DVD Sales - Bedtime has Storybook Opening

April 22, 2009

There were plenty of new releases to chart this week, including the top two sellers. The new number one was Bedtime Stories 1.46 million units for its first full week of release, while including early sales it has made $28.78 million from 1.68 million in sales. The Day the Earth Stood Still opened in second place with 883,000 units sold for $14.65 million in sales, which is inline with its theatrical run, or perhaps a little stronger. Bolt climbed 16.6% reaching third place with 729,000 units for the week and 2.84 million units and $50.45 million in total. It's rare for films to have legs on the sales chart, but that's exactly what this film has. Marley and Me fell from first to four selling 726,000 units for the week and 2.25 million units in total giving it $40.81 million in sales so far. The Tale of Despareaux opened in fifth place with 577,000 units / $9.81 million, which is almost as much as it made during its opening weekend in theaters.

The best of the rest of the new releases was Yes Man, which placed seventh with 532,000 units sold raising $9.20 million in sales. Disappointing. On the other hand, Doubt did well for a limited release earning $4.57 million from 258,000 units in sales, which is almost as much as is best single weekend. Not Easily Broken opened in 14th place with 218,000 units and $4.26 million. Considering the film never played in more than 725 theaters, that's not a bad start. New releases to chart were rounded out by two direct-to-DVD cartoons with Tigger and Pooh and a Musical Too placing 18th (157,000 units / $2.97 million) and Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword placing 23rd (96,000 units / $1.34 million).

Okay, this is no longer a fluke. For the third week in a row, Blu-ray sales were up by triple digits over last year, and for the second week in a row we didn't have marquee release to help it. Overall Blu-ray sales were at $19.6 million, which is up 13% from last week and an unbelievable increase of 173% from last year. That's the best year-to-year increase since numbers were reported. As far as Blu-ray shares go, it had 8.2% of total revenue, and 7% of the top 20 comparison. The number one seller on Blu-ray was The Day the Earth Stood Still with roughly 230,000 units, while Bedtime Stories placed second with 120,000 units.


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Filed under: Video Sales, Marley & Me, Bolt, Bedtime Stories, Yes Man, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Tale of Despereaux, Doubt, Not Easily Broken