The overall Blu-ray market was again mixed. Despite having a family film as the number one Blu-ray for the week, the total market was higher than last week, albeit by single-digit margins. There were 9% more units sold and 8% more revenue generated. Compared to last year, Blu-ray sales were 3% lower in terms of units and 22% lower in terms of revenue. However, as I mentioned last week, this week last year, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was released on Blu-ray Combo Pack release only, so that complicates the comparison. On the other hand, DVD sales were well up compared to last week with increases of 45% in terms of units and 49% in terms of revenue. Compared to last year, 58% more units were sold while total revenue was 64% higher. The overall Blu-ray share slipped to 38% in terms of units and 42% in terms of revenue. This is lower than it has been recently, but hopefully this is just a temporary blip.
Next week's new releases are led by Magic Mike and Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings. I don't think either will be huge sellers on Blu-ray. On the other hand, last year's new releases were led by Captain America, which sold 701,000 DVDs and 756,000 Blu-rays. I don't see that figure being matched this year, so we will likely see another week of declines on the year-over-year comparison.
Filed under: Video Sales, Cinderella, Pete’s Dragon, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, The Avengers, Avatar, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus, That’s My Boy, Magic Mike, Chernobyl Diaries, Secret of the Wings