Blu-ray Sales: King Begins Reign of the Century
October 19, 2011
A pair of powerful new releases helped push the Blu-ray sales chart to record levels. The Lion King led the way with 1.57 million units sold, earning $46.46 million. If you add in The Trilogy Box Set, which sold 44,000 units / $3.33 million, the film earned nearly $50 million in opening week sales. I wasn't expecting it to sell this well.
Fast Five had to settle for second place with 1.13 million units / $23.11 million; however, that's still a fantastic debut. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio was 57%, which further solidifies Blu-ray as the dominate format for action blockbusters. Speaking of which, Transformers: Dark of the Moon remains strong in third place with 833,000 units and $18.31 million during its first full week of release, giving it early totals of 2.14 million units / $45.64 million. Thor slipped a spot to fourth, but crossed 1 million units sold with 94,000 units / $3.05 million for the week. After a month on the home market, the film has sold 1.03 million units and generated $29.44 million in sales. Bridesmaids fell to fifth place with 84,000 units / $2.10 million over the week resulting in totals of 770,000 units / $17.85 million after three.
Pulp Fiction's Blu-ray debut scored sixth place with 78,000 units / $1.01 million, which is impressive for a catalogue release. Scream 4 was not quite as strong, earning seventh place with 74,000 units / $1.68 million. Its opening week Blu-ray average was just a hair below 40%, which is acceptable for this type of release. It's not bad, it's not good, it's merely on par for the genre. African Cats was right behind in eighth place with 53,000 units / $1.10 million. It was only released on a Blu-ray combo pack, so it is hard to compare Blu-ray sales to Oceans, the previous DisneyNature release. The earlier film sold 28,000 Blu-ray units, but also 51,000 DVDs. The Lion King Trilogy Box Set landed in 11th place with 44,000 units / $3.33 million. Finally, Jackie Brown opened in 14th place with 26,000 units / $272,000, which is also strong for a catalog titles. It was a good week for Quentin Tarantino on High Definition with two new releases in the chart.
The overall Blu-ray market was record-breaking and for the first time we crossed the century mark with total sales of $109 million. Growth was 120% in terms of units and 131% in terms of revenue compared to last week and 30% in terms units and 42% in terms of revenue compared to last year. On the other hand, DVD sales continued its massive decline (revenue was cut in half compared to last year). This allowed the overall Blu-ray ratio to soar to 62% of total units and 71% in terms of total revenue. Granted, it was an unusual week with the number one film, The Lion King, only being released on Blu-ray, but this is still a stunning result.
Next week's Blu-ray sales will undoubtedly be lower, as neither of the two big releases, The Tree of Life and Dumbo, are major releases. On the other hand, the Blu-ray ratio should be relatively strong, as the former is only coming out on Blu-ray Combo Pack and the latter is a Blu-ray catalog release, despite the token DVD release. On the other hand, the new releases from last year were a lot stronger with How to Train Your Dragon selling 1.8 million DVDs and 800,000 Blu-rays.
Filed under: Video Sales, The Lion King, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Thor, African Cats, Fast Five, Bridesmaids, Scream 4, The Tree of Life