Blu-ray Sales: Prometheus Proves Powerful on Blu-ray

October 27, 2012

Prometheus was surprisingly strong on the Blu-ray sales chart opening with 875,000 units / $17.49 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was an outstanding 72%. Usually you only see that level with catalogue titles. Cinderella remained in second place with 271,000 units / $6.77 million for the week giving it totals of 1.08 million units / $25.30 million after two. It is still relatively rare for films to sell 1 million Blu-rays this fast, so it is doubly impressive for a catalogue title to do so. The Avengers fell to third place, but was very close behind with 270,000 units / $6.54 million for the week. After three weeks of release, the movie has sold 4.48 million units and generated $94.84 million in total revenue. It will get to the century mark shortly, but will likely fall out of the top five before then. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial opened in fourth place with 248,000 units / $4.46 million. Another excellent result for a catalogue title. Rock of Ages opened in fifth place with 152,000 units / $3.50 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 36%, which is neither good nor bad for this type of release.

The Raven missed the top five landing in seventh place with 67,000 units / $1.53 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 47%, which is again inline with expectations for this type of release. WWE: CM Punk - Best in the World debuted in ninth place with 23,000 units / $582,000 for an opening week Blu-ray share of 45%. Jeff Dunham: Minding the Monsters earned 15th place in its debut with 17,000 units/ $345,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just 18%, which is very low for the format as a whole, but on par with expectations for this type of release. Little Shop of Horrors was right behind in 16th place with 14,000 units / $327,000. This is a solid opening for a catalogue release.

The overall Blu-ray market was mixed. On the one hand, it was down compared to last week by 17% in terms of revenue, but by just 1.3% in terms of units sold. On the other hand, it was higher compared to last year, by just just 5.8% in terms of revenue, even though 25% more units were sold. DVD sales were basically flat compared to last week. While 2.8% more units were sold, revenue was down by a barely perceivable 0.1%. Compared to last year, 13% fewer units were sold while revenue was 12% lower. The overall Blu-ray share remained very impressive at 52% in terms of units and 56% in terms of revenue.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted should lead next week's new releases. Unfortunately, last year the new releases were led by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which only came out on Blu-ray and not DVD, which throws the numbers off. There's no way Madagascar 3 is going to sell 1.22 million units like On Stranger Tides did during its opening week of release.


-

Filed under: Video Sales, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cinderella, Little Shop of Horrors, The Avengers, Rock of Ages, Prometheus, The Raven, Jeff Dunham: Minding the Monsters