Our DVD and Blu-ray sales estimates are based on weekly retail surveys, which we use to build a weekly market share estimate for each title we are tracking. The market share is converted into a weekly sales estimate based on industry reports on the overall size of the market, including reports published in Media Play News.

For example, if our weekly retail survey estimates that a particular title sold 1% of all units that week, and the industry reports sales of 1,500,000 units in total, we will estimate 15,000 units were sold of that title. The consumer spending estimate is based on the average sales price for the title in the retailers we survey.

We refine our estimates from week to week as more data becomes available. In particular, we adjust weekly sales figures for the quarter once the total market estimates are published by the Digital Entertainment Group. Figures will therefore fluctuate each week, and totals for individual titles can go up or down as we update our estimates.

Because sales figures are estimated based on sampling, they will be more accurate for higher-selling titles.

DVD Sales: The Fighter Knocks Out the Competition

March 30th, 2011

Only four new releases reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart; however, all four landed on the top of the chart. Leading the was way The Fighter with 880,000 units and $13.20 million during its first week on the home market. Barbie: A Fairy Secret was fairly close behind with 630,000 / $7.86 million. Hereafter was a ways back with 309,000 units / $4.32 million. The final new release to chart was The Switch in fourth place, which was very close behind, especially in terms of dollars, at 288,000 units / $4.32 million. Megamind fell from second to fifth with 267,000 units / $4.00 million for the week and 2.31 million units / $32.66 million after four. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for March 15th, 2011

March 14th, 2011

Another exhaustingly slow week. It seems like forever since there was a week with two or more top-tier releases. There is one film that was a hit both at the box office and with critics, The Fighter, while most of the rest failed to succeed in both areas and during a normal week many would have not even been worth mentioning. That said, The Fighter would have been a contender for Pick of the Week even if the competition was stronger than average and the DVD or the Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack is worth grabbing. More...

Takers Take Top Spot

August 30th, 2010

There was an upset at the box office with Takers pulling out a last minute win. However, it wasn't enough for the overall box office, as that sunk 12% from last weekend to $113 million. More importantly, it was down nearly 10% from last year. 2010 still has a $300 million lead over 2009 at $7.53 billion to $7.23 billion and I'm not concerned about the big picture, yet. More...

Expendables are Indispensable

August 23rd, 2010

If it wasn't for The Expendables, there would be very little good news to report this weekend. None of the five new releases were major hits at the box office, but on the other hand, none were complete bombs either and even the weakest of them had some reason for optimism. The overall box office was down 11% from last weekend to $128 million, but that was close to 1% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2010 has a $300 million lead on 2009 at $7.36 billion to $7.05 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Expendables Beats Five Openers to Stay Top

August 22nd, 2010

Five openers with a decidedly end-of-Summer feel to them all posted so-so numbers this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday morning, which left The Expendables as the weekend winner. The ensemble action movie was down 53% in its second weekend to $16.5 million and has now earned a respectable $64.89 million. Vampires Suck topped the openers with $12.2 million Friday to Sunday. The spoof movie is projected to finish the weekend with $18.56 million since its opening on Wednesday. Perhaps surprisingly, none of the openers has completely disastrous weekends. More...

Will Summer End With a Bang?

August 19th, 2010

Five new releases should enter the top ten this weekend, including a few that at least have a reasonable chance at top spot. But there's also a reasonable chance that The Expendables will squeak out another win. Regardless, there's almost no chance the box office will keep up with last year's pace when Inglourious Basterds opened with nearly $40 million. We will be lucky if any film makes half of that this weekend. More...

2010 Preview: August

August 1st, 2010

July started out rather well, and while there was a little weakness in the end, four films surpassed $100 million, and another could join them soon. That said, there don't appear to be any $100 million movies opening in August; in fact, there is a chance none will come close. Worse still, August of last year saw three $100 million movies open in the first three weeks. There's almost no chance that will happen this year, so 2010 will likely lose ground to 2009 in the yearly box office race. More...