Blu-ray Sales: The Average Spider-Man

January 8, 2013

There were half-a-dozen new releases to chart on the November 11th edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. This includes The Amazing Spider-Man, which earned first place with 641,000 units / $14.37 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 54%, which is impressive, but one has to assume the studio was hoping for more. Then again, the film is more than profitable enough to ensure a sequel. Arthur Christmas was way back in second place with 93,000 units / $2.63 million giving it an opening week Blu-ray share of just 25%. This is weak for a 3D animated kids movie. The Campaign fell from first to third with 51,000 units / $1.27 million for the week giving it a total of 232,000 units / $5.12 million after two. The Avengers rose to fourth place with 50,000 units / $1.25 million for the week giving it totals of 4.59 million units / $97.63 million after eight weeks of release. It is very close to the century mark, which is very rare for Blu-ray. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted rounded out the top five with 44,000 units / $1.12 million over the week for totals of 995,000 units / $20.96 million after five.

The next best new release was way down the list as Prep & Landing: Totally Tinsel Collection earned 12th place with 23,000 units / $324,000. For a TV special, an opening week Blu-ray share of 32% is surprisingly strong. The Muppets Christmas Carol was right behind with 16,000 units / $294,000. Live action kids movies rarely do well on Blu-ray, especially catalog titles, so this start is inline with expectations. Fire With Fire earned 16th place with 15,000 units / $261,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just 18%, which is bad, even for a direct-to-DVD release. nWo: The Revolution was next up in 17th place with 13,000 units / $311,000. An opening week Blu-ray share of 30% is good, given the type of release.

The overall Blu-ray market was rather weak. Granted, sales were higher compared to last week by 4% in terms of units and 8% in terms of revenue, but sales were lower compared to last week, much lower. There were 38% fewer units sold and 41% less revenue. The overall DVD sales were only marginally better up 17% in terms of units and 25% in terms of revenue compared to last week. However, they were down 36% in terms of units and 28% in terms of revenue when compared to last year. The overall Blu-ray share was just 29% in terms of units and 37% in terms of revenue. That's not terrible, especially given the weak new releases, but hopefully this isn't a new trend.

Next week, the Brave, which should sell better than anything this week did. Last year's new releases were led by, well, nothing. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was the best selling new DVD, but it had come out on Blu-ray weeks before. The best new Blu-ray was West Side Story, which only sold 40,000 units. That's not bad for a catalog release, but hopefully the new releases this time around will be a lot better. Then again, last year Blu-ray were dominated by Harry Potter, so it won't be an easy win.


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Filed under: Video Sales, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Fire with Fire, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, Arthur Christmas, The Campaign, Fire with Fire, Harry Potter