Blu-ray Sales: X-Men are Feeling Classy
September 21, 2011
We had good news on the Blu-ray sales chart, as X-Men: First Class opened better than it did on DVD. It dominated with 825,000 units / $19.35 million during just three days of sales. That was more than the rest of the market managed over the full week. This gave the film an opening week Blu-ray ratio of just under 60%, which is the best the format has managed for a first-run release.
Scarface opened in second place with 148,000 units / $2.95 million, which is more than I was expecting. Hanna was right behind with 145,000 units, but earned second place with $3.19 million. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio was 44%, which is strong for this type of release, but it is dwarfed by First Class. Rio fell to fourth place with 50,000 units / $1.12 million for the week and 1.63 million units / $35.75 million after six. Fringe: Season Three earned fifth place with 48,000 units / $2.14 million. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio was 31%, which is much higher than most TV on DVD releases earn.
The Office: Season Seven debuted in eighth place with 23,000 units / $910,000. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio was 12%, which is more inline with TV on DVD releases, especially sitcoms. Everything Must Go landed in 16th place during its opening week with 14,000 units / $310,000 for a Blu-ray ratio of 26%. Scream Box Set opened in 20th place with 12,000 units / $236,000. Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels opened in 23rd place with 9,000 units / $163,000 giving it a 12% opening Blu-ray ratio. I'm amazed it came out on Blu-ray and 12% is not a bad start for this type of release. Scooby-Doo: Legend of the Phantosaur was right behind with 8,000 units / $144,000, but earned a 14% opening week Blu-ray ratio.
Before we get into the overall Blu-ray sales, there are two things to keep in mind. Firstly, the Christmas Shopping Season has started. Secondly, it started early this year. Because of these factors, Blu-ray sales experienced explosive growth and sold 208% more units and generated 186% more revenue when compared to last week. This week last year was arguably the worst week on Blu-ray for the year. (No week sold fewer units, although one week did generate lower revenue.) This makes the year-over-year growth of 354% in terms of units and 289% in terms of revenue a little misleading. On the other hand, DVD sales fell when compared to last year and this helped the overall Blu-ray ratios grow to 40% in terms of units and 43% in terms of revenue.
Looking forward to next week there are a lot of prime releases, including Thor and the first three days of Star Wars box sets. On the other hand, this week last year was pretty bad, as the Christmas Shopping Season didn't begin till the very end of September when Iron Man 2 came out.
Filed under: Video Sales, Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scarface, Rio, X-Men: First Class, Hanna, Everything Must Go