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: Left Behind Out in Front

January 24th, 2015

Left Behind led the new releases on the DVD chart, at least in terms of units sold, with 201,000. Its sales for the week were $2.05 million, giving it third place by that metric. This is not great for a first-run release, but not bad compared to the film's box office. It is also much better than its opening on Blu-ray. More...

Blu-ray Sales: No Reward for Good Deeds

January 24th, 2015

The first set of new releases for Blu-ray didn't result in a change at the top, as The Equalizer remained on top of the chart during its sophomore stint. Over the week, it sold $143,000 / $3.48 million for two-week totals of 821,000 units / $17.08 million. This gives it a two-week Blu-ray share of 51%, which is good for an action film. It does have a slightly older target demographic, so that explains why it isn't as good as say... More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for January 6th, 2015

January 5th, 2015

It is a strange week on the home market, as there are five contenders for Pick of the Week, including three of them that start with the letter G. However, this isn't because the week is loaded with simply amazing titles. It's because none of the contenders were simply amazing in both quality and extras. Archer: Season 5 on DVD or Blu-ray, Boyhood on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack, Get on Up on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack, Girls: Season 3 on DVD or Blu-ray, and The Guest on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack were the five contenders. Boyhood is the best in the Award-worthy meaning of the word, Archer is the show I would get the most entertainment from. In the end, it was down to a coin toss, a literal coin toss, and Archer: Season 5 on DVD or Blu-ray won. More...

Per Theater Chart: Birdman has the Skies to Himself

November 5th, 2014

For the third weekend in a row, Birdman led the per theater chart. In fact, this week it was the only one in the $10,000 club earning an average of $10,348 in 231 screens. At this point, the film has already earned some measure of mainstream success, while it still has room to grow. More...

Limited Releases: From A to Z

October 31st, 2014

It's a really bad week for limited releases. There are only three films earning overwhelmingly positive reviews, but two of them are documentaries and the other is an experimental 3D film, so their chances of earning some measure of mainstream success are nearly zero. The most prominent new release on this week's list is Horns, but its reviews, its genre, and the fact that it is playing on Video on Demand suggests it won't find an audience in theaters. More...