DVD Sales: Dark Knight and Up Share Black Friday Honors

December 12, 2009

Black Friday sales gave a decidedly retro look to the DVD sales chart for the week ending November 29. All major retailers were offering deeply discounted prices of catalog titles, including $4 deals at Target for Elf, Sex and the City and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, among others, and Best Buy offering Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Forgetting Sarah Marshall at the same price. Walmart wasn't going to be outdone though, and offered some DVD titles, including Hellboy 2, Mummy 3, I am Legend and Casino Royale in limited quantities at just $2. The real champion of the bargain basement, however, was The Dark Knight, which was available for $5 at Walmart, and $4 at both Target and Best Buy. With low, low prices, the unit volumes for the week were astronomical, but overall spending was actually down from 2008 thanks to the price cuts.

Top spot on the chart went to Up, in its third week in release, with 1.2 million units and $17.5 million in consumer spending at retail. It barely scraped in ahead of The Dark Knight, which also registered 1.2 million units, although only $5.6 million in consumer spending, thanks to its deep price cuts. Batman may have actually topped the charts depending on how many units were sold at Walmart. (Walmart does not share its sales figures with any outside parties, so our sales model uses an estimated figure for sales through their stores.) The standout success of the week was new release Santa Buddies, which sold close to 1 million units in its first week and enjoyed the second highest level of consumer spending at $14.8 million.

It was a toxic environment in general for new releases because of the promotional space given over to Thanksgiving deals. Angels & Demons disappointed in its first week with sales of 830,000 and $12.4 million in spending. Four Christmases managed 710,000 units and $10.2 million. Funny People landed in 23rd spot with sales of just under 200,000 units and $3.5 million in consumer spending. Shorts was crowded out altogether, not even making the top 100 sellers, according our estimates.

- The Numbers' Exclusive DVD Sales Chart

Filed under: Video Sales, The Dark Knight, Up, I am Legend, Casino Royale, Sex and the City, Angels & Demons, Four Christmases, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Funny People, Shorts, Santa Buddies