DVD Sales: New Moon gets Early Jump on Competition

April 7, 2010

There were eight new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's sales chart, including two that were able to chart despite not coming out until Sunday. This includes The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which sold 3.16 million units in just two days, generating $74.41 million in the process. The Princess and the Frog debuted in second place with 1.93 million units / $31.81 million, which is actually a good start given its theatrical run. On the other hand, Ninja Assassin sold 309,000 units during its opening week, generating $6.13 million in sales. This is weaker than its theatrical run would indicate. Astro Boy opened in fourth place with 182,000 / $3.37 million, just a tiny fraction above Old Dogs, which placed fifth with 182,000 units / $3.09 million over the week for total of 765,000 units / $13.29 million after two.

Did You Hear About the Morgans? opened in seventh place with 177,000 units / $3.54 million, which is middling at best. Well back in 14th place was Armored with 115,000 units / $1.95 million. The Fourth Kind opened in 16th place with 107,000 units / $2.16 million. The final new release to chart was Twilight in Folks: Saga of the Real Town, which sold a surprisingly strong 93,000 units, generating $1.20 million in sales in just two days. I wonder how many people who bought this DVD thought it was The Twilight Saga: New Moon?

Blu-ray sales shot up 41% to $31.8 million for the week, which was 69% higher than the same weekend last year. Compared to DVD, it represented 13% of the total market and 17% of the top 20 comparison. As expected, the top selling Blu-ray was The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which sold just over 600,000 units, 17% of total units sold. On the one hand, you would expect a massive blockbuster to sell more than that at this point. For instance, many first run releases are managing 30% or even 40% Blu-ray sales. On the other hand, this movie is aimed at teenage girls, who are not known for being early adapters. Second place went to The Princess and the Frog, with just over 500,000 units sold. This was a stronger than anticipated: a 22% market share. Third place went to Ninja Assassin with just over 200,000 units, 42% of total sales. Granted, this film was aimed at the perfect High Definition target demographic, but this success suggests that it won't be long before we see a first run release crack the 50% barrier.


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Filed under: Video Sales, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, The Fourth Kind, Ninja Assassin, Old Dogs, The Princess and the Frog, Astro Boy, Armored