DVD Sales: Holdovers Hold On top Top Spots

January 4, 2011

There were plenty of new releases on the sales chart this week, but none came close to unseating Despicable Me. The film repeated on top with 1.38 million units for the week and 5.13 million units after two. It has already brought in $86.13 million in revenue, while it will have little trouble hitting $100 million shortly. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse remained in second place with 749,000 units / $13.47 million for the week and 7.11 million units / $127.93 million after three. Inception added 680,000 units and $11.49 million to its running tallies of 2.94 million and $53.22 million. That's not particularly great, especially given its theatrical run and its reviews. (It practically demands repeat viewing.) On the other hand, it has sold proportionally better on Blu-ray. Toy Story 3 bounced back into the top five with 625,000 units / $9.08 million for the week, giving it totals of 9.02 million units and $161.79 million in sales. The only new release to reach the top five was Salt, which placed fifth with 624,000 units / $9.98 million.

Family Guy: It's A Trap! opened in seventh place with 386,000 units / $5.02 million. This is lower than the previous installment, but with that kind of money, I can't imagine they won't try this again with either the prequels, or perhaps another franchise. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps debuted in ninth place with 371,000 units / $5.93 million, which is a little disappointing, even for a September release. Easy A opened in 11th place with 311,000 units / $5.29 million. It deserved better. Step Up 3 opened in 18th place with 188,000 units / $3.99 million.

We have two weeks of Blu-ray updates this week. Two weeks ago we set a record for the format at $94.7 million. Numbers for last week came in, and we broke that record with $99.7 million. This week's number just came in and we did it again. Total Blu-ray sales for the week were $109.3 million, which was 20% of total sales. It was also 42% higher than the same weekend last year. Hitting the $100 million mark has more value as propaganda than practical worth, after all, there's not much difference between $99 million and $100 million. However, it does make it hard to claim the format is in trouble. If Blu-ray is in trouble, then the whole industry is in trouble.

Inception led the way with close to 500,000 units, while Despicable Me was relatively close behind with over 420,000 units. The best new release was Salt, which placed third with 370,000 units.


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Filed under: Video Sales, Inception, Despicable Me, Salt, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Toy Story 3, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, Step Up 3D, Easy A