Home Market Numbers: Babadook vs. Bunny

May 15, 2015

Before we get to this week's numbers, we apologize for the delay in home market results. The home market numbers are by far the biggest charts we deal with. To put it in perspective, even on the biggest week, there are only about 100 films in the weekend chart. On the other hand, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of DVDs and Blu-ray we are tracking. When something goes wrong, it takes a lot of number crunching to fix it. We are talking about getting the data setup, getting the computer going, then going to bed and hoping its done when you wake up. We are nearly caught up, on the other hand, and by this time next week, we should be right back on schedule.

The Babadook

It was another bad week on the home market with almost no first-run releases on the Blu-ray sales chart. The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death was the closest we had to a first-run release, while both Batman vs. Robin and The Babadook outsold it. This wasn't enough to keep pace with last week and the Blu-ray sales fell 19% in terms of units and 10% in terms of revenue. This week last year was Easter, so it should come as no surprise that the home market was much stronger last year. Blu-ray sales fell 76% in terms of units and 71% in terms of revenue. That's painful, but not unexpected. DVDs sales were down by roughly the same amount, so the overall Blu-ray share remained at 34%.

DVD sales were even worse when compared to last week, down 27% in terms of units and 20% in terms of revenue. Compared to last year, DVD sales were down 75% in terms of units and 74% in terms of revenue. Blame this result on the misalignment of the holidays and move on.

Next week's new releases will be led by Taken 3, so the home market will bounce back compared to this week. It should also bounce back compared to last year, as the new releases were terrible. The biggest release, Tyler Perry's Madea's Neighbors From Hell, wasn't even released on Blu-ray. It did lead the way on DVD, so we might see 2015 win on high definition, but lose on standard definition.


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Filed under: Video Sales, Taken 3, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, The Babadook, Batman vs. Robin