Blu-ray Sales: Red Revels in Blu
June 7, 2012
New releases took the top four spots in the Blu-ray sales chart. Red Tails took first place with 446,000 units / $10.25 million for a 48% opening week Blu-ray share. The film was expensive to make and it didn't perform well enough in theaters, but its home market numbers are better.
This Means War was well back in second place with 261,000 unit s/ $5.21 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 47%, but it is hard to judge how good that is, because the film is a mixture of Romantic Comedy and Action, and those two genres tend to have widely different results on high definition. As an action film, it is merely good. As a romantic comedy, it is fantastic. The Secret World of Arrietty earned third place with 152,000 units / $3.50 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 47%, which is great for a kids movie, but Studio Ghibli films appeal as much to adult fans of the art form as they do to kids. The Woman in Black opened in fourth place with 121,000 units / $2.41 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 40%. I was hoping for more for this film. The Grey fell from first place to fifth place with 112,000 units / $2.69 million for the week and 488,000 units / $10.19 million in total.
There were plenty of other new releases to chart, starting with Men in Black in ninth place with 53,000 units / $689,000 and Men in Black 2 in tenth place with 50,000 / $655,000. Whisper in the Heart opened in 12th place with 41,000 units / $939,000 while fellow Studio Ghibli release, Castle in the Sky, opened in 16th with 33,000 units / $760,000. The final new release to chart was Sherlock: Season Two, which earned 17th place with 31,000 units / $871,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 26%, which is strong for a TV on DVD release.
Overall, the Blu-ray market was strong. It grew 16% in terms of units and 15% in terms of revenue from last week and 105% in terms of units and 114% in terms of revenue when compared to last year. DVD sales actually grew faster compared to last week rising 22%, both in terms of units and revenue, but fell 9% in terms of units from last year. (Revenue was essentially flat.) This meant the overall Blu-ray reach was a little lower than last week at 43% in terms of units and 50% in terms of revenue, but this is still a fantastic result.
Looking forward to next week, there's good news and bad news. The good new is True Blood: Season Four. The bad news is, everything else. There's not a lot of depth out there. On the other hand, last year had the exact same strengths and weaknesses, literally. The best selling True Blood: Season Three was the best selling DVD and Blu-ray, while the lack of depth was a real issue. The overall growth of Blu-ray should help the format easily win in the year-over-year comparison.
Filed under: Video Sales, Men in Black, Men in Black 2, Red Tails, The Woman in Black, The Grey, This Means War, Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ)